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Dr. Bernard Rosenthal is a distinguished scholar and historian who is a leading expert on the Salem Witch Trials. While serving on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Reason and Justice, he became interested in the wrongful conviction in Lorain, Ohio of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen. Dr. Rosenthal befriended them both… Continue reading Injustice in Ohio: A just published book about the Smith-Allen case

Sen. Josh Hawley and Ketanji Brown Jackson (Getty Images) ‘In 1996, when Jackson wrote her critique, she was one of the few who foresaw that a new web of laws banishing sex offenders from society would create a banished class of nearly one million, forced to regularly register with police and have their personal information… Continue reading The hollowness of the child porn smear: Ketanji Brown Jackson has been bold and prescient

photo credit: jim d’entremont National Center for Reason and Justice  ─ NCRJ For immediate release: February 25, 2022 Contact: Bob Chatelle mgr@ncrj.org Ohio DA dismisses all charges against Joseph Allen, one of the last people falsely imprisoned in 1990s daycare abuse panic On February 25th , Lorain County Judge Chris Cook granted a new-trial motion… Continue reading The Smith-Allen Head Start Case is Over!

photo credit: jim d’entremont The first hearing for the new-trial motion for the Smith-Allen (Head Start) case will take place Thursday (1/27/22) at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The hearing will be broadcast on Zoom. Here is the link. Let us hope that this tragedy will soon be resolved. -The NCRJ      

photo credit: jim d’entremont “I don’t know why a white woman of some means went home and an indigent Black man went back to prison. I don’t know why that happened. Maybe there’s a legitimate reason for that,” [Judge] Cook said. “But I know this: It doesn’t look good, that that man (Allen) went back… Continue reading Joseph Allen out on bond; judge to decide on new trial

National Center for Reason and Justice  ─ NCRJ     For immediate release: December 22, 2021     Contact: Bob Chatelle  mgr@ncrj.org     The NCRJ hopeful for victory at last in the Nancy Smith-Joseph Allen Head Start abuse case     The National Center for Reason and Justice is encouraged by today’s action by… Continue reading The NCRJ hopeful for victory at last in the Nancy Smith-Joseph Allen Head Start abuse case

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… Continue reading Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen will soon appear in Court

Tomlinson responded to the Ohio Innocence Project’s motion on Wednesday, telling county Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Cook that evidence discovered and presented in those documents “discloses a strong possibility that it will change the result if a new trial is granted; has been discovered since the trial; is such as could not in the… Continue reading Prosecutor won’t oppose new trial in 1994 Head Start abuse case

Dear Friends, We at the National Center of Reason and Justice (NCRJ) have recently received wonderful news about this case, which we have been sponsoring since shortly after our founding in 2002. NCRJ Executive Director, Bob Chatelle, was even corresponding with Joseph Allen before NCRJ existed. It’s been a very long and often heartbreaking haul.… Continue reading Justice Might Finally be Achieved for Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen