http://www.berkshireeagle.com/editorials/ci_26464346/our-opinion-bernard-baran
Archive for the ‘Innocents’ Category
Devastated and in Pain
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014
photo credit: Jim D’EntremontLast night Bernard (“Bee”) Baran died suddenly at his home while talking with his partner, David, and his niece, Crystal. We are awaiting the autopsy results, but a heart attack or stroke seems most likely.
My partner Jim and I were prodded to reach out to Baran and his family by our friend, Debbie Nathan, who emailed us on June 18, 1998. She said:
“I hope someone will be inspired to help Bernie Baran: as you know, he’s the first daycare worker convicted in a ritual abuse case — also out of Massachusetts — and the reason it started apparently is because he “came out” in his little town and announced his homosexuality at the age of 18. The guy has now been locked up 13 years and is going to rot behind bars unless someone takes an interest in his case. Now might be the time to start.”
By “someone,” Debbie quite obviously meant us. Reach out we did.
We phoned his mother, who sounded like someone who had lost all hope. But she gave us Bee’s address and we wrote to him.
No response. We wrote one more time and still no response. He seemed not to want to talk to us.
In December of 1998, Bee called and talked a long while with Jim. (I was in Minnesota for the Christmas holidays.) He said he would call back after my return but did not. We wrote again and still got no response. Finally, on March 3, 1999 we receive a letter from him. In it he explains why it’s been difficult for him to get back to us.
“I was talking to my mother last night and as we talked I started to cry. I just told her I don’t know how much longer I can hold on for. I have spent 15 years of my life locked away for something I never did and after a while you start to lose all hope. I tell you this because when I see your letter that’s what I start feeling is hope and it scares me.
“I don’t even know if I should have told you that but it’s the truth. At times Bob I feel so all alone. I also do believe people have tried to help me but life moves so fast out there that I seem to always get lost in the process. I’m not saying that you would do this to me. It’s just how it has gone so far. So I fear the hope others bring into my life because I’m always left alone in the pain. My heart can only take so much pain. I’m sure you know that a lot of pain comes from inside as well. I’m glad I started this letter to you. I have wrote to you maybe 10 times already, I just never mailed them out. And believe me this one’s going.”
A couple weeks later, by chance, Jim and I encounter a lawyer friend, John Swomley. Swomley suggests a visit to Bee. I go with John and meet Bee face to face on June 3rd. And our journey with Bee really began.
Swomley eventually agreed to take the case — on the condition we raise money because he couldn’t afford to do it pro bono. And raise money we did — hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the process we first formed the Bernard Justice Committee and later helped form the National Center for Reason and Justice, devoted to helping other victims of our dysfunctional criminal-justice system.
We also began visiting Bee every week. Eventually our friend Frank Kane joined us on these visits. Bee was a delight to visit. Once we all got over our initial shyness, we discovered a young man (he’d just turned 32 when I met him) who was not only very bright, but very funny. He was a great story teller, and he would voice not only all of the characters in the story but any animals that were involved. One of my favorites involved the time he surrepitiousy fed a tray of meat juices to a vegetarian dog.
And so time passed. Slowly. The District Attorney stonewalled us every inch of the way. For many years the DA’s office refused to turn over the videotapes that eventually exonerated him. It was seven years later — June of 2006 — that Bee was finally released upon being granted a new-trial motion. The DA continued to fight us for three more years until the Appeals Court handed down a ruling that essentially exonerated Bee and strongly hinted that the DA — now Judge Daniel Ford — was guilty of prosecutorial misconduct. (Judges rarely slap the hands of other judges.) DA David Capeless finally threw in the towel.
Bee’s struggles continued. He filed a lawsuit against the firm that had done his do-nothing appeal and eventually settled for an undisclosed sum. He should have received $500,000 from the state, but Attorney General Martha Coakley had the audacity to try to deny him any compensation. (Coakley is from western Massachusetts and has close ties to the people who railroaded Bee, including her cousin, a Pittsfield detective. Bee was in the process of suing the detective when he committed suicide after he himself was convicted of rape.) Bee eventually collected $400,000.
Bee, by the way, was still fighting Coakley when he died. He’d been told that as part of the settlement his criminal record would be expunged. Coakley refused to go along. If she didn’t have a heart of ice, she could agree to the expungement now that Bee is gone. But I am quite sure she will not.
With his settlement, Bee and his partner David bought a lovely house in Fitchburg and also another building containing 5 rental units.
Both Bee and David, unfortunately, had suffered severe health problems due to the years of terrible prison diet and lack of access to anything resembling adequate health care. (Such are Massachusetts prisons.) Bee developed chronic pancreatitus, which often caused him enormous pain.
The last time Jim and I saw Bee was two weeks ago yesterday, when we visited with our friend Robert from North Carolina. We spent the day with them and had a great time. Bee cooked us two excellent meals. We spent the afternoon exploring Fitchburg and a lovely park nearby that they were both fond of.
While I’ve never been a parent, I think I can say with some justification that Bee was like a son to us. We certainly loved him like a son. And I know that he loved us.
So farewell Bee. You were a wonderful person. I hope we can learn from your sufferings and prevent other innocents from being persecuted as you were.
Bad Science Goes up in Smoke
Saturday, July 26th, 2014
“Traditional theories about how fires burn had been developed over generations by firefighters who’d observed thousands of fire scenes. It wasn’t quantifiable theory, more a set of beliefs rooted in experience. But it carried the weight of fact. And as with any tradition in the close fraternity of firefighters, it was honored for the very fact that it represented the wisdom of veterans.”
Read the full post.
A First of its Kind Exoneration
Friday, July 25th, 2014“Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’ ongoing initiative to review untested rape kits revealed that Michael Phillips was innocent. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, this is the first time in the United States an exoneration of this nature has occurred…as a result of a district attorney’s systematic testing without active request by a defendant.”
“I Believe It’s a Heroic Calling”
Saturday, July 19th, 2014
The NCRJ brought the San Antonio Four case to the Innocence Project of Texas. Working with Mike Ware and Keith Hampton was a terrific experience. We congratulate them on this well deserved award and we look forward to continue working with them.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/%E2%80%9Ci-believe-it%E2%80%99s-heroic-calling%E2%80%9D
Victor Rosario is Free!
Friday, July 11th, 2014
photo credit: Peter Chermayeff
Few things gladden my heart as much as watching an innocent person walk free after many years of wrongful incarceration. I believe I’ve experienced this only four times.
Yesterday, I watched Victor Rosario walk free after 32 years of wrongful incarceration.
Victor’s sentence was voided on July 7th and a new trial was ordered by Superior Court Judge Kathe M. Tuttman. The Middlesex County District Attorney will appeal the decision, so the case is not over. But yesterday the judge released Rosario on bond.
The hearing at the Middlesex County Courthouse in Woburn, Massachusetts, began promptly at 10 a.m. It was a rather brief affair.
Rosario has been represented by attorney Andrea Petersen and by New England Innocence Project attorney, Lisa Kavanaugh. [Kavanaugh told me yesterday that she had once worked for National Center for Reason and Justice (NCRJ) Advisor, Harvey Silverglate.] The Commonwealth was represented by Assistant DA Thomas O’Reilly.
In arguing for bond, Kavanaugh said that it was likely that Tuttman’s decision will prevail on appeal because of the sea changes that have occurred in our knowledge about fire forensics and about false confessions. She said that Rosario posed no security or flight risk. He would live with his wife Beverly at their home in Brighton, Massachusetts. Rosario was ordained as a Baptist minister while incarcerated and has been offered a part-time job at Boston’s Tremont Street Baptist Church. Rosario’s prison record was exemplary, with no violent interactions. He served as a leader, including a role as an assistant chaplain.
O’Reilly responded by reminding the judge of “the terrible events of March 5, 1982” when eight people, including five children, lost their lives. he said that the Commonwealth still believes that Rosario was responsible and asks for a bond of at least $250,000.
Tuttman set the bond at $25,000. She acceded to O’Reilly’s request that Rosario wear a GPS monitor, that he be prohibited from drinking alcohol, that he remain in Massachusetts, and that he not apply for a passport.
There will be a status update on the case at 2 p.m. on January 13, 2015.
After the brief hearing, there was a wait of over three hours while bond was posted and Rosario met with the probation department. The media left except for a cameraman from Boston’s Channel 7 and another from a Spanish station.
After Channel 7 asked a question, Rosario burst into tears and sobbed for several minutes. His wife, Beverly, and Andrea, who stood on either side of him, comforted him.
When he gained his composure, the other reporter asked him a question — in Spanish. Victor gave quite a long and eloquent reply — in Spanish.
After the brief press conference, Andrea and her husband, architect Peter Chermayeff, whisked Rosario and his wife away to their Brighton home. I was at least able to shake his hand. I also gave Beverly my phone number in hopes that Victor might call.
I also plan to attend Victor’s release party, which will take place at Andrea and Peter’s home on the afternoon on July 20th.
The NCRJ has every reason to be proud of this victory. As Andrea told me yesterday, they could never have won without the NCRJ’s help in obtaining (and paying for) expert witnesses.
It was also the NCRJ who brought this case to the attention of Dick Lehr and his graduate journalism students at Boston University. The articles they did for the Boston Globe were important in obtaining the involvement of the New England Innocence Project.
The NCRJ learned of this case in March of 2007 when I met Andrea Petersen at a Harvard conference sponsored by the New England Innocence Project. The NCRJ Board voted to sponsor the case on January 8, 2008.
Some background on the case.
An account in the Boston Globe.
-Bob Chatelle
Interesting Blog Post on Scheck and Friedman
Thursday, June 26th, 2014Scheck Takes a Different Tack in Friedman Case
Wednesday, June 25th, 2014Barry Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project who has written the “book” on how to conduct post-conviction investigations, in a surprise move yesterday, submitted an affirmation supporting Jesse Friedman motion for a full-blown fact hearing seeking to overturn his 1998 guilty plea to molesting young boys in his Great Neck home.
http://wiselawny.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/scheck-takes-a-different-tack-in-friedman-case/
Jesse Friedman Sues Nassau County DA
Thursday, June 19th, 2014FROM: Lonnie Soury, Soury Communications, Inc. 212.414.5857, lsoury@aol.com
For Immediate Release
JESSE FRIEDMAN SUES NASSAU COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY KATHLEEN RICE FOR DEFAMATION
Rice Knowingly Published False Materials Damaging to Jesse Friedman and Released Them to the New York Post and the New York Times
(Mineola, NY, Thursday, June 19, 2014) Jesse Friedman, who was wrongfully convicted for child sexual abuse in a mass hysteria case in 1988, chronicled in the Oscar-nominated film Capturing the Friedmans, today filed a defamation suit against Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice for knowingly publishing false and defamatory statements in a report summarizing her review of Friedman’s 1988 conviction (the Rice Report). The suit names Kathleen Rice, in her official capacity as Nassau DA and individually, as well as her public information officers John Byrne and Shams Tarek, in their official capacity and individually.
Rice’s Report and the accompanying press release included dozens of false statements. In one example, DA Rice made the entirely fabricated claim that Jesse Friedman “wrote, possessed and distributed” shocking pornography involving incest, bestiality, and child rape while he was in prison. The DA provided as proof a printout of a series of shocking pornographic stories that had absolutely no connection to Jesse Friedman. The report was widely distributed to the public and leaked to the tabloid media by her office. In another example, the DA’s report includes a false psychological evaluation by a discredited psychologist.
DA Rice not only published the false and defamatory material in the report, but highlighted it in press releases to turn public opinion against Jesse Friedman. Shortly after releasing the report, the DA’s publicity officer John Byrne distributed copies of the alleged stories to the New York media causing sensational headlines.
Rice directed her subordinates to supply the text of these materials to, at least, the New York Times and theNew York Post. In response to receipt of these materials, the New York Post published a series of false and salacious news stories under the headlines:
— Jailbird Perv a Smut Writer
— Convicted Child Molester Jesse Friedman Wrote Porno Stories During His Time In Prison
— DA: Convicted child molester Jesse Friedman found with porno stories during his time in prison.”
The stories provided details of the pornography and stated that Friedman “was disciplined in July 2000 after prison guards found the stomach-churning smut in his cell.” That same day, at least fourteen other publications with the headline “Perv was a ‘Horny’ Jailbird Smut Writer,” published variations of the story, each linking to the New York Post. The Associated Press, which reaches news outlets in hundreds of markets across the United States, also ran a story sourcing the false material released by DA Kathleen Rice.
A standard Google search of any of the text attributed to Jesse Friedman reveals instantly that it is material available on the Internet, written by and credited to someone else, whose email address appears at the bottom with an invitation to contact her. As the DA was well aware, Jesse Friedman was incarcerated at a maximum-security prison, and had no access to the Internet for downloading such stories, nor did he have an email address. Jesse Friedman did not “write,” “possess,” or “distribute” this material.
According to the defamation suit: “This claim arises from acts or omissions of the defendants, and alleges multiple false and defamatory statements that were designed to, and did, harm Friedman in his reputation, enjoyment of life, quality of life, and economic interests. These acts and omissions include publishing statements that Friedman was punished while in prison for writing and distributing horrific pornography that described acts similar to those for which Friedman was convicted, and statements alleging that Friedman was a psychopath. These were false and defamatory statements of material fact, and Rice and her agents knew, or it is highly likely that they knew, that these statements were false. The purpose of such statements, as noted in court by Nassau County Supreme Court Justice F. Dana Winslow, J.S.C., was to portray Friedman publicly as a “‘bad guy.’”
Friedman’s attorney, Ronald L. Kuby, said, “The DA falsely accused Jesse of having written horrific pornography celebrating the very kinds of crimes of which he had been accused. And she timed the false claims so they appeared in the press at a time when they would have the greatest negative impact on Jesse – while all eyes in Long Island and elsewhere were watching for the DA’s three-year-delayed verdict in her so-called “unbiased review” of the Jesse Friedman case. The fact that they also showed these false materials to the members of a panel charged with overseeing the DA’s investigation, reveals the DA’s desire to undermine any fair re-evaluation of this case.”
When challenged on the statement in a later court hearing, rather than admit the mistake, the DA’s office accused Friedman’s counsel of forging the documents that disproved it. Days later, the DA’s office conceded that Friedman did not possess the pornography, could not possibly have penned the pornography, and was never punished for it in prison. When Jesse Friedman’s counsel requested that she withdraw all the false claims from her Report and inform the press, he received no response, and she did not withdraw the false claims.
Further, DA Rice also published and quoted from the irresponsible work of a then-novice psychologist, David Pogge, (falsely identifying him as a “renowned psychiatrist,”) that contained a series of unsubstantiated personal attacks on Friedman, including the utterly unsubstantiated claim that Jesse Friedman was a “psychopath.” Friedman’s attorneys had already informed Rice that Pogge had a disqualifying conflict of interest he did not disclose at the time he met Jesse Friedman, and that Pogge’s evaluation was unreliable and was based on the computerized output of a test administered in a manner directly in conflict with the test’s written instructions. Jesse Friedman, who is highly educated and mentally competent, has never been diagnosed with any such illness. Having been informed directly that the information contained therein was false, Rice made additional materially false and defamatory statements in her Report and Executive Summary, publicizing psychologist Pogge’s false evaluation in which he used dozens of unsubstantiated epithets to defame Jesse including:
“psychopathic deviant,” “a psychopath,” “self-centered, manipulative, egocentric,” someone who “abused drugs,” “extremely egocentric,” “capable of breaking the law,” “narcissistic, antisocial, passive-aggressive, badly behaved,” “a very heavy drug user” and “drug dependent,” “pansexual,” someone whose “personality was consistent with someone who was capable of committing the crimes with which he was charged,” “someone who believed he was better than other people,” someone who “lies all the time, and derives gratification from fooling others,” and was “not a good citizen.”
These statements were repeated, in shorter form, in the Press Release issued by DA Rice’s office. Despite having been informed in writing of Dr. Pogge’s conflict of interest and his mishandling of Friedman’s evaluation, Rice used Dr. Pogge’s discredited evaluation as a pretext to further defame Friedman.
Background
In 1988, in the midst of a national hysteria regarding false allegations of mass sexual abuse of children at schools and day care centers (epitomized by the now-discredited McMartin Case), police alleged that Jesse Friedman, his father Arnold, and other teenagers, had violently abused hundreds of children attending after-school computer classes at the Friedmans’ Great Neck home. The charges were suspect from the beginning, since no physical or forensic evidence was ever found, no pediatrician or parent ever noted any sign of abuse — and, in five years of classes, no child ever complained, with many re-enrolling for more advanced classes. The judge in the case stated “there was never a doubt in my mind as to their guilt,” despite never having seen a single piece of evidence at trial, and threatened to sentence him to consecutive, rather than concurrent sentences, unless he pled guilty.
Under tremendous pressure from law enforcement and in a climate of community hysteria, Friedman falsely confessed and spent 13 years in prison before being paroled. Since completing his sentence with an excellent prison record, Friedman and his wife Elisabeth, have been fighting for his exoneration. He is still classified as a “Level 3, Violent Sexual Predator,” barred from many basic activities. Despite their model behavior, Jesse and his wife have been evicted from numerous apartments and barred from various religious congregations as a result of his legal status.
Friedman’s battle would likely be futile and anonymous, if not for the case’s rise to prominence with the 2003 release of the Academy Award nominated documentary Capturing the Friedmans, produced by Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling. In the film, detectives and prosecutors working on the case admit to harassing and coercing children in an effort to substantiate charges for which there was zero physical or medical evidence. In addition, children in the class reveal that nothing happened to them, despite the bizarre charge that mass child rape happened in plan view of all the students.
Since the film, a mountain of new evidence has come to light revealing misconduct by police, prosecutors, and the biased judge. In 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a scathing opinion, denouncing the Nassau County District Attorney’s handling of the Jesse Friedman prosecution, stating it was “reasonably likely” Friedman was wrongfully convicted and his guilty plea was coerced by a biased judge. The Court stated that the case should be re-evaluated, and the Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice rather than order a court hearing, volunteered – against complaints that having a district attorney’s office evaluate a conviction procured by her own office – to initiate a full and “unbiased” review of the case.
Three years later, the DA issued a report that has been widely seen as a severely biased effort to reaffirm Friedman’s original conviction 26 years ago.
In August, 2013, Nassau Supreme Court Judge, F. Dana Winslow issued an important decision in ordering the complete investigative file in the Friedman case, dating back 26 years, to be turned over to the defense. The Nassau DA appealed the decision to the Appellate Court, Second Department. Oral arguments in the case are expected shortly.
Despite DA Kathleen Rice’s continued denial of Friedman’s innocence claims, a motion will soon be filed in New York State Supreme Court, Nassau County seeking to vacate his 1988 conviction based upon actual innocence claims. The chief prosecution witness, and numerous alleged victims, are among more than 25 eyewitnesses to the computer classes who state that “nothing untoward happened in the computer classes in Jesse Friedman’s home.”
For more information about Jesse Friedman’s wrongful conviction, go to www.freejesse.net.
Lonnie Soury
Soury Communications, Inc.
286 Madison Ave, Suite 907
New York, NY 10017
(212) 414.5857 – office
(917) 519.4521 – mobile
www.soury.com
