{"id":1431296,"date":"2022-04-11T14:59:34","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T18:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1431296"},"modified":"2022-04-11T14:59:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T18:59:38","slug":"they-were-falsely-accused-during-the-child-abuse-moral-panic-decades-ago-their-sentences-were-just-vacated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/they-were-falsely-accused-during-the-child-abuse-moral-panic-decades-ago-their-sentences-were-just-vacated\/","title":{"rendered":"They Were Falsely Accused During The Child Abuse Moral Panic Decades Ago. Their Sentences Were Just Vacated."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthey-were-falsely-accused-during-the-child-abuse-moral-panic-decades-ago-their-sentences-were-just-vacated%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1431296&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-568538097.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Most people think the Satanic Daycare Panic took place in the 1980s, but it stretched into the early 90s as well. One of the lesser known cases took place in Lorain, Ohio, and was started on May 7, 1993, when parent Margaret Grondin claimed to police that her 4-year-old daughter, referred to in court documents as N.Z., had been sexually abused while attending the Head Start program in her town.<\/p>\n<p>Grondin claimed that Nancy Smith, a bus driver contracted with the program, had molested N.Z. along with a man she said might have been named \u201cJoseph.\u201d The allegations were immediately printed in the media and broadcast on television, prompting the parents of 15 children to come forward and also claim their children had been abused. As the University of Michigan\u2019s National Registry of Exonerations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.umich.edu\/special\/exoneration\/Pages\/casedetail.aspx?caseid=6176\">noted<\/a>, however, most of those claims were quickly dismissed, since some of the children didn\u2019t ride on Smith\u2019s bus and others had left Head Start before Smith was even hired.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Thomas Cantu on May 25 interviewed the 11 children who rode Smith\u2019s bus, and concluded the allegations were unfounded. The children told him no abuse had happened, as he wrote in his report of the interviews: \u201cThe children were questioned if Nancy had ever touched them in a bad way, or in any way which would hurt, or upset them, and each one stated that she had never touched them. The children were questioned if they knew anyone named Joseph, and they all indicated that they did not. All of the children stated that they liked Nancy, their bus driver, and that she was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith also passed a polygraph test, though they are notoriously unreliable and inadmissible in court. Still, Cantu wrote a report insisting the allegations were unfounded. He was then removed from the case.<\/p>\n<p>The new officers assigned to the investigation began looking for \u201cJoseph.\u201d At the same time, the parents began their own \u201cinvestigation.\u201d She took her daughter, N.Z., and another girl referred to only as A.W. past a peach-colored house that belonged to a man whose last name was Ellis. A.W. and another boy, A.P., claimed the abuse happened at that house. But weeks later, after A.P.\u2019s father searched neighborhoods in the town and identified a man whose last name was Jones, A.P. started saying the abuse took place at Jones\u2019 house. A.P. identified Jones in a lineup and claimed Smith, the bus driver, would drive him to Jones\u2019 house. Grondin\u2019s daughter N.Z. also identified Jones from a lineup. Two other children claimed to be scared when driving past Jones\u2019 house.<\/p>\n<p>Jones and Ellis were excluded as suspects, but the children were still believed. Police then focused on Joseph Allen, 39, a black man who wasn\u2019t connected to the Head Start program but did have a previous child molestation conviction and was currently suspected of a separate crime. Allen reportedly matched the identification some children gave of the man who molested them.<\/p>\n<p>As with other false accusations of child abuse from the era, the children in the Lorain case made wild allegations that ranged from possible to impossible, yet they were still believed. The children in the Lorain case claimed at times that one of the assailants was black, or white, or Hispanic. \u201cThey identified seven different houses as the house where the abuse took place. They gave inaccurate descriptions of Allen\u2019s house and its contents. Some children said the abuse happened in the basement, but Allen\u2019s house sat on a slab,\u201d the Registry reported.<\/p>\n<p>This followed at the trial, too, with one child claiming Smith stuck a needle into her vagina, another claiming Allen tied them to a tree outside of his house even though it was on a busy street, and another claiming Allen had shot another child in the face with a gun.<\/p>\n<p>Smith tried to get the trials separated, arguing that jurors would be prejudiced against her by Allen\u2019s previous conviction. Judge Lynette McGough denied the motion, in part because she didn\u2019t want the children to face two trials.<\/p>\n<p>Five children testified against Smith and Allen, but two of them recanted while testifying and a third was deemed incompetent at trial. The only two left were Grondin\u2019s daughter, N.Z., and A.P., the boy who changed his story. A.P. now claimed that Smith had taken him to Allen\u2019s home three times. He claimed Smith stuck a needle into his bottom, told him to get on top of her, and touched his genitals. He also said he saw Smith touching another child\u2019s bottom and genitals.<\/p>\n<p>N.Z. claimed that Allen sometimes drove her to his house in his car and that she and other children, including A.P., would play games at Allen\u2019s house with their clothes off. She claimed she saw Smith touching the boys\u2019 genitals.<\/p>\n<p>A.P.\u2019s father and Grondin testified that their children\u2019s demeanor changed during the school year. The mother of J.G., one of the kids who recanted his testimony, said her child didn\u2019t want to ride the bus and claimed his \u201cbutt was burning,\u201d she and A.P.\u2019s father testified that their children began engaging in sexual acts with other kids.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there was no physical evidence of anything the children or parents claimed. Smith and Allen maintained they didn\u2019t even know each other, but the prosecution had witnesses who claimed otherwise. One grandmother whose child was in Head Start testified she once saw Allen on Smith\u2019s bus. Another witness, bus aide Elizabeth Powell, claimed Allen once tried to get on the buss while it was stopped at a store and Smith was inside. Powell claimed Allen said the name \u201cNancy\u201d (Smith\u2019s first name) and that he then went into the store and left arm-in-arm with Smith.<\/p>\n<p>But defense witness Michael Taylor said that <em>he<\/em> was the man Powell told to get off the bus. Taylor testified that he came forward after reading about what Powell said and that he had tried to get on the bus to see his son, but Powell yelled at him and slammed the door. Taylor said he went into the store to find Smith, who apologized for her colleague\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<p>Glen Thaler, Lorain County Community Action Agency\u2019s transportation manager, testified at the trial that bus mileage was checked regularly so there couldn\u2019t have been any detours. Another Head Start employee testified that the program had a system that ensured children were properly accounted for and never got into unauthorized vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Smith and Allen were convicted on all counts on August 4, 1994. Smith was sentenced to 30 to 90 years in prison. Allen received five consecutive life sentences and an additional 22 to 50 years in prison. Both maintained their innocence. Both of their appeals were denied.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, Smith filed a motion to correct an error in her sentence. Allen filed a similar motion in 2009. Judge James Burge of Lorain County Court of Common Please ruled after a hearing that their sentences were not a final judgement, which led to Smith and Allen being released from prison. While preparing for a new sentencing hearing, Burge looked over the evidence and decided to vacate their sentences on June 25, 2009. The state appealed the ruling and the Ohio Supreme Court on January 27, 2011, restored the convictions.<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, Smith was resentenced to 12 years in prison, but didn\u2019t have to return to prison since she had already served more than 14. She also no longer had to register as a sex offender. Allen was resentenced to 10 to 25 years and sent back to prison. As part of their agreements, the two agreed not to challenge their convictions unless a local prosecutor approved.<\/p>\n<p>On October 21, 2021, Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson told seven accusers and others in the original case that he was considering asking the convictions to be vacated. Smith was now represented by an attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project. That attorney, along with Allen\u2019s attorney, filed a motion for a new trial on December 14, 2021. The motion contained an affidavit from Cantu, the original investigator in the case, who described his earlier findings and his belief that the children were coached. The motion also included sworn statements from Grondin\u2019s \u2013 the mother who started everything \u2013 ex-husband and her son. Her ex-husband said he witnessed Grondin \u201ccoaching her daughter on what to say in order to make the allegations of sexual abuse in the Head Start case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked Margie what had happened. Her daughter, one of the child \u2018victims\u2019 in the Head Start case was present during these conversations. Margie would state a narrative and would ask her daughter, \u2018Isn\u2019t that how it happened? Tell him that\u2019s how it happened. Isn\u2019t that right?\u2019 Margie would try to get her daughter to repeat what she was saying or to agree with the story she was telling. Over time, this story would change and grow. Margie was persistent in trying to get her daughter to agree with what she said happened. This was something Margie wanted her to practice,\u201d the ex-husband said.<\/p>\n<p>Grondin\u2019s son, too, said his mother had coached N.Z. He said Grondin even tried the same thing recently, making false allegations against his wife in an attempt to get money from \u201csomeone with deep pockets of money.\u201d He said it was all similar to how his mother acted during the Head Start case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom on some occasions had the other kids from the Head Start case down in the basement, and coached them the same way. The allegations I read in the court documents online were the things my mom was coaching them to say, and a lot [of] it was sexual abuse that had gone on in my own family. My mom played \u2018school\u2019 with the kids in the basement, and actually set the basement up like a little school with tables or desks, and created educational games. My mom was the \u2018teacher.\u2019 The tables and desks are still in storage at my grandmother\u2019s house. The kids had to say the allegations of sexual abuse the way she wanted them to say it in order to advance in the game,\u201d the son wrote.<\/p>\n<p>As with other cases, it was later revealed that parents, investigators, and social workers all interviewed the children in highly suggestive ways, insisting abuse had happened and asking leading or suggestive questions to get the children to say what the adults believed to be true.<\/p>\n<p>On December 21, 2021, the original prosecutor appeared in court to claim that Tomlinson, the prosecutor looking to vacate the sentences, violated his oath of office to \u201cdefend public from crime.\u201d A day later, Judge Chris Cook of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas ordered Allen to be released from prison with GPS tracking.<\/p>\n<p>On February 25, 2022, Cook vacated the convictions, though he didn\u2019t explicitly say Smith and Allen were innocent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis court finds by a significant margin that the new evidence is substantial, credible, and without a reasonable doubt, would affect the outcome of a new trial such that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to secure a conviction of either Smith or Allen at a new trial,\u201d he said, according to the registry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo Miss Smith and Mr. Allen, I want to say that I apologize to you, especially for what was done to your families as a result of this ill-conceived prosecution. On behalf of the state of Ohio, I wish nothing but the best for you and your loved ones,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Smith thanked her attorneys and made a comment directed at Grondin, \u201cwho orchestrated this horrible, alleged crime that never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Allen also commented on his freedom: \u201cIt took me almost 30 years, for me to get justice here today. I hope those suffering in the same situation can get justice, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">Become a member now and join our mission.<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people think the Satanic Daycare Panic took place in the 1980s, but it stretched into the early 90s as well. One of the lesser known cases took place in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}