Local project frees felon

By David Wilson

Convicted sex offender John Stoll was released from prison last Friday after members of Santa Clara's Innocence Project helped to overturn his 1985 sentence.

Nearly 20 years ago, Stoll and others belonging to an alleged crime ring were convicted of assaulting six children and committing acts of sodomy, child pornography and group sex. Over the years, all but Stoll were released on legal technicalities.

Judge John Kelly overturned Stoll's conviction Friday, concluding that the interviewing techniques used to question the victims were coercive, making testimony against Stoll unreliable.

"In an ironic twist, it was the testimony that originally convicted him, that ultimately released him," said Mary Likins, a forensic legal nurse consultant who is the case manager for the Santa Clara Innocence Project.

Not only are the tapes of the victims' interviews missing, but no victims were ever tested or even saw a doctor.

Four of Stoll's accusers have recanted their testimony. But Stoll's son, who testified against his father, still claims he was abused even though he now says he cannot remember many of the details of the molestation.

"Our position was that this young man was a victim of these same coercive techniques which resulted in the implantation of a false memory," Likins said. "He believed it happened because they told him it did."

The Stoll case was one of several convictions in Kern county during the 1980's where police used interviewing techniques that were later deemed inappropriate by the California Attorney General.

Members of the Innocence Project were very pleased with their victory. It is the third exoneration that the project has accomplished in its three-year existence.

Linda Starr, legal director of the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara told the Los Angeles Times, "I'm beside myself. To actually see the system work."

The Innocent project receives most of its cases through letters from inmates who feel wrongly convicted. The clinic has received approximately five thousand letters since its inception.

Stoll's case came to the clinic through an attorney who was working on a similar case in Kern County. Unlike his co-defendants, Stoll had no particular legal strategy to overturn his conviction until the Innocence Project team became involved.

Former Santa Clara law student Beth Voorhees, who has since graduated and gone on to pass the bar exam, was present in court on Friday to hear the decision on the case she had been able to work on while in law school. Voorhees's work from the writ was quoted in Judge Kelly's decision.

Although the project has been successful, it is facing financial troubles. The staff has already taken a pay cut this year and some had to sign on as part-time workers.

The program is supported mostly by the university and by donations. It has lost $400,000 in funding this year alone based on the poor economy and budget problems.

"There are more John Stolls out there," executive director Kathleen Ridolfi told the Los Angeles Times.

"Unless we raise some money, this project will die."