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Purpose; Academic and Clinical Studies
Background
History of this project
The Archive
101 corroborated cases of recovered memory
Response to Critics
Dr. August Piper (1999)
Dr. Richard McNally (2003)
FAQs
Other Scholarly
Resources
Bibliographies, links
to websites by four
doctoral-level
psychologists
Supportive
Information
For those with personal
questions & concerns
about sexual abuse &
those interested in
political & social
responses to sexual
abuse
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The Archive > 43
Cases from Legal Proceedings
1-10 | 11-20
| 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-End
21. People v. Lynch. California criminal charges against
William Lynch. "Charged with 14 counts of lewd conduct with
a child stemming from alleged attacks on four women when
they were between 7 and 13 years old from March 1967, to
July, 1972." One of the women repressed the memory, the
others remembered the abuse ever since. (Julie Tamaki, "Abuse
Case to Challenge New Law on Limitations," Los Angeles
Times, May 15,
1994: B1).
22. Chris White, whose repressed memories of sexual
abuse at Ryerson Public School 20 years ago, resulted in
a guilty plea by Robert Warren. "Now in his mid-50s and
living in British Columbia, Warren had been with the Toronto
Board of Education for 23 years and had two other convictions
for sexual offenses against children. One dated back to
1965 in Lindsay; the other was in British Columbia in 1988." (Judy
Steed, "Abuse Victim..." The Toronto Star, May 7,
1995: A1).
23. Cheit v. San Francisco Boys Chorus and William
Farmer (San Francisco Superior Court: civil settlement with
SFBC, default judgment against Farmer, 1994)(Plumas County
Criminal Court: warrant and criminal arrest, 1994). Corroborated
by other victims and by tape-recorded admission. See, Mike
Stanton, "Bearing Witness" [three-part series] Providence
Journal-Bulletin, May 7-9, 1995; see also, Miriam Horn,
"Unlocking Hidden Memories, " U.S. News & World Report,
November 29, 1993; "Update: Recalling the past, embracing
the future," August 4, 1997.
24. State v. Quattrocchi (Rhode Island Superior Court
jury verdict; RI Supreme Court No. 95-343-C.A.). The first
criminal case in Rhode Island involving recovered memory.
The state presented evidence from two other girls who reported
sexual assaults by Quattrocchi: one was his own goddaughter,
who the defendant cornered naked in a shower when she was
seven-years old (in 1977). She told her parents about it
when she was a sophomore in college. The other incident
occurred four years later (in 1981) and resulted in a contemporaneous
report to the police. The events at issue in this criminal
case cover the same years as those incidents. [In Catch-22
reasoning, the Rhode Island Supreme court subsequently ruled
that such evidence was "too prejudicial" and the defendant
would have to be retried without such evidence. Without
such evidence, many states considered this kind of testimony
too unreliable - in absence of the kind of corroboration
that the Rhode Island court now prohibits.]
25. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Crawford. (Guilty
verdict in murder case, 1995). "Franklin Crawford, 49, of
Dayton was charged in May 1994 with the murder of Pearl
Mae Altman after another man said that seeing a woman who
resembled the victim brought forth repressed memories of
witnessing Crawford throwing the woman off a bridge. "John
Reed cried as he testified Thursday that he was 16 on Oct.
22, 1971, when he saw Crawford throw Pearl Mae Altman into
the Allegheny River." "Man Guilty in 1971 Slaying After
Witness Recalls the Drowning," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
February 19, 1995: D15.) A woman's purse and shoes were
found 23 years ago near the spot where he said Altman was
thrown in the river. Crawford also happened to have been
the prime suspect at the time. Crawford's then-wife testified "that
her husband came home that night, removed his clothes,
and put them in the washer. She said it was the only time
in their marriage he put clothes in the washer. She said
he got dressed again and, before leaving, told her to tell
anyone looking for him that she hadn't seen him." Lawrence
Walsh, "Murder Memory Misjudged
by Judge," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 11, 1996:
B6. [This case was reversed on the ground that the judge
did not allow testimony of a psychiatrist who would have
testified about the "unreliability" of recovered memory,
the corroborative ase notwithstanding. The case is still
pending.]
26. Thomas v. Freeman (Lee County, North Carolina,
unanimous jury verdict, June 22, 1995; Case No. 93 CVS 831;
upheld by North Carolina Court of Appeals, November 19,
1996; No. COA96-226). Unanimous jury verdict for Shirley
Thomas against her father, Velton Freeman, "for decades'
old, once-repressed memories of horrific physical and sexual
abuse...Witnesses corroborated Thomas' claims with their
own memories of Freeman hitting, bruising and cursing Thomas;
of him carrying her out of her bedroom at night and her
returning later in tears; of Thomas being terrified of his
wrath; and of Thomas' mother leaving marriage and the household
in 1962 or '63, long before her mother and sister claimed
it occurred in 1966." (See five-part
series by Jill Warren Lucas, beginning with "Jury Awards
$600,000 in abuse case," Sanford Herald, June 13,
1995.)
27. D.M.M, a 39-year old Canadian
actress. "Remembered repeated abuse by her family doctor
when she joined Alcoholics Anonymous after years of heavy
drinking...[In March, 1996] a provincial justice ordered
Leo Pilo, M.D. to pay her $95,000 -- despite the testimony
of FMSF advisory board member and psychiatrist Harold Merskey,
who suggested that D.M.M. was probably suffering from ""false
memories.""
D.M.M.s accusations were supported by four other women who
said Pilo had sexually abused them in childhood. Pilo's
medical license had been previously revoked in a separate
proceeding in which he admitted the women's charges." (Katy
Butler, "The
Latest on Recovered Memory," Family Therapy Networker,
Nov/Dec 1996: 36, 37). Criticism
by affiliates of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Full-text
of the relevant legal documents in response.
28. Wilson v. Phillips (California jury verdict,
1996). LaDonna Wilson and her half-sister (who does not want
to be identified) sued John Phillips for sexual molestations
when each daughter was about 5 years old. A jury awarded
$1.15 million in compensatory damages. "During the trial,
Wilson, her sister and mother testified about a time when
Wilson's bed came crashing down on a box of kittens. When
the others came into the bedroom, Phillips was there naked." (David
Reyes,
"2 Daughters Win $1.15 Million in Sex Abuse Case," Los
Angeles Times, March 30, 1996: 1b).
Update: the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Appellate District
upheld the verdict the jury finding that Phillips sexually
battered and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on
his daughter and stepdaughter. Wilson v. Phillips, 73 Cal.
App. 4th 250; 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 204 (June 30, 1999).
29. Franklin v. Stevenson (Utah jury verdict, 1996).
Cherise Franklin's memories of sexual abuse by Kenton Stevenson.
As documented at trial, Franklin was in and out of therapy;
her flashbacks were not recovered during therapy session.
"After recording her [recovered] memories in a dated journal,
Franklin hired a private detective, found Stevenson's former
wife and learned that Stevenson had been found to have abused
his own children as well. At trial [in August 1996] in Salt
Lake City, Stevenson's 16-year-old daughter, Rayne Burtchin,
testified that her father had sexually abused her. A stepdaughter
testified that he had mutilated animals in front of her.
The accounts were supported by a 1986 Family court divorce
and custody ruling, finding that Stevenson had sexually
abused his son and two daughters and had raped one with
a coat hanger."
(Katy Butler, "The Latest on Recovered Memory," Family
Therapy Networker, Nov/Dec 1996: 36, 37). The Findings
of Fact established that Stevenson abused all three
of his children in the other marriage. In a highly unusual
move, the judge entered a judgment not withstanding the
verdict, in favor of the defendant. The case is on appeal.
Note: Question No. 2 in the Special Verdict form asked "Did
Cherise Franklin produce corroborating evidence in support
of the allegations of abuse against Kenton Stevenson?
The jury responded: Yes.
30. Shahzade v. Gregory (Massachusetts federal district
court, Docket No. 92-12139-H). Civil suit by Ann Shahzade
against an older cousin for molesting her for a five-year
period beginning when she was 11 years old. "Her cousin,
George Gregory, a California surgeon, acknowledges he fondled
her, but says he did not sexually assault her." Judy Rakowsky, "Memory
Expert Supports Woman," Boston Globe, April 1, 1996:
26. In his deposition, Gregory admitted a series of fondling
incidents that occurred over a 12 to 16 month period. (Deposition
of George Gregory, May 10, 1995, pages 80-83; he admitted
additional fondling on pages 133-135.) Note: "fondling" is
sexual assault under the criminal laws of virtually every
state. (The full
text of the decision to allow recovered memory testimony
is available through Jim Hopper's site on "Recovered Memories
of Sexual Abuse: Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources.")
The defendant settled the case after this decision was rendered;
there is a gag order prohibiting release of the settlement
amount.
read more cases > 1-10 |
11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-End
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Page last updated
July, 2003
Project Director
Professor Ross E. Cheit
Taubman Center for Public Policy & American Institutions
at Brown University
67 George Street
Box 1977
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2201
Fax: 401-863-2452
 
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