August 26, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The NCRJ Recommends Prominent Experts to Serve on the Nassau County Committee investigating the Jesse Friedman Case.

Roxbury, Massachusetts —August 26, 2010 —Today the National Center for Reason and Justice—a non-profit legal and advisory group for the falsely accused and wrongfully convicted—submitted to Nassau County (NY) District Attorney Kathleen Rice a list of twelve experts as candidates for the committee that will re-examine the Jesse Friedman child molestation case. Submitted names include Dr. Maggie Bruck, leading expert on child-interviewing techniques; Dr. Harrison G. Pope, Jr., Psychiatrist, MacLean Hospital, Belmont Massachusetts; and Dr. Richard A. Leo, leading expert on false confessions. All of the experts have agreed to serve if asked.

Rice announced the formation of the committee after being urged to do so by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Friedman and his father had been convicted in 1988 for allegedly abusing students taking computer classes held in the Friedman home. The case was the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary called Capturing the Friedmans. The Court was unable to grant relief because the petition was filed past deadline. But they made clear that they thought it likely that a miscarriage of justice had occurred because the children had been improperly interviewed, because Nassau County (and the nation) at the time were swept up in a “vast moral panic” around child sexual abuse, and because of misconduct on the part of the police, the prosecutors, and the judge.

The NCRJ has officially sponsored the Friedman case since June of 2004, but members have been involved long before this.

The NCRJ has a proud history of being first to recognize injustice. Its first major case was Bernard F. Baran — released in 2006, exonerated in 2009 — who was sent to prison at 19 and languished there for 23 years for crimes that never occurred. They sponsor the case of Joseph Allen and Nancy Smith of Lorain, Ohio, who spent 13 years in prison before being acquitted last year by a judge. (Acquittal under appeal by the District Attorney.) They also sponsor the case of four young lesbians in Texas who were convicted of dubious child abuse charges and whose innocence is now being investigated by the Innocence Project of Texas. As acknowledged by his attorney, the NCRJ was also the first to recognize the innocence of Victor Rosario, convicted of arson on the basis of junk science and the subject of a recent exposé in the Boston Globe.

The National Center for Reason and Justice comprises authors, lawyers, scientists, academics and concerned citizens.

Posted by rbchatelle on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 @ 6:52PM
Categories: Jesse Friedman
Tags: Newsroom

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