Convicted Sexual Molester Gets New Hearing-part of what critics call Bakersfield witch hunt cases

thebakersfieldchannel.com ^

[chance33_98]

Convicted Sexual Molester Gets New Hearing

John Stoll Accused Of Operating Home Sex-Abuse Ring A man who has spent the last 18 years in a Central Valley prison will receive a new hearing to examine claims that he was wrongly convicted of child molestation.

Kern County Superior Court Judge John Kelly ordered a hearing Jan. 12 for John Stoll, 60, who was arrested in 1984 and accused of being part of a sex-abuse ring operating out of his house in Bakersfield.

He and three others were accused of abusing seven boys from the neighborhood, including Stoll's son.

Stoll's conviction was part of what critics call the Bakersfield witch hunt cases. In the mid-1980s, scores of people were investigated and 40 were convicted and sent to prison on charges they had subjected children to bizarre sexual rituals.

In recent years, at least 18 Bakersfield defendants have been released after appeals court judges found errors, including prosecutorial misconduct and unreliable techniques in the questioning of the alleged child victims.

"John is so thrilled," said Jill Kent, an attorney for the Northern California Innocence Project, which has taken up his case. "This is the happiest he's been in 18 years.

"We finally have a chance to get the truth out that there was a huge miscarriage of justice in this case."

Prosecutor Lisa Green had no comment on the judge's decision.

[sunryse]

If this man is innocent, I am saddened by the justice system. I know there will be innocents in prison, but honestly, in the 80's EVERYBODY was a child molester.

[JohnsKat]

I have known John for many years.
My spouse and I knew him before his son was born.
John would not,could not ever do what he has been accussed of!He loved Jed more then his own life.
This comes from someone that has known him for almost 25 years.
He has been around our children and all of them adults now and everyone of them said they can't believe what has happened.They said John, never layed a hand on any of them.
We also have other friends and their kids state the same thing.
John has recieved a raw deal and they have robbed him of 18 years of his life.
The truth is there if they only bother listening this time!
Two have already recanted their statement in court and said they lied.
One, does not remember what happened if anything.
Johns son is brainwashed ,if you ask me!
He was only six at the time,John was arrested.