2000 People Falsely Convicted, Then Exonerated, in 23 Years

[UnrepentantLiberal]

8. Like the Bakersfield satanic child sex ring for example

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_baker.htm

The McCuan and Kniffen Families

This was the first large Multi-Victim Multi-Offender (MVMO) child abuse case in North America. It was centered in Bakersfield and Kern County, CA. Two couples, Alvin & Debbie McCuan and Scott & Brenda Kniffen, were tried in 1983, found guilty, and given centuries-long jail sentences.

The McCuan/Kniffen convictions were overturned on appeal. The two couples were released from jail in 1996-AUG, after having spent 14 years in prison, isolated from each other.

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The girls, Becky and Dawn were repeatedly questioned. They confirmed what their step-grandmother had said. Over many months, their disclosures became increasingly bizarre. They said that they had been hung from ceiling hooks, beaten with belts, rented to strangers in motels and been forced to act in "kiddy-porn" movies. They claimed that they were abused by a sex ring which involved their grandparents, their parents, their father's brothers, friends of their parents (Scott & Brenda Kniffen), the social worker who did the inspection, a co-worker of their father, and two unnamed welfare workers.

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In their six month investigation, police officers ignored many factors:

*Rope burns that would have been present if the abuse had happened were absent.

*Markings on the railing where the children said they were tied were absent.

*There were plant hooks in the ceiling, but they could not have supported a child's weight.

*There were no ceiling hooks in the rooms where the children said there were.

*There were no patches in the ceiling which would have been left behind if ceiling hooks had been removed.

*Both Becky and Dawn told their parents' defense attorney that they had only accused one of their uncles because their step-grandmother told them to.

*No pornographic movies, "snuff films" or movie cameras were ever found.

*There was no evidence of physical trauma to either child, except for that attributed to the grandfather's alleged assault on Becky.

*The Kniffen parents voluntarily submitted to polygraph tests which indicated that they were both innocent. These tests are generally regarded as being accurate between 70 and 90% of the time. The probability of both parents actually being guilty and both fooling the polygraph test is about 1 to 9%.

*Allegations of Satanic ritual murders came up during group therapy. Becky and Dawn led the police to the spot where they believed that the sacrificed infants were buried. Neither bodies nor disturbed earth (filled-in pits) were ever found. (Disturbed earth can be detected centuries after pits are filled in).

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