This blog is moving!

Dear Friend of Justice,

I am moving this blog from blogger to wordpress because wordpress has so many more capabilities. My new blog is at bobchatelle.net.

I need to ask you to change your subscriptions. The subscription options are on the right at the new blog.

If you subscribe via email, it is not necessary to unsubscribe from the old blog. I will do that for you when I get the subscription notification.

To make it even easier for you, I can do the email subscription for you myself. Just email me to request this. If you do this, you will receive a confirmation email with a link that needs to be clicked.

Thank you for your cooperation!

-Bob

Bad -- but not unexpected -- ruling in the Shanley case

Dear Friend of Justice,

I learned today that Judge Neel turned down the new-trial motion in the Paul Shanley case. While this decision saddens and angers me, it was what I was expecting. I attended the trial and the hearing on the new-trial motion. Neel made it obvious that he didn't understand the issues involved, including the difference between repression and forgetting.

I have not read the decision and I am not in a hurry to do so. I don't want to lose my appetite completely on the day before Thanksgiving. If you have a strong stomach, let me know and I will send the document to you.

Robert Shaw, Shanley's appellate attorney, is intelligent, dedicated, and hard-working. I know that he will do a stellar job before the Appeals Court. My hope is that he will draw three fair, intelligent, and courageous judges.

-Bob Chatelle

More Pen Pals Sought

Dear Friend of Justice,

Recently I asked for a few people to write to the prisoner that I've been calling "Kevin." But there are a great many people behind bars who need correspondents. (I have a list here:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/prisaddr.html)

There are three I would like to mention whom I think would especially benefit from some outside friends.

One is Elsie Oscarson, wrongfully conicted of sexually abusing her own children. You can read about her case here.

Elsie's address is:

Elsie Oscarson
T80574 (Algon unit)
MCI-Framingham
P. O. Box 9007
Framingham, MA 01704

The other person is Ryan Smith, falsely accused at 13 and sent to prison at 15. (Read his story here.) Ryan is currently scheduled for release in June, when he turns 25. He needs help preparing for this transition. If you'd like to write to Ryan, please email me.

The third person is Paul Litchfield, another innocent person convicted in Berkshire County. You can read Paul's story here. Last Saturday, Paul's sister, Patricia, died after a long battle with cancer. It has been very difficult for Paul, not being able to be with his family at this time. You can send a sympathy card or note of condolence to him:

Paul Litchfield W80607 T103A
NCCI Gardner
500 Colony Road
PO Box 466
Gardner, MA 01440

In a couple of weeks, when the holiday season is upon us, I will post a message asking people to send cards to prisoners.

-Bob Chatelle

Another Visit to "Kevin"

Click on the picture to see all of it.

I visited my friend "Kevin" again on Friday. He had the prison photographer take a few pictures. He gave me this one to take with me, and I scanned it. It's not as nice as the original, but I think it's not that bad.

The more I find out about "Kevin"'s story, the more I'm inclined to believe that he was wrongly convicted. Unfortunately, his case would be nearly impossible to overturn.

For one thing, he has never claimed total innocence. He has always admitted to one improper act committed when he was 13. But he was convicted of many acts that I believe were committed by his brother.

His second conviction happened when he was 18. I now strongly suspect that he was the victim of a false accusation. But even if the alleged victim recanted, it's unlikely his conviction would be thrown out.

Kevin is now 23. His best chance for release is probably to admit to having done thing that he did not do. If he does not, he may spend the rest of his life behind bars. There is likely a conflict between the truth and the record. Unfortunately, truth matters little in a court of law. If "Kevin" doesn't play the game, he will be labeled "in denial" and have no hope of release.

I can provide "Kevin" with no legal help. All I can do is try to be his friend. But he needs more friends.

I have found a couple of people who write to him. But he needs more. Because I have no car, I can only afford to visit him at most once a month. I can't publish "Kevin"'s actual name. But if you think you might be willing to write or visit, email me at bobchatelle@gmail.com and we can talk about it.

-Bob

Greetings Again

Dear Friend of Justice,

We still await the Appeals Court decision on the Baran case.

Bee is holding up quite well. His partner David is still recovering from his major surgery. Once he has recovered, a second operation will be scheduled. David, of course, will be unable to work for some time. Bee has returned to work, but he had to take a lot of time off to care for David. This has caused a lot of financial problems for them. Supporters and John Swomley, Bee's lawyer, have been quite generous. If you'd like to help out as well, you can send a donation to:

The Bernard Baran Justice Committee
POB 190663
Roxbury MA 02119

David was well enough, I'm happy to report, to drive both of them out to western Massachusetts to attend the wedding of Bee's wonderful niece, Crystal. Bee gave her away at the altar.

Jim and I, unfortunately, were not able to attend because we were still on our vacation in Europe. If you'd like to see some photos of our trip, click this link.

I hope to post again soon with good news.

-Bob Chatelle

Greetings

Dear Friend of Justice,

I haven't posted to this blog for well over a month, for a number of reasons.

Primarily, Jim and I have been extremely busy all summer because we were forced to move. Packing was a major nightmare. Our lease on the new apartment began August 1st, but we retained the old place for the month of August as well. We had help from many friends during the early part of the month. And then, on August 15, we had five burly young professional movers, who took over seven hours to do the bulk of the move. We completed the move two days later and have been unpacking ever since. It appears a never-ending task.

No news in the Baran case. But Bee, unfortunately, is dealing with another very distressing situation.

Bee lives and works with a partner named David. A week ago yesterday David had to go to the emergency ward with extreme abdominal pain. He underwent a cat scan and was diagnosed with acute diverticulitis. The scan showed at least seven infected pockets.

The doctors tried to bring his white-cell count down before trying any procedures. But last Friday they did emergency surgery. He is having another procedure today. And eventually he will need even more surgery to reattach his colon. The recovery process will be long and he will need professional home health care. It is uncertain how much of the medical expenses will be covered by insurance because of the gross inefficiency of the new Massachusetts health-insurance system.

Bee hasn't worked for over a week. (Their boss, however, has been extremely supportive.) They have no idea how they will pay medical expenses, rent, or buy food and heating oil. But I'm confident his friends and supporters will get him through this. Of course it's always possible that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will decide to send him back to prison.

On a brighter note, while Jim and I strongly opposed the sale of our building, we did receive some money. (Not enough to buy another place, of course.)

I'm using some of the proceeds to go to Minnesota for a few days. My mother turns 88 on Thursday. And my niece recently gave birth to triplets. So there may be a family gathering to celebrate both events.

Later in the month, Jim and I will be taking a two-week vacation in Europe. (Barcelona, Marseilles, Paris, Avignon.) Long ago we had promised ourselves this as a reward should we lose our battle to save our prior home.

Should news break on the Baran case, I will post it ASAP.

-Bob Chatelle

Prison Legal News

Dear Friend of Justice,

A reader of this blog called my attention to the latest issue of Prison Legal News: http://www.prisonlegalnews.org/

I especially recomment the article by Marie Gottschalk, Not the Usual Subjects: The Politics of the Prison Boom.

-Bob Chatelle

Marty Tankleff Won't Be Retried

Dear Friend of Justice,

I just received this from the Tankleff support team:

Today Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office announced it would not retry Marty, citing insufficient evidence to prove his guilt.

For Marty, it's all over but the paperwork, as Suffolk County Judge Robert Doyle still has to sign off on the AG's motion to dismiss the charges. That should be done by the end of July.

The mood is collective relief, with Marty celebrating at home with family, friends and supporters.

Hopefully this is the end of Marty's ordeal, but it's not the end of the story, and we'll be following it all on www.MartyTankleff.org and the Marty Tankleff Blog.

Today Marty profusely thanked his family, friends and supporters, and that includes every one of you who took the time to witness what was happening here. Without public opinion and support, he doesn't make it this far.


Congratulations, Team Tankleff!
__________

It was just over two years ago that Jim D'Entremont and I went down to New York to attend a fundraiser for Marty Tankleff. The day before the event, we received a call from John Swomley telling us that Judge Fecteau had granted Bernard Baran's new-trial motion.

Attending that fund raiser was bittersweet. Nearly everyone had heard about Bee and they congratulated us on the victory. But Marty and his supporters were still reeling from a nasty decision by the judge who had heard his appeal.

Two years ago today, Bernard Baran was released from prison. And his case still is not resolved. But we are joyous that Marty's case is resolved, and that he can now get on with his life.

Will this country ever see any meaningful criminal-justice reform so that fine young people like Marty Tankleff, Bernard Baran, and so many others won't have to spend the best years of their life rotting in dangerous, degrading prisons?

-Bob Chatelle

Dubious Priest Accusations and Convictions

Dear Friend of Justice,

My organization -- the National Center for Reason and Justice -- currently sponsors the cases of two imprisoned Catholic priests: Gordon MacRae and Paul Shanley. We have, from time to time, been contacted by other priests and their advocates but haven't had the resources to investigate the cases.

I recall reading about many cases in the media that sounded very doubtful, especially those cases where "repressed memories" have been alleged. Unfortunately, I did not make note of these cases.

Recently I was contacted by a journalist who is interested in doing an article about falsely accused or wrongfully convicted priests. If you know of any dubious cases, please contact me at bobchatelle@gmail.com.

Thanks,
Bob

Kill Child Rapists?

Dear Friend of Justice,

Vote-hungry politicians -- including Saint Barack Obama -- have been getting exercised over the Supreme Court ruling banning the death-penalty for child rapists.

It is understandable that people, especially parents, become so upset by child rape. But few take all of the the facts into consideration.

First of all, a child rapist could be anyone (of any age) who has sex, including consensual sex, with someone under the legal age of consent in his or her state. (This is 18 in most states.)

Secondly, it is extremely difficult for a person accused of child rape to receive a fair trial. The false conviction rate is higher than for almost any other crime.

If the death penalty for child rapists had been in effect, many of the innocent people sponsored by the National Center for Reason and Justice would be dead by now: e.g. Bernard Baran, Ryan Smith, Gerald Amirault, and others.

If our criminal-justice system were perfect, the death penalty would be a valid topic for debate. But given our system's gross unfairness, I can't endorse the death penalty for anyone for any reason.

-Bob Chatelle

Harvey Silverglate's Tribute to Judge Isaac Borenstein

See http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/freeforall/archive/2008/06/11/state-court-bench-loses-one-of-its-best.aspx

-Bob

Beware of Sybill

I received this press release from Pam Freyd:

**********************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TV MOVIE REVIEWER
JUNE 5, 2008
SYBIL: AN MPD HOAX

On Saturday June 7, 2008 CBS will air its remake of the movie SYBIL,
(based on the 1973 book with the same name) about an early, alleged
case of "multiple-personality disorder" (MPD).

SYBIL was the first major book/movie to tie "MPD" to child abuse.
Before SYBIL was published, there were fewer than 50 reported cases of
MPD worldwide. By 1994, over 40,000 cases had been reported.

SYBIL, however, is well known to be a hoax. See, for example, _The New
York Review of Books, 44(7)_, April 24, 1997, "Sybil-The Making of a
Disease: An Interview with Dr. Herbert Spiegel," by Mikkel
Borch-Jacobsen.1

Dr. Spiegel (Faculty, Columbia Medical School) reported that
statements from the real "Sybil" convinced him that her "memories"
were the result of suggestion by Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur. He reports
that Wilbur engaged author Flora Rheta Schreiber to write "Sybil's"
case for a popular audience only after professional journals refused
to publish it. He refused to lend his name and credentials to
co-author the work when asked to do so by Wilbur and Schreiber.

The 2006 book _The Bifurcation of the Self: The History and Theory of
Dissociation and Its Disorder_ (Springer) by Professor Robert Rieber
(Fordham University) documents how the hoax was perpetrated. Rieber
had access to the original Schreiber/Wilbur interview tapes made when
Sybil was being written. We learn that the "memories were a result of
prolonged hypnosis and, to quote Dr. Wilbur: "Uh, the first time we
got any memories back was when I gave her Pentothal ..." (Rieber,
page 217)2

Wilbur's treatment of Sybil required eleven years and a total of 2,254
sessions.

In a letter to Dr. Wilbur, (reprinted in Rieber page 91) Schreiber
reports that she had visited "Sybil's" hometown but was unable to find
anyone to corroborate the awful things that supposedly happened to
"Sybil" there. Schreiber was also unable to find the "woods" where
many incidents allegedly occurred.

Will the CBS remake of SYBIL include the information documenting
Sybil's MPD as a hoax? Does it matter? Yes! Bitter experience shows
that when the media give credence to psychological anomalies, they
spread wildly.

Media coverage played a pivotal role in the dissemination of McMartin
preschool copycat cases in the mid 1980's, the spread of the "Satanic
Panic" and alien abduction sightings in the 1990's, and in widely held
beliefs about "repressed" memories of childhood abuse.

SYBIL played a substantial role in a cultural and psychiatric tsunami,
later known as the "false" or "recovered" memory debate. In spite of
professional skepticism about MPD and multi-million dollar malpractice
suits by former MPD patients, there is danger of unleashing another
tsunami unless the truth is told.

Does anyone care? Yes! As Oprah Winfrey's recent experience over the
fraudulent James Frey memoir A Million Little Pieces shows, the public
really does care to know whether the material served them by the media
is fact or fiction.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.fmsfonline.org/sybil.html

CONTACTS:
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., Executive Director
False Memory Syndrome Foundation
215-940-1041
pamfreyd@earthlink.net

August Piper, Jr., M.D.
206-623-5757
Dr. Piper is the author of Hoax and Reality: The Bizarre World of
Multiple Personality Disorder_. He is a member of the FMSF
Scientific and Professional Advisory Board.

Robert W. Rieber, Ph.D. Fordham University
Graduate School of Social Services
212-535-4010
207-963-7232
He is the author of _The Bifurcation of the Self_ and
he is not affiliated with the FMS Foundation.

[1] Available from the FMS Foundation.
See also http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=1199
[2] This book contains more than 75 pages of transcripts of
conversations between Wilbur and Schreiber.
**********************************************************************

Forgetting and "Repression"

Dear Friend of Justice,

The theory of “repressed memory” – or, alternatively, “dissociative amnesia” – posits something radically different from ordinary forgetting. Indeed, were this not so, there would be no need to invent special terms.

Almost all of the confusion in the repressed-memory debate arises from people confusing the two phenomena.

We are all prone to forgetting – and forgetting about – things that have happened to us. We even forget about traumatic events, sometimes for years.

Consider this excerpt of an email from a colleague, a distinguished professor of psychology:

Is it possible to forget major traumatic events and later remember them? I am convinced it happens quite frequently. It happened to me.

As a teenager I was violently mugged and injured by a gang in Central Park and ten years later when I entered grad school I told my colleagues I had never been a victim of violent crime while actively searching my memory for anything that would count. The next day the entire mugging memory came back in full detail even though I had apparently not thought of the event several years. This is not scientific but I believe it is strongly analogous to sexual abuse cases. I don't believe I repressed the memory, I believe that moving to Hawaii in my early 20s made the memory irrelevant and thus I forgot it through normal cognitive mechanisms.

This is an ordinary case or forgetting and remembering. The memory was delayed by a few hours after the recall attempt was made, but that is not unusual. I suspect that similar things have happened to all of us.

It is also common for people to forget – or forget about – childhood sexual abuse. But in this instance, memory scientists and those believing in dissociative amnesia make very different predictions.

Dissociative amnesia is supposed to protect the individual from traumatic memories. Thus the more traumatic event, the more likely it is to be repressed. Many even believe that traumatic events can be repressed immediately after they occur. For example, many believe that a father can violently rape a daughter during the night and that the daughter can sit down to breakfast with him in the morning as if nothing untoward had happened.

My colleague instead has this to say:

Most importantly one needs to know if force was alleged. If no force was used and if the child believed at the time that the behavior was acceptable then I believe it is possible to forget even repeated sexual contacts and in adulthood regain access to the memories. Furthermore I do not believe this to be repression. If the child is able to fit the behavior into some type of schema for acceptable behavior then the child will be more likely to simply forget it as he or she moves on through life.

According to popular culture, adults who have sex with children are violent rapists who obtain the child’s silence through violent threats. If these sex offenders exist, they are quite rare. The fact that an adult wants to behave sexually with a child doesn’t mean that he or she is stupid. The last thing they want is to get caught.

The usual pattern instead is not to frighten the child but to befriend the child. Children and adults have different moral senses. What is obviously wrong to an adult may not necessarily seem wrong to a child.

When I posted my account of the recent Shanley hearing, I made the following observation:

When Shaw expressed the opinion that the theory of repressed memory was “junk science,” Judge Neel asked if it wasn’t the case that Dr. Elizabeth Loftus believes that it does exist but is very rare. Shaw disputed this. I am sure that he was right. As a scientist, Dr. Loftus would never state that the nonexistence of repressed memory has been proven. She may have said something like, “If it exists, it is very rare.”

It turns out that what Loftus actually said in her affidavit was that traumatic events “rarely slip from awareness.” Now “slipping from awareness” is radically different from “repression.”

Judge Neel doesn’t know the difference between “repression” and ordinary forgetting. And the reason he doesn’t know the difference is that Shanley’s trial lawyer, Frank Mondano, didn’t do his job.

My guess is that Mondano himself never grasped the difference. Thus it is not surprising that he was unable to educate the judge and jury. And as a result Paul Shanley was undeniably deprived of his right to a fair trial.

-Bob Chatelle

Shanley Media P.S.

Dear Friend of Justice,

Jim D'Entremont suggested that I supplement my rant with specific examples of the media coverage.

Particularly annoying was the coverage by WBUR, which began with the outrage of victim advocates that Shanley was exercising his rights. Then Monica Brady-Myerov juxtaposed a sound bite of Robert Shaw calling repressed memory theory "junk science," making the statement appear unsupported, with an uncritical summary of the ADA's claim that repressed memory is widely recognized as real by distinguished scientific professionals.

The Boston Globe also began with victims outrage. Then they quote Shaw calling repressed memory "junk science" and immediately follow that with Mitchell Garabedian and Robert Costello, who says he was abused by another priest.

The Boston Herald story was entirely about victims advocates and their outrage.

Suprisingly good was an article by Keri Roche in the Waltham Daily News Tribune. Waltham is a town of about 60,000 west of Boston. I was surprised that they even bothered to send a reporter to cover the story. When I first looked at the Shanley articles I'd received from my google alert, I confess I skipped over the Waltham article. I read it just now and it caught me by surprise.

Roche's story was devoid of sensationalism. There were no quotes from outraged victims. Instead she reported on what was actually said in the courtroom. She disposed of the "junk science" sound bite and instead discussed Shaw's arguments.

Her reporting on the DA's case was equally fair and accurate.

Roche was also the only journalist to report that there were issues other than repressed memory.

The Boston Globe could learn a lot about journalism from Keri Roche.

-Bob

The Depressingly Predictable Media

Dear Friend of Justice,

The media on the Shanley hearing was as inaccurate and as unfair as I feared it would be. I'm not sure why those reporters even bothered to sit in that courtroom, given that the proceedings went above their heads and that they had drawn their conclusions beforehand.

Reporters now just ignore anything inconsistent with their assumptions. What they ignore doesn't make the six o'clock news. And if it doesn't make the news, it doesn't exist.

The overriding assumption is that accusers must never be doubted. Accusers are victims and victims are Holy. To doubt a sainted victim is to commit heresy. And heretics don't have a lot of career opportunities.

The rush to judgment of accused Catholic priests was additionally complicated by a lot of pent-up homophobia and anti-Catholicism. Paul Shanley never had a chance. He was tried and convicted by the Boston Globe in January of 2002. Since then, his guilt -- and that of other accused priests -- has never been doubted by the Globe or most other media.

But it is as absurd to believe that all accused priests are guilty as it would be to assume that they are all innocent.

Because Shanley's guilt is assumed by the media, and because the only evidence against him was the repressed memories of a highly disturbed young man, the press now considers the theory of repressed memory validated. In other words, Shanley is guilty because of repressed memory and repressed memory is proved by Shanley's guilt. A perfectly circular argument.

The press refused to address the fact that there is no support for repressed memory within the scientific community. What did they do instead?

Some of them interviewed Mitchell Garabedian, an ambulance chaser who has earned millions of dollars, mainly from the Catholic Church, through civil suits based on repressed memory. Is Garabedian their idea of an objective observer?

Other members on the press instead concentrated on the outrage, expressed by victim-survivors, that Shanley was exercising rights given to him by the U.S. Constitution. Now I think it is newsworthy when any group asserts that the Constitution should only apply to people they happen to like. But since so many members of the press themselves endorse this notion, it's not surprising that they took no note of it.

There was a time when I was naive enough to trust the press. But during the early 90s I became an anti-censorship activist. I soon learned that what I directly observed bore almost no resemblance to what was reported in newspapers and on television. Since then I have observed the failure of the press in many areas. They certainly failed big time from the beginning in their coverage of the Shanley case.

The press, of course, does OK when it operates with an open mind. The recent coverage of the Baran case by the Berkshire Eagle, for example, has been very good. Their coverage of the case back in 1985, however, was quite a different matter. Baran's guilt then was considered as obvious by the press as is Shanley's guilt now. Then and now, conflicting information was just ignored.

In my opinion, media unfairness is independent of ideology. For example, much has been made of the inaccuracies and unfairness of Fox News. But are the people who rely on Fox any worse than those Massachusetts "liberals" who get all of their information from the Boston Globe and NPR?

Citizens make decisions based on the information available to them. And most citizens get their information from the mainstream media. Without a fair and hard-working press, democracy cannot function.

Thomas Jefferson once said something to the effect that if given a choice he would prefer newspapers without government to government without newspapers.

What would Jefferson think if he knew the sorry state into which this nation's media has fallen?

-Bob Chatelle

Shanley Hearing Report

Dear Friend of Justice,

There may be worse ways of spending a beautiful spring afternoon than sitting in a Massachusetts court room, but they don’t readily come to mind.

On May 29^th, I and about 35 others attended the hearing on the new-trial motion of Paul Shanley. About half of that number were supporters of Paul. Of the rest, many were from the media. I only recognized a handful of people from the victim-survivor cult.

Shanley was represented by an excellent lawyer – Robert Shaw of Cambridge. The Middlesex DA’s office was represented by Loretta Lillios and Bethany Stevens. The one who did most of the talking was Ms. Lillios.

Perhaps I should say the mumbling, as I was barely able to understand anything that either of them said. While Mr. Shaw spoke from a miked podium at the back of the courtroom, Ms. Lillios and Ms. Stevens stood directly in front of the judge and spoke in weak monotones.

In the new-trial motion, Shaw raises four issues:

1. That Shanley’s lawyer, Frank Mondano, had failed Shanley by not demonstrating that the theory of repressed memory is not accepted by the scientific community.
2. That the Court’s statute-of-limitations instruction to the jury was erroneous.
3. That the Court had failed to follow mandated procedures during jury selection and that Mondano had failed to object to the same.
4. That a court officer had secretly and inappropriately intervened to influence a key prosecution witness.

I will not give a detailed account of the hearing, which lasted for over two hours. And I will confine myself to an account of a discussion of the first issue, which I believe is the one of most interest to us.

Shaw said that the evidence on which Shanley was convicted was “the thinnest of thin.” He said that justice was not done and that the court needs to answer questions about the validity of repressed memory.

According to the allegations, every Sunday morning Shanley would remove up to three children from a class of 12, take them to various spots in the church, and sexually abuse them. Yet not one teacher had testified that he or she had seen Shanley remove a child from a class. One child had testified that when in second grade, Shanley had abused him during confession. Yet children do not go to confession at such a young age.

The allegations arose when a childhood friend of Paul Busa told Busa that he (the friend) had recovered memories of being abused by Shanley 20 years prior. Busa soon recovered identical memories and joined his friend in pursuing a lawsuit. Busa’s “memories” were images in his mind that occurred in the wake of massive media exposure. At the time, Busa even made statements that he didn’t know if these images were memories or not.

Shaw stated, “Repressed memory is not generally accepted in the scientific community. Shaw said that the court had to consider three questions.

1. Who is the proper scientific community?
2. What is valid scientific methodology?
3. Was information at the trial accurately and fairly presented?

Shaw stated that he had presented a lengthy and detailed affidavit from Dr. Harrison Pope, an internationally respected memory scientist. He contrasted Dr. Pope with the prosecution’s “expert,” Dr. Daniel Brown. Shaw pointed out that the professionals that Brown relied upon included people who had been indicted and had lost their professional licenses. They included people who subscribed to unsupported theories about brainwashing by the CIA, Satanic cults, and the Ku Klux Klan. (See this speech by Dr. Corydon Hammond, co-author with Brown of Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law.)

Dr. Brown, first of all, misidentified that relevant scientific community. He stated that this community included social workers, hypnotherapists, and clinicians. None of these people are scientists.

In discussing methodology, Brown mentioned scholarship, clinical observation, and constructing meaning from observation. This is not scientific method.

Shaw stated that the prosecution’s other witness, Dr. Chu, had conducted retrospective studies in which people were asked if they had ever remembered things that they once had forgotten. Such “studies” are scientifically worthless. [Also, forgetting is very different from “repressing.]

When Shaw expressed the opinion that the theory of repressed memory was “junk science,” Judge Neel asked if it wasn’t the case that Dr. Elizabeth Loftus believes that it does exist but is very rare. Shaw disputed this. I am sure that he was right. As a scientist, Dr. Loftus would never state that the nonexistence of repressed memory has been proven. She may have said something like, “If it exists, it is very rare.”

Paul Busa claimed that he has been abused and had instantly forgotten the abuse many times over. The only way the jury could make sense of such statements was to subscribe to a belief in repressed memory. The prosecution’s entire case against Shanley rests on belief in repressed memory, yet Shanley’s trial attorney, Frank Mondano, did not challenge the theory at trial. Mondano only called one witness – Dr. Elizabeth Loftus. But Loftus could not effectively respond to Dr. Chu because Loftus was not a clinician. [Note: I attended the trial. Mondano didn’t have a clue about what to ask Loftus. After prosecutor Lynn Rooney did a cross-examination that was mainly an attack on Dr. Loftus’s character, Mondano did not even bother to do a redirect.]

Shaw pointed out that the past thirty years of memory research should have been used in the Shanley case to discredit the theory of repressed memory. Yet because Mondano did not challenge it, the court relied on unreliable information to make erroneous decisions.

As I said, it was very difficult to hear and understand the DA’s response. But she seemed to try to make the following points:

1. That the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has given its full blessing to repressed memory in the case of Commonwealth v. Frangipane.
2. That “The DSM-IV [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] accepts dissociative amnesia [repressed memory] and that should be enough.”
3. That Shaw had “unjustly maligned” Dr. Brown’s book, which is an award-winning leading textbook.
4. That Paul Busa’s abuse had been corroborated because he was able to describe a number of rooms in the church and also because his teachers [not Shanley] had often sent him out of the room for misbehavior.
5. That Frank Mondanao may have decided not to challenge the theory of repressed memory for “tactical” reasons.

The Frangipane decision is not a good decision. That should surprise no one – the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is not a good court.

Shaw had addressed the Frangipane issue in his written response to the Commonwealth. I will quote from that document.

In an effort to characterize the Defendant’s claims as having no merit, the
Commonwealth relies on several erroneous assertions concerning the Frangipane case. Commonwealth v. Frangipane, 433 Mass. 527 (2001). In Frangipane the issue of “repressed memory” was not subjected to any Lanigan hearing, and therefore no competing expert evidence was admitted and considered by any Court for a determination about general acceptance, standardization, or any other factor inherent in a proper Lanigan/Daubert evaluation. This is important context for the issues now before this Court, and perhaps explains why the Supreme Judicial Court’s opinion in Frangipane ultimately retained language indicating that the Court’s holding did not reach the question of whether there was general acceptance of “repressed memory,” or whether a Lanigan hearing was required. Commonwealth v. Frangipane, supra, supra, at 537 (“We need not reach the defendant’s additional argument that the judge erred in failing to conduct a preliminary hearing to determine the reliability of the Commonwealth’s proffered expert opinion testimony on the subject of dissociative memory loss and recovered memory”).

What occurred in Frangipane is the Supreme Judicial Court modified a small portion of its opinion in response to an amicus brief filed by the Leadership Council in coordination with a petition for rehearing. See Exhibit 1, Motion for Leave to File Amicus Brief, ¶ 2, stating that the Leadership Council is “filing an amicus brief in the context of a rehearing petition”). That amicus brief, as was true of the petition for rehearing, received no opposing response before the SJC, and did not accurately represent the science -- a fact the Defendant has demonstrated at bar through his filings to date, and is capable of demonstrating with specific, point by point reference to the content of the amicus brief if necessary. Not only is the Frangipane case of little guidance for this reason, but it is highly questionable as a reliable guide where the Supreme Judicial Court did, as the Commonwealth points out, cite to Dr. Harrison Pope and others, those cites providing part of the basis for dicta initially shooting down the Commonwealth’s suggestion that no Lanigan hearing was required. Commonwealth v. Frangipane, supra, at 536 n.13. Indeed, the after-the-fact change in dicta left language intact indicating that “repressed memory” is “highly controversial” -- a label which defies any notion of general acceptance. In the absence of any Lanigan hearing below, it is impossible to say that a multi-factored Lanigan/Daubert analysis by the Supreme Judicial Court determined “repressed memory” evidence should be admitted despite the absence of general acceptance in the scientific community.

In stark contrast to the materials submitted in support of the Frangipane case, the Defendant has produced for this Court affidavits from perhaps the most competent experts in the world. These experts, seven (7) years after Frangipane was decided by the Supreme Judicial Court and approximately 11 years after the case was litigated in the trial court, have demonstrated the state of the science, that “repressed memory” is not generally accepted and, indeed, there are not even scientifically valid error rates from which the invalid studies relied upon by Dr. Daniel Brown could be used to assert a theory of “non-overlapping” “methodological shortcomings” (C.Mem. 16). World renowned scientists such as Dr. Pope, whose scientific competence dwarfs that of Dr. Brown, cannot simply be pushed aside in disregard as the Commonwealth suggests, as if his representations concerning scientific validity and acceptance in the scientific community are the clamoring of a “vocal minority” (Dr. Brown’s self-serving term). Dr. Pope’s affidavit along with the other materials now before this Court demonstrate that Dr. Brown misrepresented the science to this Court, a fact now becoming evident in other areas of the country. See Exhibit 2, Federal Court’s Order vacating a 1.75 million dollar judgment after Dr. Brown’s testimony was challenged post-verdict on grounds of misrepresenting the science to the Federal Court; Exhibit 3, Order of the Marion Superior Court dated Dec. 31, 2007 at ¶ 4, striking, among others, multiple portions of Dr. Brown’s supplemental affidavit pursuant to claims that his affidavit suffered from “flawed reasoning and definitional deception,” and thereafter granting summary judgment for defendant. See also, e.g., FMSF, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2008), Daniel Brown, Ph.D., Accused of Misrepresentation: Nebraska Jury Award of $1.75 Million Vacated in Doe v. Vella, U.S. Dist. Ct. D. Neb., No. 8:04-cv-00269; The Free Republic, Expert Witness Testimony May Have Torpedoes 1.7 Million Award, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1955209/posts (“Court papers suggest a $1.75 million jury award in a sexual abuse lawsuit was vacated by a judge because of questions raised about a key witness’ credibility”); The Sioux City Journal, Lincoln Nebraska (AP) (2008), Judge tosses $1.75 million judgment for priest's daughter.

Points 4 and 5 of the DA’s argument are absurd on their face.

As for the inclusion of dissociative amnesia [repressed memory] by the DSM-IV, I am led to paraphrase Hamlet: There are more things dreamt of in the DSM-IV, Horatio, than are in heaven and earth.

The DSM-IV is not a scientific document. It is essentially a dictionary of alleged “mental disorders” published by the American Psychiatric Association. If a significant number of psychiatrists believe in the existence of a disorder, it will be listed in the DSM-IV. And a significant number of psychiatrists, unfortunately, believe in dissociative amnesia [repressed memory].

Psychiatrists are clinicians, not scientists. The relationship of psychiatry to science is more complex than that of other branches of medicine. For example, psychiatrists treat a number of conditions that have well-established physiological bases: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. Psychiatrists also treat patients suffering the after affects of trauma. In these cases, the relevant sciences are not physiology and biochemistry but experimental psychology. Psychiatrists themselves do not do science in the course of treating people. The psychiatrist’s office is not a scientific laboratory.

The heart of the problem is that lawyers, judges, therapists, and journalists in particular and the American public in general do not like science and do not understand science. In this regard, in my opinion, those calling themselves liberals are worse than self-acknowledged conservatives. Liberal-arts majors take only the math and science courses forced upon them and revel in their hatred of these cold and heartless fields of study.

What I find cold and heartless is allowing the lives of innocent people to be destroyed by junk science in the courtroom.

Science is not well-taught, especially in our failing public-school systems. And citizens are not educated in science by the media because journalists have no better understanding than their readers.

The attorneys who work in the Middlesex DA’s office may sincerely believe that the DSM-IV has a scientific basis and that Dr. Daniel Brown is a generally respected scientist. If so, that is very frightening.

Dr. Brown’s book is junk. It has no merit. It is disgraceful that it has won awards. It is disgraceful that it is being used anywhere as a textbook. As a textbook it can only perpetuate dangerous misinformation.

Dr. Richard McNally is Director of Clinical Training at Harvard University. Although clinically trained, he has also distinguished himself as a scientist. McNally was so appalled by Dr. Brown’s book, that he was led to research and write his own book to refute it. If you want a glimpse of real science, I highly recommend Remembering Trauma by Dr, Richard McNally. It leaves Brown’s book in tatters.

I attended the trial of Paul Shanley. Some of you may be interested in reading my remarks from that time.

Read more about the Shanley case.

-Bob Chatelle

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Science

Dear Friend of Justice,

This afternoon my partner Jim D'Entremont and I will be attending the hearing on the new-trial motion of Paul Shanley (http://www.ncrj.org/Shanley/Index.html). This case, as most of you know, hinges on the junk-science "theory of repressed memory." (Usually referred to as "recovered memory," but that usage is somewhat misleading. Every time we remember anything we can be said to "recover" a memory.)

In an article in today's Boston Globe, Middlese DA Gerry Leone is quoted as saying, "The concept of recovered memory by victims of abuse has been accepted by both the scientific and legal communities..."

That statement, of course, is a lie. But it is a lie that few Globe readers will question. Had Mr. Leone said, "The concept of astrology has been accepted by both the scientific and legal communities..," his statement would probably have raised a few eyebrows. Yet there is no more evidence for repressed memory than there is for astrology.

Repressed memory has, unfortunately, been accepted by a great many prosecutors. But that is because it enables them to win cases they would otherwise lose. Scientific validity is seldom a matter of concern to such people.

But support for the theory of repressed memory in the scientific community is almost nonexistent. The "scientists" who support this theory are, for the most part, crackpots.

Consider, for example, Dr. Corydon Hammond, one of the principal authors of Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law. This is an award-winning book published by Harvard University. It is perhaps the bible of the repressed-memory cult. I'm sure Mr. Leone would not hesitate in saying that Dr. Hammond is a leading scientist who "accepts" (and promotes) the theory of repressed memory.

One wonders what Mr. Leone would say if he were to read this speech by Dr. Hammond (http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/greenbaum2.html)

Many of you have already read this speech. But I suggest you take a little time to read it again.

I think any reasonable person reading the Greenbaum speech would conclude that Dr. Hammond is not playing with a full deck.

Unfortunately, neither are a great many Massachusetts prosecutors, journalists, and politicians.

The battle against ignorance and bigotry is indeed difficult. But to abandon it is to abandon our humanity.

-Bob Chatelle

Birthday Reminder P.S.

From Lonna Manning:

Thanks for the reminder Bob, and for all you do. Could you perhaps also tell people that

Nancy Smith also has a wish list at Amazon com. If you enter "Nancy Smith" and then enter "Marysville" you can get to it. It has books on painting and music that she likes.

Thanks, Lona

Birthday Reminders

Dear Friend of Justice,

I know that many of you like to send birthday cards to innocent people in prison. We have two birthdays coming up in the next week:

Nancy Smith (http://members.shaw.ca/imaginarycrimes/smith&allen.htm)
#W034304
c/o Ohio Reformatory for Women
1479 Collins Ave.
Marysville, OH 43040
(May 26th)

Joseph Allen (http://members.shaw.ca/imaginarycrimes/smith&allen.htm)
A 293486
Mansfield Correctional Institution
P. O. Box 788
Mansfield, Ohio 44901-0788
(May 29th)

May 26th is also Bernard Baran's (http://www.freebaran.org/) birthday.

I hope some of you will take a minute to brighten the day of a victim of our broken-down criminal-justice system.

-Bob Chatelle

Why Senator Kennedy's Serious Illness Scares the hell out of me.

Two words: Martha Coakley.

When John Kerry was running for President four years ago, Coakley made it clear that if he were elected, her black conical hat would be in the ring for Kerry's Senate seat.

And now Kennedy may be forced to give up his.

Coakley seems to think that her deficiencies of ethics and morals are compensated for by her ambition.

I want to beg even the atheists and Republicans among you to pray for Kennedy's complete recovery.

-Bob Chatelle

A Plea From Carol Hopkins

When I first got into the justice-advocacy business, one of the first people I encountered was Carol Hopkins. Recently, Carol sent me the following email and asked me to post it to this blog:

Dear Friends of Justice,

As most of you know I retired 10 years ago from the "injustice business." I have only come out of seclusion a few times on very special cases. Fortunately, in each of those cases the unjustly accused and convicted had a quick release. This time I am writing about a case that desperately needs your help. It is in the process of reversal; the court has "found good cause to reverse" Dr. Dubria's donviction. The case is in the process of being briefed prior to ordering an evidentiary hearing. I have absolutely NO doubt the case will be overturned but time is of the essence.

Dr. Sam Dubria's mother and father are in their late 80's. Lourdes Dubria has recently undergone chemotherapy for breast cancer. His father, Pat Dubria, has been nearly blinded by a stroke several months ago. Despite their age and fraility, they are still working full-time to pay the attorneys working for their son's freedom. Dr. Sam needs to come home and be with these wonderful people in the last days of their lives.

While Mr. and Mrs. Dubria have been working in what should have been the retired years they enjoyed their grandchildren, the San Diego District Attorney's office has hidden, and perhaps destroyed, files, delayed and continued at every opportunity. The original DA on the case is now a sitting Superior Court judge. He has filed a declaration claiming t he provided Brady evidence to the defense at the time of trial that was, in fact, never provided, never bate-stamped, and not in the district attorney's own case file. There is no element of this case that is not tainted. It is only attorneys Tracy and Thor Emblem's persistence, perseverance, and obsessive attention to science and detail that has resulted in the current order.

For full details on this case, please go to http://www.free-drsamdubria.com/.

There is a petition to sign on the website. Please take the time to do so. It would be helpful if you forwarded the information on to those in your address book who you think would be interested and take the time to sign.

If you would like to be kept informed about this case, please write back and I will put you on the Sam Dubria information board.

If you would like to help in some way, please let me know. We particularly need help in the San Diego area reaching out to the media, clubs and organizations to inform them about the case. It is my hope that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis will drop the case and let Dr. Sam go free before, or soon after, the July 16 hearing but we need to be prepared to apply political pressure if she does not. Continuing to hold an innocent man is a political decision; we will need a political solution.

A thumbnail sketch of the case follows.

Seventeen years ago, a young Filipino-American, Dr., Sam Dubria, was convicted of murder with special enhancements for rape. He was sentenced to life without parole.

The facts of the case are that Dr. Dubria and his long time friend, only recently a romantic friend, Jennifer Klapper were vacationing at a hotel in Carlsbad. They had spent several nights before with the Dubria family in Glendale. Dr. Dubria had just finished his residency in gerentology and this was a celebratory trip.

Jennifer had a long medical history of health problems with multiple trips to the hospital for arhythmia, severe headaches, nausea, dizziness. She was approximately 25% below recommended body weight at the time of her death. Those records were received by the Deputy District Attorney during the trial but never provided to the defense. Instead, Deputy DA Casserly argued in closing that Jennifer was a perfectly healthy young woman knowing that she had this history. These medical records were only discovered within the past two years by Tracy Emblem, the same appellate attorney who did the Ken Marsh case.

The Deputy DA's theory of the case was that Dr. Dubria chloroformed Jennifer, raped her, she died and he then tried to cover it up. There is no evidence for any of the above. There is evidence that there could have been some contamination in the Medical Examiner's lab. There is also evidence that the Medical Examiner changed her testimony to fit the DA's theory of the crime. At the time of autopsy she explained the abrasions on Jennifer's face as the usual result of paramedic intervention. At trial she testified that the abrasions were as a result of her attempts to ward off a rape.

There is much more on the website. This is a far story than any CSI could imagine.

Carol Hopkins
61-840-5154

The Triumph of Greed

Dear Friend of Justice,

I am posting this for a number of reasons. First of all, I have a pressing need to get a few things off my chest. Second, we need to ask for help. And third, I think the post is relevant to the concerns of this group.

The building where Jim and I have lived for twelve years is in process of being sold. To find out about the buyer, check out these links:

http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=25783461

http://boston.citysearch.com/review/4743088

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3715334649

Our building used to be a limited-equity housing co-op. We were able to buy a share here for perhaps 10 percent (or less) of what it would have cost to buy a comparable condominium. Our monthly carrying charges were low. But the value of our share would only increase by a few hundred dollars per year. And we could only sell that share back to the co-op. The intent was to keep out speculators and preserve affordable housing here indefinitely.

Unfortunately, the speculators were not kept out. Ultimately, they destroyed the co-op.

Geese that lay golden eggs have a very short life expectancy.

Because our housing costs were so low, Jim and I were able to work less than full time and devote a great deal of time to our criminal-justice work. Had we not moved here, for example, we could never have done our work for Bernard Baran.

The trouble began not too long after we moved in. Some of us had legitimate concerns about the condition of the building. We wanted to identify necessary repairs and do them. So we hired an excellent engineering company who did a good study. They told us what we should do immediately, what we should do in a few years, and what we should do eventually.

Unfortunately, we didn't have sufficient reserves to pay for all of this. One way or another, carrying charges would have had to go up a bit.

At this point one of our members sold us the Brooklyn Bridge. She had "found" an architect who would do his own study and also the necessary work. The total fee would be less than our reserves. Carrying charges would not go up a penny.

So our Board bought the Brooklyn Bridge and persuaded the membership to go along. The member was hired to "manage" the project.

It was never disclosed that the architect was the member's former business partner. Nor was any of their less-than-stellar joint resume ever shared.

The project was a debacle. Our lives were disrupted by the "repairs" for almost a year. The money finally ran out. The building was in worse shape than when the "repairs" began.

The Board hired an engineering firm to evaluate the work. Their scathing report was kept secret until it was finally leaked years later.

The Board, by the way, is a three-member body that meets in private and doesn't publish minutes of meetings. But it later became known that the Board declined to take legal action against the member and her partner because they didn't want to sue a member. In my opinion, it would have been more appropriate to press criminal charges.

The social fabric of this co-op was destroyed by this fiasco. But things were relatively quiet for a few years. Tense, but quiet. And then some members decided that we should go condo.

The membership as a whole wasn't interested. But there was a consensus that we should again look into the building's problems -- which still existed -- and create a plan to address them.

The person responsible for the previous repair fiasco soon allied herself with the condo people. I will just refer to this faction as the Greed Party. Their initial objective, it appeared, was to tear-down the building and build luxury condos.

The Greed Party first tried to convince the membership that the building was in horrible shape, that it was dangerous, and that our lives were in danger if we continued to live here. A consensus was reached that we should hire experts to look at the building and advise us of our options.

Since the Greed Party wanted teardown/rebuild to be one of the examined options, we hired an architectural firm, not an engineering firm. The architects found many problems, including code violations. And we discovered that if we tried to fix the code violations, we would trigger a threshold that would require us also to make the building handicapped accessible. Among other things, we would have to install an elevator. Repairing the building was proving to be an expensive option.

Once the study was done and the Board had been informed of the code violations, the Board was forced to act. And if they did not act, the Greed Party could call in building inspectors. The Greed Party could now use blackmail to get its way.

The Greed Party began pushing the idea of selling the building. "We are sitting on a gold mine," one of them was overheard saying at a local restaurant.

Having convinced most of the membership that the building was in such sorry shape as to be worthless, it now set about convincing the same people that they were sitting on an extremely valuable piece of property. Throughout the rest of the process, the Greed Party kept making both of these contradictory arguments, depending on their immediate goal.

There were some of us who felt the building could be saved with help. My neighborhood has an excellent non-profit Community Development Corporation that was interested in preserving 46 units of affordable housing in this neighborhood. They also had access to several million dollars of "inclusionary funds" (funds escrowed by developers to subsidize affordable housing) that they wanted to invest to save the building. The CDC, not surprisingly, was anathema to the Greed Party.

The Board decided to hire a "development consultant." Many of us wanted the CDC to be at least considered for the position. The Greed Party lobbied against the Board even sending the CDC a request for proposal (RFP). Finally, the RFP was sent and the CDC came in with by far the best proposal. But the Board hired instead a huge real-estate firm. Their $40,000 report turned out to be nothing but a set of not terribly helpful PowerPoint slides.

And so it went. The full story would take tens of thousands of words. Some of it is quite incredible. But I will spare you the gory details.

In the end, those of who cared about affordable housing and the principles of a limited-equity co-op were crushed by those who cared only about selling to the highest bidder -- regardless of who that turned out to be. The welfare and future of the neighborhood did not even appear on their radar screen.

One might think, at least, that the new owner will have to fix the building's problems -- at least the code violations. I am positive that this will not occur. Nothing of the building's problems was disclosed to prospective buyers. (This is quite legal.) Buildings are often sold "as is." In these cases, the buyer usually stipulates a due-diligence period so that he or she can bring in experts to examine the building and adjust (or withdraw) the offer depending on their findings.

But the purchaser of this building waived due diligence. He doesn't want to know about the building's problems. If he knew, he would be obligated to fix them.

Does the Greed Party in fact believe that this building is dangerous? If so, it doesn't bother them in the least that future tenants might be risking their lives by living here.

That's not their problem.

If Jim and I were in a better financial position, we would just use the money we get from the sale to further our work. But we can't afford to do that. We have no assets and we have little income. Without my social security, we couldn't get by at all. The money we will receive is dirty money. It is worse than tainted. But if we don't accept it we would end up living in a shelter.

When it comes to real estate and managing money, we are babes in the woods. We haven't worried about money management because we had no money to manage. And we never thought we might be in a position where buying a place to live was an option.

That is why we need help. And we don't even know where to begin looking for help.

Much as I hate Massachusetts, I think we have to stay here. Most of the prisoners that I am closest to are in Massachusetts. If I moved away, I could never visit or attend their court hearings. And our social network is here. We are just too old to start anew in a new place.

So if you have any advice -- or know someone who might -- please let us know.

The next few months will be months of upheaval. And the whole process of finding a place and moving will consume a lot of time and energy.

But my hope is that eventually the dust will settle and I can again turn my attention back to innocent people in prison who have suffered far more than I can even imagine.

In many ways, the members of the Greed Party remind me of those corrupt prosecutors who have done so much to destroy our criminal-justice system. If self-interest is truly the only thing that matters, then these people are behaving reasonably. They further their careers by winning cases. So what if this comes at the expense of innocent people too poor and powerless to defend themselves? Winning isn't the main thing. It is the only thing.

David Capeless and the members of the Greed party would get along very well. They have so much in common.

And they have no comprehension of people like us. People who have values other than "rational" self-interest.

But self-interest is not rational. If unchecked, it destroys communities. And when our communities are destroyed, so are we all.

-Bob Chatelle

Bee Will No Longer Visit His Mother

DA David Capeless scored a major victory in his ceaseless battle against justice.

Bernard Baran's mother has asked Bee not to visit her anymore.

Bertha explained to Bee that she has worked all of her life to make her home a safe place for her children. But she realizes that her home is not safe for Bee. Every time he goes there, the harassment gets worse.

She has been having nightmares since the police descended upon her last Friday.

I hope David Capeless is proud of himself.

-Bob Chatelle

Another Massachusetts Outrage - Police Descend on Bernard Baran's Mother

Dear Friend of Justice,

The Pittsfield police gave Bee's mother a nice Mother's Day present -- they descended en masse, lights flashing, on her home at around eleven last night (Friday).

They pounded on her door, demanding Bee, claiming that they had a warrant for his arrest.

When they conceded to Bee's brother that they in fact had no warrant, they were denied admission.

Judge Locke had issued Bee a court order giving him permission to visit his mother from yesterday through Monday morning.

No one bothered to tell the people who do the GPS monitoring or the Pittsfield Police.

One of the most amazing things about Massachusetts government is its gross incompetence -- gross incompetence that extends to the highest levels.

John Swomley is working to get this mess straightened out.

But the state has accomplished its purpose. It has ruined Mother's Day for one of the finest women it has ever been my privilege to know.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. Almost every time Bee gets permission to visit, the state does something outrageous. Bee and his family are the victims of the worst case of injustice I have thus far encountered. When will enough be enough?

May God damn the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!

-Bob Chatelle

Bob Halsey Has Moved

Dear Friend of Justice,

I know that some of you write to Bob Halsey (See http://members.shaw.ca/imaginarycrimes/halsey.htm)

Bob recently wrote to me to tell me that he has been moved. His new address is:

Robert C. Halsey
W-55045
Bridgewater State Hospital
20 Administration Road
Bridgewater MA 02324

At this time I don't know the reason for the move. Robert is elderly and in poor health. I know that letters and cards are always appreciated.

-Bob

Fight Fiercely Hahvud

Dear Friend of Justice,

2008 is a reunion year for me. Until recently, I had been thinking about it as my 35th reunion. But I subsequently realized that it will be my 45th. (And I once was quite good at math.)

I generally don't attend these reunions. But this year I did submit a class report. The text follows:

I last submitted a Class Report ten years ago. I also sent a copy of that report, as an introduction, to Bernard Baran, an inmate of a Massachusetts prison. I had been urged to contact Baran by a friend who was convinced that Baran was innocent. For some reason, she thought I might be able to do something to help him. Why she thought that, I didn't know—I was not a lawyer or a person of influence. I was a computer programmer. (She later explained that she prodded me because she knew I was persistent. Stubborn may be a better word.)

Little did I then know that Baran and others like him were going to be my principal occupation for the next ten years. Currently, Baran is out of prison (under severe restrictions) because a judge granted him a new trial. The DA, however, has appealed the decision and the Appeals Court had a hearing in February. (For more information, see my blog (bobchatelle.blogspot.com) or the Web site of the Bernard Baran Justice Committee (www.freebaran.org).)

I could never have done the work for Baran and others without the constant help and support of Jim D'Entremont, my partner for the past thirty-eight years.

Through my work for Baran, I became concerned about others rotting in prison for crimes that they did not commit and the fact that there are really no organizations to help the overwhelming majority of them. The Innocence Project, of course, does wonderful work. But DNA is present in only a tiny percentage of cases.

So I founded another organization: The National Center for Reason and Justice (www.ncrj.org).

During these past ten years, I have become increasingly appalled by what I've learned about the American criminal justice system. It doesn't work. And if you have little money and lack connections—if you are one of the "people who don't count"—it really doesn't work. The "people who count"—the wealthy and powerful—can hire the legal help they need to free them, even if they are guilty. The poor and powerless too often end up with lawyers who become their worst enemies. Justice—like education, health care, decent housing, freedom—is now a luxury, out of the reach of most Americans.

Once a conviction occurs, it is nearly impossible to get it overturned. We live under a government incapable of admitting error and that chooses instead to compound it. By relentless repetition, they believe that lies can be transformed into truth. But without a working criminal justice system, none of us can claim to be free. Even the people who count. Even the ones who went to Harvard -- whose motto, I believe, is still veritas..

On a more personal note, I must confess that I am one of those many unfortunates who just don't do well under capitalism. My current economic situation is very challenging. I had been deriving most of my income as a programmer from one client. And I made the mistake of outliving him. His widow took over the company on his death and she severely curtailed my contract.

I have spent several months looking for work. But I have an unconventional resume and my age works against me. I have applied everywhere I could think of, including temporary agencies and all five of the Starbucks in my neighborhood. In short, I am unemployable.

But I do receive a modest stipend from the National Center for Reason and Justice. And I have started to collect social security. So I hope to continue to scrape by.

Jim and I will also be losing our home. For the past years, we have been living in a co-op. But the membership has decided to sell the building. Currently, we have no idea where we will end up. But we certainly can't afford to stay in Boston.

I have now been living free of drugs and alcohol for over a quarter of a century. I have not forgotten the empty, useless life I lived when I was a slave to booze. Working with our society's victims is often extremely painful. But I prefer the pain to the spiritual pain suffered by all drinking alcoholics. Anything I may have accomplished, I could not have accomplished without my sobriety. I am extremely grateful.

Most citizens now live in fear. And our government works for the privileged few who own it. One person can do so little to change a corrupt and powerful system. I sometimes wonder if the struggle is worth the pain..

But I recently attended the memorial service for a friend, the novelist Ivan Gold. (A fellow recovering alcoholic.) During the eulogies, someone recalled that Ivan had once said, "If you die still trying to do what you believe is right, you've won."

On that assumption, I will continue the struggle.

-Bob Chatelle, '63

Another Reason I'm Glad I Left the People's Republik

Dear Friend of Justice,

It's now almost twelve years since Jim and I were run out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. I have no desire to live there again, even if I won megabucks and could afford to do so. But I do return once every three months to have my teeth cleaned.

I arrived today in Harvard Square very early for my appointment. The sky was clear and the temperature was in the low 70s. It was a perfect spring day. I decided to stroll down Kennedy (formerly Boylston) Street to the river. But when I reached Memorial Drive, my enjoyment of the day was seriously marred. I discovered that that intersection has been renamed Scott Harshbarger Square.

The renaming, of course, had been done by God's Chosen Few: the Cambridge City Council. Jim and I had lived in Cambridge a long time and I remember some past political achievements. With particular fondness, I remember the time that the city hired people to comb through its citizens' trash, so that it might identify and punish recycling miscreants.

I am not surprised that God's Chosen Few anointed Harshbarger: he has the reputation of being a great "liberal" -- whatever the hell that means. But for me he just personifies the current moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the Democratic Party. (Note: I am not a Republican.)

Most of you reading this will have no problem remembering Scott Harshbarger. If you need your memory refreshed, here is a link to the text of a flyer I distributed many years ago before a Harshbarger speech: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/hflyer.html.

To find out more about the Fells Acres (Amirault) case, follow this link: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/amirault.html.

The influence of the Amirault persecution was felt not only in Massachusetts but also across the nation for many years thereafter. Many witch hunters, to this day, consider it a "model" prosecution, an example to be emulated.

Now I am fallibly human and make mistakes all of the time. I have never hesitated to forgive those who admit their mistakes. But Harshbarger has never apologized to any of his direct and indirect victims: the Amiraults, Bernard Baran, the Souzas, many others. The extent of the damage he did and the amount of needless suffering that he caused is anyone's guess. But he has never admitted the slightest mistake. To this day, he persists in his Spitzeresque arrogance and hubris.

I cannot say whether Harshbarger is evil or merely stupid. And the fact that he went to Harvard rules out neither alternative.

Since he asks for no forgiveness, I shall give him none. But neither will I honor him. To honor him is to say that it is admirable to trample upon justice in pursuit of political ambition.

By choosing to honor him, God's Chosen Few succeed only in bringing dishonor upon themselves.

-Bob Chatelle

Going Home

Dear Friend of Justice,

This Thursday, I will be getting up at the crack of dawn to fly to Brainerd, Minnesota. (That's the town where the movie Fargo actually is set. And people in that part of Minnesota really do talk that way.)

My niece will be meeting my plane and driving me to my hometown, Aitkin, where I will be visiting my mother. She turned 87 in September. Her spirits are good, but her health has been failing her. She has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and emphysema. How she got emphysema is a mystery: she has never been a smoker and has lived all of her life in rural Minnesota.

I treasure these visits. But I never know which will be my last.

My mother lives between two lakes and this is the time of the year when the ice goes off. I haven't seen the ice go off the lakes since I was in high school, many decades ago. I plan to take a long walk every day that I am there. (I often spot an eagle in flight during these walks.) I particularly enjoy the walk to the little country church that my grandfather and great-grandfather helped build. They and many other family members are buried in the little cemetery attached to the church. This cemetery will also be my mother's final resting place.

When I was a kid, I thought Aitkin, Minnesota was the most boring place in the world. I couldn't wait to get away. It took me decades to appreciate it. I am now glad to have had a home town. Aitkin has shaped me in ways that I probably will never know.

A dozen years ago, I created this page about Aitkin. It includes material from the local newspaper, chronicling the year 1896.

You may be wondering about the picture above. It is a float from the world's only Annual Fish House Parade, which takes place in Aitkin.

The struggle against injustice can be very dispiriting. Anyone involved in it needs periods of respite so that the soul can mend. I always return from these trips somewhat rested and refreshed. I will be back in Boston late on April 22nd.

-Bob Chatelle

My Visit to "Kevin"

Dear Friend of Justice,

Yesterday I finally met "Kevin" face to face. I have been corresponding with him for a long time, by letter and by telephone, but I had never visited him. I don't have a car and a visit is quite an expensive process involving commuter rail and taxis. Because my financial situation is so precarious, I've long known that I can't make a commitment to visit him often. But there were so many things I didn't feel comfortable talking about in letters (which can be read) and on the phone (which can be monitored and recorded).

I had been long puzzled about his first "crime" -- allegedly committed when he was about 13. At the time, his older brother was sexually abusing both "Kevin" and their four-year-old niece. When the niece began making accusations, the family made "Kevin" take the fall. I was horrified and curious how such a thing could have happened.

One thing I discovered yesterday is that "Kevin" has a different biological father than his siblings. Kevin's biological father was a man that the mother had been married to before she married the man who fathered the other children. This was no secret within the family. "Kevin's father" and his siblings have a different last name than "Kevin."

For as long as "Kevin" can remember, he was the abused child and the brother was the fair-haired boy. "Kevin" was considered the troublemaker and he did get into a lot of trouble. The brother never got into trouble. And no one knew that the brother was sexually abusing both "Kevin" and the little niece. Until the niece started to talk about it.

"Kevin" admits having done bad things to his niece and thus doesn't claim innocence. But he says that the really nasty things in the police reports and described in court were in fact done by the brother. He mentioned that there were times when the niece gave the wrong name and had to be corrected.

"Kevin" makes no excuses for his second crime, other than his abuse of drugs and alcohol and his denial of his true sexuality. This second crime, committed when he was 18, was far less serious than the first. He was sentenced to a year in jail. After serving his time, he was committed for "one day to life" as a sexually dangerous person."

Without the first "crime," he probably wouldn't have been committed. And without the first "crime," he probably could easily get the commitment lifted.

But there is no realistic way that the first "crime" can be removed from his record. For most intents and purposes, a conviction is forever. And everyone, including his own lawyers, has to proceed on the assumption that he really did the things he was convicted for.

During his "treatment," "Kevin" also has to act as if he did the things he was convicted for. At one point, he sent me the "autobiography" he had written as part of his treatment. None of the things he had told me about his brother were in it, even though I certainly thought they were an important part of his story. But the "official" truth is that he did the things his brother actually did.

Also, it is not to his advantage to let his "therapists" know that he was a victim. Although there is no evidence for it, almost all "therapists" subscribe to the cycle-of-abuse theory: if you were sexually abused, then you will likely become a sexual abuser. If the "therapists" knew he had been sexually abused, they would consider him more, not less, sexually dangerous.

Therapist logic is a lot like legal logic. That's why therapists and prosecutors work so well together.

"Kevin" is 22 years old, soon to turn 23. He was 18 when he was sent to his current facility. A month after that, his mother paid him a short visit. Yesterday, he received his second visit -- from me.

I would like to see "Kevin" given a chance.

He has had a terrible life. He has a lot of anger within him. I think it would be disastrous were he to get out and pick up alcohol or drugs. I have lived free of alcohol and drugs for over 25 years. I would do what I could to help him stay clean and sober.

I also think "Kevin" has come to accept himself for who he is and no longer feels the need to prove -- in inappropriate ways -- that he is someone else.

"Kevin" goes to court in July. His public defender will try to get the commitment lifted. I hope for the best, but I have told him not to be devastated if he doesn't succeed the first time. I have promised to visit him again. My partner Jim has also said that he wants to visit with me at some point.

There are a great many kids like "Kevin" -- kids who had the misfortune of being born into abusive alcoholic families. It's hard for them to find advocates or people willing to help them. So we lock them up for life.

There's got to be a better way.

-Bob

Innocence Project Petition

Dear Friend of Justice,

Today a subscriber emailed me a link to this Innocence Project petition, which I hope you will sign.

Massachusetts is one of the states that, disgracefully, has no DNA law.

Go to http://ip.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/947_Petition.

-Bob Chatelle

Murphy's Response

On Friday, March 28th, I received my response from Superintendent Murphy. You can read it by clicking on the image of the letter at the left.

Basically, Murphy says he has no idea why the books were contrabanded. He does not, you will notice, concede that any mistakes were made, that anyone might have violated procedures or done anything at all wrong.

And, as I expected, no apology was offered.





"Kevin," however, has talked to the Chief Property Officer, who seems to agree that the books should not have been declared contraband. If the books have not yet been destroyed, he may still receive them. If they have been destroyed, it's possible that his canteen account will be credited. So we are still awaiting final resolution. If necessary, I will reorder the books, one by one.

I am still hoping to find people willing to correspond with "Kevin." If you are interested, let me know and I will give you his name and address.

On another note, believe it or not, I now have my Icelandic herbs. They were held by U.S. customs for a long time and then sent back to Iceland. The Icelandic company contacted me and told me that such a thing had never happened to them before. They had sent them originally by Icelandic post. So they resent them by FedEx and gave me the tracking number. This time they were held in customs for about 12 hours and then released.

-Bob Chatelle

Contrabanded Books Development

I just received a phone call from "Kevin." Superintendent Murphy is investigating what happened with the contrabanded books and "Kevin" is optimistic that there will be a fair resolution.

I will post more when the matter is finally resolved.

-Bob

The Rule of Law

Dear Friend of Justice,

Last Sunday I received a phone call from my friend "Kevin." (See my posts of March 14th and 17th.) He was finally given one of the three books I had sent him -- Painless Reading Comprehension. The two books destroyed by the prison were thus Painless Writing and Painless Poetry. The numeral 2 had been written on the contraband slip. But I hadn't given this too much thought. I hadn't assumed that all employees of the Massachusetts Correctional system could pass a math proficiency test.

As expected, I have heard nothing back from Superintendent Murphy. If I don't hear something by the end of the week, I will write again to the Commissioner, with a cc to Representative Rushing and Senator Jehlen. Rushing is my state rep. And Senator Patricia Jehlen is the one member of the Massachusetts legislature who has shown past concern about Massachusetts injustices.

"Kevin" told me that he had heard that the officer who had destroyed the books had contrabanded property belonging to a total of 115 prisoners during the same week. It was his last week as a property officer before being promoted to IPS (Internal Perimeter Security). I have no way of verifying this information, of course.

I will wait a week or so and try to send him one of the books again. As I mentioned before, the Painless series was designed for use in high schools.

This morning I discovered another way in which I had been the victim of arbitrary government power.

In the fall of 2006, my partner, Jim D'Entremont, took me to Sweden. The main objective of the trip was a visit to the mountain village that my grandmother had left as a little girl late in the 19th century. It was a wonderful trip, and we were treated like visiting royalty by distant cousins I met for the first time.

On the way back, we spend a few days in Iceland where for the first time we experienced wonderful Icelandic lamb soup. After coming home, we went looking for recipes on the internet. We discovered that a key ingredient was an herb mixture containing herbs native to Iceland -- such as Arctic thyme and bog bilberry. You don't find such things on the shelves at Star Market, Whole Foods, or Trader Joes.

After a lot of googling, I found a source within Iceland. Ordering it was expensive, partly because you pay for the postage by the kilo. But I ordered a small jar of the herbs over a year ago with no problem.

Recently we ran out and I decided to order two small jars. I waited and waited for them to arrive. I contacted the company, who supplied me with the tracking number. I discovered that "Your item is being processed by United States Customs." This processing has been going on since March 12th.

U.S. Custom Agents can seize anything they want. They don't have to give reasons. They can hold your property indefinitely. And there is no appeal. They have the same kind of absolute authority given to correctional officers.

The law is what they say it is. It's for national security. And to protect the children.

While I was fuming about all of this, I received a phone call from a friend, telling me that the Boston Globe had published an obituary for John O'Brien. (See posts of March 6th and March 9th.) Here is the link:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/03/25/john_obrien_playwright_with_sharp_wit_and_keen_conscience/?p1=email_to_a_friend


John was a teacher with a terrific love of learning. And he had enormous compassion for prisoners and ex-prisoners. He would have been horrified by what was done to "Kevin." And he would have made a real pest of himself trying to right that wrong. I wish I had his kind of spirit.

John would also have been amused by the idea of U.S. Custom officials trying to get stoned by smoking a mixture of Arctic thyme and bog bilberry.

-Bob

A Letter to Superintendent Murhpy

March 17, 2008

Robert F. Murphy, Jr., Superintendent
Massachusetts Treatment Center
Bridgewater MA 02324

Dear Superintendent Murphy:

From June of 1999 through June of 2006, when Judge Francis Fecteau threw out his conviction, I was a regular visitor of Bernard Baran. During those seven years, his supporters and I often sent him books using Amazon.com.

During that time I also began corresponding with some of Baran’s friends, including XXXXX XXXXXXXX. I still correspond with XXXXX and accept his phone calls. About a month ago, I sent XXXXX three books via Amazon.

One he particularly appreciated was Painless Grammar, by Dr. Rebecca Elliot. (The Painless series was developed for use in high schools.) This book came with a brochure that described some of the other books in the series. I asked XXXXX to let me know which interested him.

On March 2^nd, I ordered three more books from Amazon for XXXXX: Painless Poetry, Painless Reading Comprehension, and Painless Writing.

Last Friday, XXXXX called me to tell me that the Treatment Center had declared these books contraband. XXXXX was given the choice of having the books destroyed or paying 12 to 15 dollars to have then shipped out. Since XXXXX couldn’t afford the postage, the books were destroyed.

I asked XXXXX to send me the contraband slip so that I could try to figure out what had gone wrong. I enclose a copy. It is unsigned and undated. The only explanation given was “Book (2) not authr. DOC.” So I have no idea what rule I might have violated.

Since I have little income besides my social security, I can offer XXXXX no financial help. I am, however, happy to help him improve and educate himself. But I can’t afford to buy books for him that the Treatment Center is going to destroy. The destroyed books cost me $32.86. I don’t expect to be compensated. But I would like to send XXXXX books in the future and not have to worry about their being destroyed.

I certainly don’t want to violate your rules. I just want to know what they are. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Chatelle

CC: Commissioner Harold W. Clarke, Senator Patricia Jehlen, Representative Byron Rushing

The Bizarre Idiocy of the Correctional System

On February 25th, I posted a notice about my friend Kevin, a prison inmate. (http://bobchatelle.blogspot.com/2008/02/befriend-sex-offender.html)

Kevin is very interested in trying to better himself. A while back, I sent him a few books, including a dictionary and a grammar book, from Amazon.com. (I've been sending prisoners books via Amazon for years.) I couldn't find the grammar book I use (it's out of print), so I took a chance on one called Painless Grammar. He loved it! They also sent Kevin one of their brochures, which listed some of the other books in the Painless series. There were three that especially interested him: Painless Writing, Painless Reading Comprehension, and Painless Poetry.

I got a call from Kevin tonight. He told me that the prison authorities had declared the books contraband. They refused to give him any reason why they considered these books so dangerous and subversive. The contraband slip (which I have requested) only said, "Not Approved by DOC."

Kevin was given two choices: authorize them to destroy the books or send them back to Amazon. But if they were sent back, he would be charged $15 for the postage. Kevin had to authorize them to destroy the books because he couldn't afford the postage. (I suspect that some people who work for DOC get a certain pleasure out of destroying books.)

I can't find the words to comment upon this act of stupidity and vandalism.

-Bob

Memorial Giving for John O'Brien

I just received a phone call from John O'Brien's widow, Gwen. She was concerned that the death notice for John had only suggested memorial gifts to the Malden Public Library. She felt that giving to other organizations might more appropriately reflect John's later values and concerns.

I think everyone who knew John could think of deserving causes to support in his memory. Since John was a generous supporter of the National Center for Reason and Justice (http://www.ncrj.org/), I hope some will consider a gift to the NCRJ in his memory.

Gwen said a full obituary for John will appear in the Boston Globe this week. I shall share it when it appears.

-Bob Chatelle

Rest in Peace, John O'Brien

John A. O'Brien
Of Roxbury, formerly of Malden, of pancreatic cancer, at age 78, March 5. Beloved husband of Gwen (Moore) O'Brien. Former husband of Elizabeth (Prince) O'Brien of Melrose & beloved father of their children, the late James of Malden, the late Daniel of Malden, Thomas of Oneonta, NY, David of Amherst, MA & Ellen of Roslindale, MA. Devoted grandfather to Christopher, Timothy, Daniel & Haley & father-in-law of Theresa, all of Oneonta, NY. Also former husband of Olive Silva of Swampscott, MA. There will be two memorial gatherings: At the Community Church of Boston, Copley Square (565 Boylston Street) on Saturday, March 15 at 10AM, and at the Malden Public Library Fri., March 28 at 2pm. Donations in John's memory may be made to the James & Daniel O'Brien Fund at the Malden Public Library, 36 Salem St., Malden, MA 02148.
Published in the Boston Globe on 3/6/2008.

One of the great rewards I have had since beginning my criminal-justice work a dozen years or so ago has been the truly wonderful people I have come to know.

Many of these people were in their 70s and 80s when I first met them and unfortunately many are now gone: Herbert Aptheker, Fred Lubet, Dan Finneran, Stewart Washburn, and others.

My friend John O'Brien has now joined them.

For a great many years, John taught English at Malden public high school. Among his pupils were both Gerald and Cheryl Amirault. (http://mysite.verizon.net/vzex11z4/amirault.html)

Because John knew the Amiraults, he knew from the start how ridiculous were the charges against them.

I got to know John on visits to Gerald Amirault in prison. When he learned about the tragic case of Bernard Baran, he became an avid supporter (and frequent visitor) of Bee as well.

While far from a wealthy man, John also contributed generously to the efforts to free the falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned.

John was amazingly good company. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was an incomparable story teller. He was also a talented actor and playwright. Many of his stories were drawn from his decades of experience in the classroom and in the theater.

I remember the night that Jim and I took Cheryl Amirault to see John in a production of Glengarry Glenross. She got to see her old English teacher spout language I'm sure he never used in the classroom.

The last time I saw John was but a few months ago when I attended what turned out to be the last reading of one of his plays. John was frail but in his usual great spirits. He held his own during the question-and-answer session that followed the reading.

And he told a story that I hadn't heard him tell before. Since it is the last story I heard John tell, I will attempt to repeat it. I won't try telling it in the first person, however, because I could never capture John's voice.

When John taught English in Malden, one play he taught every year was Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. John loved that play and his lifelong dream was to someday play Willy Loman.

After he retired, he began auditioning for local small-theater groups. Eventually, he found one casting Death of a Salesman. He auditioned and became ecstatic when he was given the lead.

John worked hard through weeks of rehearsals and, when opening night finally came, he felt he had mastered the role.

John was to make his entrance down the center aisle from the back of the auditorium. As he was concentrating his attention, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw a woman he'd never seen before in his life who said to him:

"That will be five dollars please."

-Bob Chatelle