Friends of Justice

Please look at his GoFundMe appeal.

“How to account for trauma’s creep? Take your corners. Modern life is inherently traumatic. No, we’re just better at spotting it, having become more attentive to human suffering in all its gradations. Unless we’re worse at it—more prone to perceive everything as injury. In a world infatuated with victimhood, has trauma emerged as a passport to status—our red badge of courage?”

Far too many people get their scientific “information” from best-selling novels and popular movies and TV shows. As a result, there is a vast misunderstanding of trauma and a concurrent belief in baseless theories, such as repressed memory. The consequences have been disastrous. For example, many innocent people are rotting in prison for committing crimes that never occurred.

In this essay, literary critic Paruh Sebgal argues that the reliance on trauma as a plot device has also led to a lot of over rated literary and theatrical fiction Read the entire article in The New Yorker.

One of my favorite carols.

While I regret I’m not attending this important hearing,as soon as I learn the results, I will post a press release.

In the meantime, I suggest you read this affidavit of Dino Grondin, the son of the first and most relentless accuser in this horrible case. The affidavit is only two pages long and it chills the blood.

-Bob Chatelle

lorain morning journal

“Both Allen and Smith professed innocence, and the two said they had never met prior to being charged in connection with the case. Attorneys for Allen and Smith have argued that experts — since the 1994 trial — have determined the four children, who testified in court, had been questioned improperly by investigators, who planted ideas in their minds, and the children eventually believed what they were told was true.”

Read the article by Michael Fitzpatrick in The Morning Journal. The National Center for Reason and Justice has been fighting for Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen since their inception in 2002. Please consider supporting their work with a contribution.

Thank you for your support of justice!

When the NCRJ was founded in 2002, one of the first cases we sponsored was the case of Frank Fuster. His was one of the first and most high-profile cases of the 80’s daycare panic. While a number of the other cases ended in exoneration, Frank has not been so fortunate.

The NCRJ will not abandon Frank and are supporting a final effort towards justice. Frank currently is hoping to raise money to obtain records he believes might help his cause. Towards that end, he contacted us and asked if we could set up a GoFundMe appeal for him.

We have done so. Please visit it here.

“ELYRIA — Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson is considering going to court to request that the criminal convictions of Joseph Allen and Nancy Smith, convicted of child sexual abuse in the Head Start case of the early 1990s, “be vacated and that the charges against them be dismissed.”

Read the article by Dave O’Brien in the Lorain Chroicle-Telegram.

Everyday Joseph Allen remains in prison the magnitude of this injustice increases. This is the first hopeful development in many years.

“On Wednesday, my Mother got some bad news. She went to the doctors and was diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors scheduled her for something like 3 or 4 tests, and an operation within two weeks. I think they caught it early.

“My Mother has been my strength throughout my incarceration. She has kept me centered. The thing I look forward to the most when I finally get out, is spending time with her. Taking care of her. My life is something of a train wreck, and it has had nothing but a bad impact on my Mother’s life. She deserves some peace in life.”

Read the rest of Shane’s post.

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I hope some of you are reading these remarkable posts from Shane. He paints a chilling picture of the prison life of an innocent person.

“How many times have you ever been accused of doing something you know you did not do? When that accusation comes, don’t you vehemently deny it? Have you noticed that the more serious the false allegation against you, the more forceful the denial? The most serious and disgusting allegations invoke anger.

“I have been told there are two major differences between those who are guilty, and those who are innocent, in prison. The first is to say that the innocent are always angry. Angry because both the system has failed them in a colossal way, and the accusation remains with them the entire time they are in prison. If it angers you to be falsely accused, then think what it must be like to have that same false allegation pointed at you daily. The second difference is that those who are guilty sleep at night, and those who are innocent do not. Try to imagine being trapped in a nightmare you can not get away from even while you are awake. Your mind will not let things rest, and therefore you do not rest.”

Read the rest of Shane’s post.

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Send a message of support.

Donate to his cause.

Read about his case.