Articles culled from the FMSF Mailing List:
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F M S F O U N D A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R (e-mail edition)
Vol 5 No. 8, September 1, 1996
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3401 Market Street suite 130, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215-387-1865)
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SAMPLING OF COMMENTS ON THE DECISION NOT TO PROSECUTE GEORGE FRANKLIN
"If you think a witch-hunt like the one in Arthur Miller's 'The
Crucible" could not occur in this enlightened age, consider the case
of George Franklin..."
San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 1996
"Several famous cases -- the McMartin Pre-School in Los Angeles, the
Wenatchee witch hunts, day-care teacher Kelly Michaels in New Jersey
-- came apart when witnesses recanted, officials confessed to coercing
fraudulent testimony and appeals courts examined kangaroo proceedings.
That is what has happened in the Franklin affair. None of this
signifies an end to 'repressed memory' in American justice; but it
does suggest the beginning of the end, and a healthy measure of public
skepticism and common sense."
Providence Journal-Bulletin, July 15, 1996
"What happened to Franklin should be a cautionary tale for a society
that treats trendy psychiatric theories as though they were fact,
while at the same time disregarding common sense and basic
skepticism."
San Mateo County Times, July 9, 1996
"...Prosecutors announced Tuesday that Franklin will be set free
today because they do not have enough evidence to retry him for the
1969 murder.... The final blow to the prosecution came with Janice
Franklin's testimony about being hypnotized before testifying against
her father. In California, testimony influenced by hypnotic suggestion
is inadmissible."
The Press Democrat, July 3, 1996
"Whether or not recovered memories are windows into real events must
be fascinating fodder for debate among therapists. But when those
memories become the basis for criminal charges, there is much more at
stake than just the emotional well-being of the accuser. Also on the
line is the freedom and reputation of the accused -- people plunged
into the Kafkaesque nightmare of having to defend themselves against
charges arising from events decades in the past. Where were you on the
night of July 9, 1976?"
Newsday, July 8, 1996
"In recent years a small industry has emerged in which therapists
help patients recover memories of past abuses for which there is no
evidence. Lives have been ruined and families torn apart by false
recovered memories, which also are destructive to the people with the
recovered memories."
Waco Tribune Herald, July 20, 1996
"Forensic DNA recently has been decisive in proving the innocence of
men wrongly imprisoned. In each case, the convictions had been
obtained primarily on repressed memory testimony...Franklin-Lipsker
also told investigators in 1990 that she remembered her father
committing two more murders. She remembered her godfather, Stan Smith,
raping Veronica Cascio and her father murdering her. DNA semen tests
proved neither Franklin nor Smith could have raped Cascio. Details of
the other murder were too vague to investigate."
Santa Barbara News Press, July 21, 1996
"Prosecutors might be slow to take cases which will blow up in their
face without a lot of other evidence to make a case," said University
of Louisville law professor Jacqueline Kanovitz.
Sacramento Bee, July 4, 1996
. . .
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Repressed Memory Case Won't be Tried Again
The New York Times, July 3, 1996
[Footnote: See FMSF Brief Bank #52.]
Prosecutors have decided not to retry George Franklin, Sr.
Mr. Franklin had been convicted in 1990 of a 20-year-old murder after
his daughter testified that she had suddenly remembered the murder.
San Mateo County prosecutors had planned to retry Mr. Franklin after
his conviction was overturned last year. However, the recent
disclosure that Mr. Franklin's daughter, Eileen, had been hypnotized
before she testified has virtually ruled out her testimony. District
Attorney James Fox said, "It just creates a case where we don't
believe we're going to be able to meet our burden of proof."
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