General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Dylan Farrow: Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen? [View all]Tanuki
(16,457 posts)a single time, much less nine times.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/woody_allen_and_dylan_farrow_digging_deeper_into_misleading_coverage.html
"Weide quotes at length from a sworn deposition by John Leventhal, the pediatrician who led the YaleNew Haven Hospital Child Sexual Abuse Clinics investigation of the allegations. Leventhals deposition hypothesized either that these were statements made by an emotionally disturbed child and then became fixed in her mind or that she was coached or influenced by her mother. But Leventhal himself never interviewed Dylan Farrow, nor did he interview her mother or any of the child care workers present at Mia Farrows home on Aug. 4, 1992. Dylan was interviewed nine times over a six-month period by Julia Hamilton, who had a Ph.D. in social work, and Jennifer Sawyer, who had a masters degree in social work. Neither Hamilton nor Sawyer would testify at trial, and Leventhal would only testify via deposition; as Weide points out, they also destroyed their notes on the investigation. (Diane Schetky, a professor of psychiatry and past editor of the Clinical Handbook of Child Psychiatry and the Law, itemized other irregularities in the Yale investigation in this 1997 Connecticut Magazine piece.)
In his 1993 state Supreme Court decision, Wilk found that testimony proves that Mr. Allen's behavior toward Dylan was grossly inappropriate and that measures must be taken to protect her. In May 1994, the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court cited a clear consensus among psychiatric experts that Allens interest in Dylan was abnormally intense.
My colleague Dahlia Lithwick wisely cautionsagainst trying this case again in the court of public opinion. But its also worth remembering thatno matter how Robert Weide wants to spin thingsWoody Allen did not fare well at all when actual courts of law looked at the facts."