All language subtitles for Witch.Hunt.English

(mellow music)

- [Voiceover] The images of your life,

picture them.

On your refrigerator, in albums,

frames, they capture every
stage, change, celebration.

Without them, how much do you remember.

How much do you rely on
these photos to remind you

of the journey you've taken in life?

Now imaging them gone.

This is the first photo
John Stoll has of his life.

The rest were either
confiscated by police,

destroyed after the death of his mother,

or lost to the passing of time.

This grainy black and white photo,

taken when he was 41 years old,

the day he was convicted of
17 counts of child molestation

in Bakersfield, California.

(mellow music)

- [Voiceover] The primary
industries are oil

and agriculture.

- Bakersfield, Kern
County, has historically,

since I've worked here, had a history of,

I've heard the term, cowboy
law enforcement for years.

We kinda like that.

- I think a lot about what
Bakersfield is is there's

a lot of conservative
people here and they all

wanna feel that they're safe.

- [Voiceover] In 1982, Ed
Jagels arrived in Bakersfield.

He ran for district
attorney on a tough on crime

law and order agenda.

- We simply got to jail
a lot more criminals for

a lot longer.

This means first, we need to
establish a set of minimal

acceptable sentences below
which judges simply won't go.

Prosecutors have to demand
that the court start

sentencing severely.

- The culture was established at the top

that we are going to
enforce crime and it doesn't

matter who you are, we're gonna do that.

- There's kind of a running
joke in Kern County,

especially during that time, it was,

come to Kern County on vacation
and leave on probation.

- [Voiceover] One day
they started appearing in

the headlines of the local paper.

Groups of child molesters.

Sheriff's investigators said
there were eight rings in all.

Deputies arrested more than
30 people, most of them like

John Stoll, white lower
class working moms and dads

with no criminal record.

- You don't think about
that stuff, you just,

what kind of, who sits
around thinking, boy I hope

I don't get blamed, I hope
nobody calls me a child molester.

Who the hell would think
something like that?

- [Voiceover] John Stoll
was working long days in

the hot Bakersfield sun
in the summer of 1984.

His nights weren't any easier.

He and his ex-wife, Anne,
had been arguing over custody

of their son, Jed.

- I went to bed, 11:30,

the lights are on in my
bedroom and there's two guys

standing there.

Two guys, one in a suit and
one dressed in a sport coat.

Jacket but no tie or
anything, the other guy

was dressed in a suit.

They're telling me to
get up and get dressed,

and I went, what the
hell are you doing in my,

what's going on?

And they start, they
got right away, they got

their badges out.

And the search warrant's
laying there and I look at

the search warrant and
I think, they're looking

for pornography material.

Tapes and pictures.

They got this whole list
of horrible crap, you know,

some pedophile had, and
that's what they were lookin'

for in my home.

So I'm thinkin', they ain't
got none of that shit here.

Your son said that he was molested by you,

and I said, that's impossible.

I don't believe you.

I really got, they said,
you better settle down here,

because I was cursing, you
son of a bitch, you say that.

- [Voiceover] John Stoll
cherished the weekends he had

with his son.

After his divorce two years
earlier, he couldn't wait

for the days Jed came
to his house to stay.

John says they had a great
time together at the beach

just a week before,

and what the investigators
were saying now had to

be an awful mistake.

- Jed said that I molested him twice.

My original arrest was three counts,

three counts of child molestation.

So they take me down to the police station

and they play this good cop, bad cop rap.

You know, they come in,
and one guy would come in

and say, "How could you do this shit?"

And yell at me and holler at me.

Then the other one comes in
and says, "Look man, sometimes

"I can understand where you might wanna."

And I'm goin', and I'm
just reeling because they

keep saying that I molested my child.

Somewhere along the line this,
if you ever get arrested,

keep your mouth shut,
came into view, so I just

stopped talking to them
because I could see they

were just feeding on me, they
were just loving, you know,

they had me freaking.

That first 24 hours, I
just can't explain it.

I cannot explain the
fear, the rage, the anger,

you're just so scared, you're terrified.

So I sit in this bed and
this guy comes in and sits

down on the bed, it's his bed.

And I look over and I realize
that it's Ricky Pitts.

Ricky Pitts had seven
adults in his big ring,

and we had seen him in the
paper, but I never read

what he did because I
didn't wanna hear all that,

so I just, you know, I
just looked and I thought,

oh look at this no good
son of a bitch, you know.

Here I'm sitting in the bed next to him.

- [Voiceover] Rick Pitts
and his wife Marcella

were notorious in town.

Their faces were plastered
all over the newspapers.

Today the couple is still reeling.

They've moved far away from
Bakersfield and have chosen

not to have their faces
shown for this film.

- Well, it's just, we've
set up here in this

little community and people
think where there's smoke

there's fire.

Even though there wasn't,
but how do you sit down

and explain to a whole town, you know,

and that's why we don't
want our faces shown.

It's not that I'm not
ashamed, or you know,

and I'd do anything to help,
but we don't wanna destroy

the rest of our lives, we're
just gettin' it back together

after all these years.

- It's the worst thing
you can ever be accused of

in your life.

They was accusing
everybody of it back then,

we had friends that were
scared to even, you know,

I told them just stay
away and don't even come,

don't associate with us
because we were scared

they'd get drug in to it.

- And he tells me exactly
what's gonna happen to me now

for, through the whole thing.

I get angry with him right away.

Because he's tellin' me I'm
gonna get all kinds of counts

and they're gonna be all kinds of kids.

Well they're gonna go
canvass the neighborhood,

they're gonna talk to
every kid that was ever

at your house, they're gonna (mumbles).

And I'm thinkin', you're
crazy man, I don't even

wanna hear this shit.

And he said, "Man, prepare yourself."

Two days later they
call me, Stoll step out.

That's what they'd say, they
mean step out of the cell.

I stepped out of the cell
and I walked down the hall

and he said, "You're going to court."

They put me in waist chains
again and I went to court.

And then all of a sudden
there was two other kids

and then another kid and
another kid and another kid.

Now it's a whole big
passle, there was this whole

giant molest ring.

- [Voiceover] Just what
Rick predicted came true.

Investigators canvassed the
neighborhood and questioned

kids who knew John.

- I was arraigned on 12 more
counts against one child

and eight, 10, 12 counts
against another child.

Then I went back to jail
and a couple days later

they called me back again and
arraigned me on another child.

And I went back again and they
arraigned me on another child

and then took me back
again and arraigned me

on sixth child.

- When you get one of those
cases and you start conversing

with a five year old child
or a six year old child,

and they're able to say things that your

five year old child at home
would absolutely never know,

there are bells that go off.

And because that's a learned behavior.

- [Voiceover] Today
those children are adults

and they remember John
Stoll, their neighborhood

and the sheriff's investigators.

- It was life like normal kids
it seemed like for a while.

- Everybody hung outside,
you know, out front,

kinda talked and did whatever.

- I was little, you know, six
years old, seven years old.

All the kids played in
the neighborhood together.

- And we were rowdy, we were
rough kids in Bakersfield.

- [Voiceover] John Stoll rented
a modest three bedroom house

in this rough and tumble neighborhood.

He did have a rare
commodity though, a pool.

The perfect anecdote for the
stifling Bakersfield heat.

- We started opening the pool.

When the pool was there,
then that's how those two

boys came over to play in
it with Jed in the pool.

- I went to his house a couple times.

I went swimming there maybe
twice that I remember.

- I think I only swam maybe
four or five times over there.

Not very much.

- I remember there was a
pool, but I don't remember

a lot of swimming, I
mean, I'm sure we did,

but, you know, it was a
hot summer in Bakersfield.

(slow guitar music)

(sirens)

- After a while, the sheriffs
came knocking on the door

asking questions.

- Some officers came to my
house and told my mom and dad

they needed to talk to me

and separated me and my mom and dad.

- I was scared 'cause it
was the sheriffs and they,

you know, they asked questions like

do you know this person, John?

Do you know Eddie?

Who else was there?

Did they ever, did they touch you?

Then they showed a diagram of a picture of

a man and a woman.

Did you have to touch them here?

They just pointed out
all the private parts.

- Asked me all kinds of questions.

Told me that the neighbor
kids seen stuff happen to me.

- I remember the knock on the door, when

the child welfare people
came to pick us up.

- [Voiceover] Child molest
cases are on the rise here

in Kern County.

- We noticed that we were
spending an increasing amount

of our time on these cases,
and in fact, more recently

the investigating agencies
and the district attorney's

office have been inundated
with child molest cases.

- There was not a push to
go out and find these cases,

they were thrust upon us.

We were receiving information from people

that some of these things were happening,

and so you have to investigate.

- We just lived our lives
and we weren't involved

in anything like that, so it
had nothing to do with us.

- [Voiceover] Scott and
Brenda Kniffen barely noticed

the headlines.

They were busy making a
living, raising their two sons.

- [Scott] I was a partsman in
charge of inventory control

and computer operations for
a diesel engine repair shop.

- [Brenda] At the time
of our arrest, I was just

a house wife.

Before that I did waitressing,
hostessing, cashiering,

stuff like that.

- Family was most important
thing to us, you know,

and I'm not just saying
our kids, but lettin' them

be around their grandparents
and that kind of stuff.

Our boys were involved in sports.

- [Brenda] Cub scouts,
wrestling, t-ball, soccer.

- [Scott] And school.

- The doorbell rings, and I
remember the doorbell stuck,

it was just weird, it
wouldn't quit ringing.

So I go and I look out the
peep hole and I see all these

people on my front doorstep,
but when I opened the door,

they busted past me, started
tearing my house apart,

and I asked them not to
cuff me in front of my son.

And they had me go get
dressed and they watched me

get dressed.

- If you leave a home where
you think you should take

a child and you don't and
that child gets killed or

molested, you live with that and there's

just no choice there.

- They came and picked me up at work

and came in and told me I was arrested

and I thought it was like
one of these joke grams

coming to the front counter
and parts area and all that.

The guy came in and he wasn't
wearing a uniform or anything,

he was just plain clothes
and tells me to step around

to be handcuffed and I'm like,
what kind of mistake is this?

There's somethin' wrong.

They take me out, put me in
the car, drive us downtown

and I'm tellin' Brenda, something's wrong.

- [Voiceover] Brenda and
Scott Kniffen weren't alone.

Their friends Alvin and Debra
McCuan were also arrested.

- [Voiceover] The defendants
sat quietly showing little

emotion as they listened
to the judge bind them

over for trial on charges of
molesting their own children.

One by one, Judge Kline
read the counts against

Alvin and Debra McCuan,
Scott and Brenda Kniffen,

charges ranging from forcing
the children to have sex

with adults to hanging
the children from hooks

and beating them.

- One of the accusations
to Brenda was sodomy.

She said, "What is that?"

- I didn't know what sodomy was.

- She didn't know what it was.

My mom and dad both
came and visited me and

asked me to look in their
eyes and tell me if it

was true or not, and when
I told them it wasn't true,

they stood behind us from that moment on.

- [Voiceover] Scott's parents
put up the money to bail

them out of jail, but
their home was empty.

The court placed their
two sons in foster care.

- We were afraid to go home
because we were getting

threatening phone calls and
stuff, so we went and stayed

with his parents for a
while, and then finally

we went back home, and
everybody in our neighborhood

that knew us and knew the
kids were very kind to us,

but I told them to stay
away from us please,

don't want this to happen
to you or your kids.

I had a friend that knew
one of the foster mothers

and she wouldn't tell me
anything, their names or anything,

but she said the boys were in Shafter.

So I drove out there and
drove by the house hoping

I could just look at them.

Not to talk to them or
anything, just to drive by

and look at them.

And I would think I would
hear the boys in their room

calling me and I'd go
runnin' back there and they

weren't there and I'd
sit on their bed and cry.

- [Voiceover] As the
Kniffens waited for answers,

more people were arrested.

- I still don't even know how it happened.

- [Voiceover] The Kern
County Sheriff's Department

picked up Jeff Modahl.

He was a widower raising two daughters.

The officers accused him
of molesting his girls.

- Knocked on the door and
stuck a 9mm right at my nose.

And then from that day on,
my life turned upside down.

Nothin' at all with what I had before.

- He got arrested for the same thing.

So he and I were only
a couple weeks apart.

- [Voiceover] The jail was
filling up with accused

child molesters.

As the men awaited trial,
they sat side by side

and shared their stories
and realized the striking

similarities.

- You didn't know what to believe anymore.

When you know that you're
innocent, you haven't done nothin'

and then just sit there
with all these other people,

they're all crying innocent
too, what do you do?

What do you believe?

- We're all goin', what
the hell is going on here?

'Cause now we're all seeing it.

It's a scary thing when
you're all sittin' there and

all lookin' at each
other and you're goin',

wait a minute, this is bullshit.

None of these people,
none of them, did this.

Here comes Jeff.

I tell him what's gonna
happen and sure enough.

- It was just somethin'

just a look in his eye,
that he could look me

into my eye and say that he was innocent,

he didn't look away, it was
right straight in my eyes,

and you could see, when he
talked about his son, Jed,

that this man loved that kid.

Not in a weird way.

His life was wrapped around little Jed.

That told me, because I know
how I felt with my girls.

- [John] Now we were developing a kinship.

- We got passes to go to the
law library and of course,

we had to do it at different
times than everybody

else because we were in
protective custody because

of the charges and stuff.

We went to the library,
started readin' and writin'.

- [John] We wrote that
congressman and representatives of

the area and asked them
to look at it and most of

them just shined us on, you
know, because they figured

we were a bunch of child molesters.

- [Voiceover] The inmates knew
they needed to do something

drastic to make someone,
anyone, listen to their story.

- We figured a hunger
strike would get us to talk

to somebody besides a guard.

- We wanted the attorney
general, we wanted the FBI,

we wanted somebody, we didn't
care, almost didn't care who.

If just somebody would come
in and investigate this.

- Because the people just left.

They're not guilty, we're
not guilty, I'm not guilty,

Pitts is not guilty and
I named all these people

and I said we didn't do this.

We're all sitting up
there and we're all saying

we want the FBI to come and take a look,

please come and take a look.

When we refused the meals
the very first time,

nothin' happened.

But when we did it the next day
again, then a sergeant came.

- Was getting serious enough
where the hospital staff,

or the jail hospital staff
had to start monitoring us,

and make sure that we were okay,

because there was no food eaten.

Little by little, by
doing things like this

and bringing attention to
Kern County, these things

helped us with rapport of
a lot of other inmates,

with rapport of staff, 'cause they knew,

why would they make all this
ruckus if they were so guilty?

- When the FBI did come,

I was told that it was
out of their jurisdiction.

They didn't get into this kind of thing.

- [Voiceover] It's been more
than a year since the four

defendants were arrested.

As they walked into court
this morning, one of them,

Debra McCuan, said she was
glad the case was finally

going to trial.

- I'm glad it's getting
underway, it's kind of a relief.

We can finally get both
sides out and get vindicated.

- [Voiceover] Prosecution
began this morning by detailing

some of the 121 counts that
have been lodged against

the parents.

- You're all in, to
participate together jointly

in sexual acts.

Kniffen boys would be forced
by their parents to get

down on the floor or beds
with the McCuan girls

and have sex with them.

- Scott and I never been in
trouble, so we don't know

the law, so we would tell
him, well ask this question,

oh no, we'll save that and
we'll bring it up on appeal.

Well, you can't bring up
anything on appeal that

wasn't brought up at trial.

We didn't know that.

- [Voiceover] The prosecutor
outlined a two year pattern

of child sex, sex with their
parents and motel sex parties

with strangers.

- [Voiceover] The
Kniffen/McCuan trial revealed to

John Stoll and Jeff Modahl
what would happen when their

cases finally went to trial.

- I'd go out for my preliminary
and all that terrible crap

and then he'd go out for
his and he'd come back with

35 counts.

And it was just, and I,
you know, and he said,

"My god, it's just like you
said, it's just like Rick said,

"it's just like the Kniffens
and McCuans had told

"us it was gonna be."

It was their pattern,
that's how they did it.

- [Voiceover] It's been
nine months since the trial

of the Kniffes and the
McCuans got underway.

An experience that prosecutor
Gindes says none of them

will ever forget.

He wants the jurors to
remember what the four children

told them under oath, about
being tied naked to a railing

in the family home and
being sexually molested.

Going to sex parties with
their parents who had both

molested them and then passed
them along to strangers

to have sex, taking
pictures along the way.

- They were not testifying
against people they did not know,

these four defendants are their parents.

And that is so crucially
important in this case.

- He let them have everything
they wanted, the DA's office,

we got nothing.

We didn't even get to have
a medical exam, they got

to have two.

The boy's school teachers
came in, he said it wasn't

relevant, that they didn't know them.

Family doctors.

The doctor who delivered Brian
came in and said he never

saw anything wrong with either boy.

The judge said it wasn't relevant.

Just anything we asked for.

- It was just unstoppable.

The lawyers, the lawyers really tried.

They were angry and frustrated
and just extremely angry.

At nights they'd come up
and talk to us and they

were yellin'.

They were so, they
couldn't believe this guy

was gettin' away with this stuff.

- [Prosecutor] Though they
walk and they talk like normal

children, their could have been
poisoned by the defendants.

For these four children,
this case will never end.

- The kids would come in
there and they'd say one thing

and then they'd take a break
and they'd come back in

and say something totally different.

So first they'd say, no,
nothin' happened, you know.

No, that didn't happen to us,
and then they'd take a break,

come back in, oh yeah, that did happen.

- [Voiceover] In all these
trials, defense attorneys

argued that the kids have
been told what to say

on the stand.

- When they do testify, they
will testify in many instances

in situations that are totally
impossible to have occurred.

- I knew my girls, I knew in my heart,

in my soul and everything
that they would never say

anything like this.

It would not, the words
would not come out of their

mouth on their own.

And I knew this from day one.

- The idea that we would
have the time, let alone

the inclination to go out
and coach kids to testify

in these cases in this way is absurd.

- [Voiceover] The accused
thought their trials were absurd,

so outrageous that there was
no way they could be convicted.

- If you said, no, it
couldn't happen on the 21st,

I was over at the coast.

Then it was, "Where were you the 22nd?"

Well I can't remember.

Well then it was the 22nd.

That's just how they did it.

It just changed dates,
they changed charges.

- When out jury went out
and they called us back,

me and Rick had already made plans.

We were gonna go, you know,
spend the weekend off,

or something, you know?

- [Voiceover] After six months
of testimony and two weeks

of deliberations, all seven
defendants were convicted

on 373 counts of child
molestation and child pornography.

Those convicted are Ricky
Pitts, Marcella Pitts,

Colleen Bennett, Wayne
Forsythe, Wayne Dill,

Grace Dill, and Gina Miller.

Six of the seven convicted
are related and the court

was filled with emotions
as family members heard

the guilty verdicts.

- Any kind of evidence
pointed to our innocence,

they'd never let them in.

Judge would overrule it or
wouldn't let it come in,

or you know, you didn't
have a chance because they

never let anything from our side come in.

- I had no idea they
were gonna convict us.

I thought, that was
unbelievable, I mean, it was,

it just wasn't believable.

- Sentencing for all seven
defendants is scheduled

for August 30th.

Each face a maximum term
of 300 years in prison,

and if given the maximum term,
this would be the longest

sentence ever handed down
in Kern County's history.

- When the Pitts got
it, I knew we were done.

- [Voiceover] News of these
convictions made the accused

more desperate than ever
to prove their innocence.

- My family wanted me to take a polygraph

and then the DA even agreed
if I passed the polygraph,

that he wouldn't press the charges.

When the polygraph test
came back that I was tellin'

the truth, that nothin' had ever happened,

well then the DA backed out of it.

- [Voiceover] The jury
deliberated just a week after

listening to nine months
of testimony against

Scott and Brenda Kniffen,
Alvin and Debra McCuan.

The two Bakersfield couples,
by their own children,

of child molesting.

- When we walked in that
court room, and I looked at

the jury and none of them
would look back at us,

I knew we were in trouble.

- [Voiceover] Today, with
the courtroom packed to

standing room only, it took
almost two hours to read

all of the verdicts.

It proved to be too
much for Brenda Kniffen,

the blonde mother of two
fainted after hearing that

she had been convicted on 70
felony counts of child molest.

- I fainted in the court room.

I just, I couldn't believe it.

I thought we would go home,
that the truth would come out

and we'd go home.

It didn't seem real.

I think you're kinda
in shock at that point.

And I just kept thinkin' I was going home.

- Some of these counts
are mandatory consecutive,

what we call full boat,
not 1/3 the mid-term,

but the full term consecutive.

Each one is a potential
eight years, so if,

your arithmetic is
probably better than mine,

but it's literally hundreds of years.

- [Voiceover] Superior
court judge Marvin Ferguson

sentenced 30 year old Alvin
McCuan to a 268 year term.

His 27 year old wife, Debra, to 252 years

on 75 convictions each.

30 year old Scott Kniffen
and his wife Brenda

were sentenced to 240
years each for 70 and 71

felony child molesting counts.

It's estimated that they
would be eligible for parole

in the year 2110.

- [Judge] The defendants have
stolen from their children

one of the most precious (coughs),

and that's a child's innocence.

- [Voiceover] Kern County
superior court judge,

Marvin Ferguson, went
on to describe the two

Bakersfield couples as
vicious, callous and cruel,

as he sentenced them today
for a total of 1000 years

between them for molesting
their own and each other's

children.

- I ask rhetorically and
sadly if a small child cannot

trust their mother and
father, who can they trust

and will they ever be able to trust again?

(somber guitar music)

- [Brenda] I still can't believe it.

- It seems like a bad nightmare.

Seems like I oughta wake
up tomorrow and it'll be

over with, but it's not.

Miss my wife already.

I miss my kids.

I miss my family.

I just want everything
to get back to normal.

- It sure does change your
way of lookin' at the system.

They can come in there and
just take your family and

they don't, they didn't
listen to our side before

they had us convicted.

- To this day I don't, I
don't know, I don't know what

happened, I don't know
how it could've happened.

It's like when someone asks
me, how did this happen?

Well, hell, you know as
much about it as I do.

I don't know how it happened either,

all I know is it happened to me.

- I don't, I was shocked.

My lawyer started crying.

He actually started crying.

Chuck Sorea, big man.

And seeing tears coming
out of that big man's face,

because he believed in me.

When they handed down the sentence,

he gave me 80 years,

and suspended 32,

so I would have to do 48.

And I asked the, I stood
up, I said what the heck

is the difference between 48 and 80?

Oh this judge, he went crazy.

He started screaming, I mean screaming.

Calling me depraved, crazy, he went off.

He thought he'd done me a favor.

A favor?

I'm innocent and you're
gonna say, oh, gee,

I knocked off 32 years off of his.

- They offered us a deal,
and I don't know how anybody

can sit up in court and
say, yeah I molested my son

for a deal.

Sorry.

You know, can't do that.

I could've been out in 12 1/2
with the deal they offered me

and I sure as hell wasn't gonna
say I was a child molester.

Sorry, take your deal and put it.

- [Voiceover] John Stoll
heard his fate and immediately

responded to the judge.

He said, "Thank you, your honor.

"I'm sure it is expected of
me to come before this court

"on bended knee asking for
leniency and claiming remorse.

"I don't expect leniency and
I have no cause for remorse.

"I was a victim of a blatantly
motivated and heartless

"district attorney, an
over zealous social worker,

"and an inadequately trained
sheriff's investigator.

"I'm not guilty of these
crimes, your honor,

"or this sentence would be adequate.

"I'm just not guilty of these crimes."

- [Voiceover] All evidence
was based on the victim's

testimony, which reinforces
prosecutors statements

that a child's testimony can convict.

- I think it shows you
that the jury of our peers

listened to the testimony
of traumatized children

and believe children.

Children don't lie about things like this

and you can see it by the
verdicts that they gave.

(somber guitar music)

- At that time, the whole
county was convinced that

they were just in a, this
herd of child molesters

just fell out of the trees all at once.

And I believe that the jury
was caught up in it too.

- [Voiceover] These angry
and concerned parents stood

behind hastily written signs
in front of the municipal court

building today.

The group is made up of
parents with children.

They call themselves
"Kids Are People Too,"

and their concern is not
only with stiffer penalties

for the perpetrator, but
concern for the victim.

- We're trying to get
stiffer laws for these child

molesters, child beaters,
whoever's hurting children,

we're trying to put a stop
where they can put them in jail

and leave them there.

I brought my kids into this
world because I love them,

not for some maniac to hurt them.

- My best friend who I
known almost my whole life,

she told me don't ever call me again.

- People were threatened.

The public got scared.

Especially when the cases
started happening more and

more and more, or they've
created more and more.

Because now it started
happening to not just this guy

over here, this started
happening to the neighbor,

to the neighbor's friend,

to the neighbor's sister.

- [Voiceover] Jack and Jackie
Cummings lived in Bakersfield

their whole lives and they'd
never been in trouble with

the law.

But after police picked up their friend,

life was never the same.

- The first thing for us
was when we got a phone call

that Johnny Gonzales had been
arrested, I'd never forget

that, and he'd been picked
up the night before.

We couldn't understand it,
you know, I mean he was a rig

mechanic that worked
about 70 hours a week,

it didn't really make any sense.

- [Voiceover] Johnny
Gonzales and his wife Cheryl

were both arrested.

Jackie Cummings babysat the
Gonzales' kids while they

went to court.

- They started pointing her
out in court as the babysitter,

you know, the social
workers would point at them,

there's the babysitter and
the next thing we know,

the cops are watching our house.

We could just feel them closing in on us.

It was like they're gonna,
I just know they're gonna

arrest us and we packed
up the kids and left town

in the middle of the night.

It was just growing and it
didn't make any sense to us,

but all of a sudden it
was like they wanted

to arrest everybody.

- [Voiceover] While the hysteria
in Bakersfield intensified,

the Cummings drove hundreds of miles away.

The convicted were also a
long way from Kern County.

- I believe San Quentin was
the absolutely worst 18 months

of my life.

I mean, it was absolutely
terrifying at times.

Because it was one of
the oldest prisons in

the United States, the
oldest in California,

so it had blind spots,
it had hallways, it had

all sorts of dangerous places.

There was one place that
was termed blood alley

because none of the towers
could see this one area,

so you could kill someone there

and nobody would see you.

- When I was at San Quentin,
I went to yard for quite

a while and a friend of
mine from Kern County

that had been in and
out of prison and stuff,

he was in there for murder,

kinda watched my back
and then finally he said,

"I can't watch your back anymore.

"There are some people here
that are gonna hurt you."

So I quit going to yard.

I stayed in a cell for nine
months and filed in court

and finally got moved
to protective custody

where I could at least
go out and exercise and

live somewhat safe.

(buzzing)

(doors clanking)

- When I got to prison,
they didn't know what to do

with me because they never
had anybody that had my amount

of time, so they put me in
a unit that was built for

the Manson girls,

and it was six cells
and it's off by itself

and you get out of your
cell once a day to take

a shower and then you get
locked back up and they

bring you your meals and everything there.

Some girl from Kern County,
who I had no idea who she was,

said she knew me and told
everybody what I was there for.

So then I had to go be locked down.

- I was angry, so I wasn't
listening to anybody.

I didn't care what people said to me.

I didn't belong here, this
was unfair, you can't do

this to me, but you
can't tell anybody that.

- [Scott] State prison is not easy on men.

You come in with a being
convicted of a sexual crime

against children and you're
not a popular person.

- I was in maybe six,
seven months and I read in

the newspaper in the law
library that this guy in

Washington, I think, Washington
state was arrested with

automatic weapons and a
quarter ton of marijuana

and he got 40 years.

And I said, I got 40
years, that's my story.

So when anybody asks, that's
the story I told them.

- [Scott] My family worried.

They knew probably a little
bit more than Brenda did

about some of the threats I
had by other inmates and staff.

I tried to keep it from Brenda.

- [Brenda] I knew that he
probably had it a lot rougher

than I did.

It was hard, but we wrote
each other every single day.

Boxes and boxes of letters.

- [Voiceover] In letter
dated December 16, 1989,

Scott Kniffen said, "Dear Brenda, hi babe.

"I do love you so very
much and I always will too.

"I know in you I have the
very best woman, wife, lover,

"best friend and so much more.

"I'm more than anxious to
take care of you in every way

"plus some darling.

"As for me, I'm doing okay,
yet I certainly do miss you.

"I'm always thinking of you
and I long to be with you too.

"God willing, our innocence
will be proven soon so we

"are set free, reunited
and able to enjoy our lives

"to the fullest.

"Take care of yourself
and God bless you always.

"Love forever, Scott."

- We kinda spoke to each
other in our letters and tried

to--

- Encourage each other.

- When she would get down,
I would try to encourage her

and vice versa.

She got down a lot more than
I did, or I wouldn't show

her when I felt that way.

- Positive, it had to stay positive.

Yeah, I knew I was gonna
come home, didn't know when,

but it had to happen.

They can't keep an
innocent person locked up.

Other inmates would walk up to me and say,

"You don't belong here."

I said thank you, I know I don't.

- And then I worried
about the boys constantly.

Not being with family or anybody.

Not knowing if whoever
they were with was taking

good care of them.

- I actually spoke to Jed a couple times,

which was really nice.

And one time when I called,
I called my mother just

to say hi and ask her how
she was because, you know,

she's older.

I just went, "Hi, how you doin' mom?"

"Hey, Jed's here."

I said, "You think he
wants to talk to me?"

And she said, "Jed, your
daddy's on the phone."

And he said, "Yes."

And he talked to me.

We didn't talk about what
happened, you know what I mean,

we just talked.

How are ya?

You okay?

I miss you daddy.

You know.

So I saw where he was
goin' so I didn't bring

any of that crap up, I was
just great to talk to him.

And then my ex-wife, my
mother, Jed told my, you know,

"I talked to my daddy."

Well, that was the last
time I talked to him.

They put him in therapy and
I never spoke to him again.

- [Voiceover] All he had left
was this one picture of Jed.

His mom sent it to him
in prison and he hung it

in his locker.

He looked at it every day.

- Being away from my wife and my children,

family.

When my mom and dad died six
days apart, it was really,

really, really hard.

And not easy.

- [Voiceover] While the
convicted were learning to adapt

to their lives in prison,
the kids who had testified

against them slowly began
to admit what really

happened behind closed
doors with investigators.

- I remember tellin' them
no for about four hours

and I was just tired.

I just wanted to go
home, so I said what they

wanted me to say.

- I told them what they
wanted me to tell them.

- They said that if I don't
say that something happened

that this terrible man
that's done this to all

of these people is gonna
be doing it to more kids,

that I needed to do it, you know,

I needed to help them.

- That's just the way they
asked the questions over

and over and over until
you finally just said what

they wanted to hear, and they were done.

They were happy with it.

- That's basically the only
time I ever said anything

had happened, is when I
had to for them or they

weren't gonna leave me alone.

- They asked the same questions
and if I kept saying no,

they said, you know, you have
to tell us the truth, Victor,

you know, you don't wanna
lose your parents, do you?

You don't wanna, something bad happen.

- They made me do it.

I was intimidated, I was scared.

- We'd sit down first they'd
get the little puppets out

with all the anatomically
correct puppets and tell us

what had happened, and we're
like, nothin', you know,

sit there, gosh they hated that.

They hated when we said nothin' happened.

Eventually we figured out,
you know, oh well, they did

that, you know.

Oh, that sounds terrible.

Oh, it made the counselors
happy, all of a sudden

they're ecstatic because
we showed them somethin'

that was awful with these puppets.

- They promised me that
nobody would get in trouble

or go to prison.

- [Allen] When we call you to the stand,

this is what you're gonna say.

They would ask me the same
questions and be like yes

and no and yes.

- You could tell it was a mad-lib story

with all the kids.

Almost the same.

They didn't really change much up.

I told counselors and
teachers and everybody,

a lot of authority figures,
which didn't give me any

help whatsoever.

(somber guitar music)

- Ever since John went to
jail, I was always scared,

you know, because I knew
that I lied and they told me

to lie and it wasn't
something that I wanted to do.

- [Voiceover] Family members
of the convicted were trying

to prove this kind of
coercion was going on.

They formed a group called
Victims of Child Abuse

Legislation, or VOCAL.

- They're leading these kids
into saying what their saying.

And then there are some,
from some of the reports that

VOCAL has received, that are
just out there for convictions

only and they don't care
what they have to do to

get those convictions.

- If you're just simply gonna
refuse to believe that the

suspect could've done it,
this relative of yours,

that's to say the cops
brainwashed the kids.

They have relatives whom they
simply can't believe did it.

- [Voiceover] In 1985 the
sexual molestation allegations

took a more sinister turn .

The sheriff's department
began investigating charges

of satanic worship and human sacrifice.

- You gotta realize how
crazy this thing got.

Here they are diggin' up
this land with a back hoe,

doin' infrared, lookin' for bodies.

They didn't find anything.

You know, there wasn't anything there.

- [Voiceover] The Cummings
and their children were still

on the run, but they couldn't
get far enough away from

the new wave of frightening allegations.

Investigators caught
up with them at a motel

hundreds of miles from Bakersfield.

They suspected the
Cummings were involved in

satanic rituals.

- They knocked on the
door, grabbed the kids,

didn't arrest us, just
grabbed the kids in the middle

of the night and left with them.

- There's nothing worse than
you've got a kid clawing

you, I had claw marks on my
back because he didn't wanna

let go of me.

And then you've got people
with guns telling you to

put him in a strange car.

I refused, I was like no, you do it.

But yeah, he was screaming
and clawing me as they

pulled him away from me.

It was devastating.

- [Voiceover] The Cummings were not alone.

Many kids connected to
the satanic cases were

in protective custody.

Even though most of their parents
were not yet under arrest.

- [Voiceover] 28 children
involved in the case are

under the care of the county's
child protective services.

The head of that division
says he's confident

the system is working
properly and that parents are

not being denied due process.

- We cannot hold people's
children without going to court,

without showing why we're
holding their children,

and without a judge agreeing
that there is sufficient

evidence that these
children would be in danger

if they went back to the parents.

- By the time they'd picked
our kids up and we got

back to Bakersfield, the
allegations had gotten

real outlandish.

We started getting the
witchcraft and the satanism.

Police reports saying
we'd murdered, you know,

her nephew saying we'd
murdered dogs and wolves

and bears and just pretty much anything in

the animal kingdom was
open for sacrifice I guess.

- [Voiceover] One youngster
told sheriffs he saw

Cummings stab his young
son to death during

a satanic ritual.

The son is alive and in protective custody

and Cummings has never
been questioned or charged.

- We live for our kids.

We didn't go out at night and
leave them with babysitters

and things like that.

When that little boy was
born, that was the happiest

day of my life.

What's left?

- [Voiceover] Horrific
headlines in the paper pushed

Kern County's grand jury
to seek outside help from

the top lawmaker in the
state, attorney general,

John Van De Kamp.

- Each DA has tremendous
authority in his own county

and the only time an
attorney general can step in

is essentially law and
order has broken down

in a very significant way.

- [Voiceover] The attorney
general sent dozens of

investigators to Kern County
to look into the satanic cases.

After months of analysis,
Van De Kamp's office issued

a report finding major
problems with the way

the Kern County sheriff,
district attorney,

and child protective
services handled the cases.

- Their training was very
deficient in this whole area

among all the departments.

Protocols were absent.

- Among specific findings
in the report, there are

recommendations that
agencies that investigate

child molestation cases
have a set of guidelines.

Among specific criticism
was too much questioning

of the alleged victims,
the questioning, they say,

is being conducted by those
who were not properly trained.

- At that point, everyone
believed that what the kids

were telling the children's
protective service folks

truthful, why would they lie?

Well, you know it depends
on the underlying facts,

what led to the statement.

Children are innocent.

Most of the time they probably won't lie.

But if it's being fed to them
what to say and so forth,

I mean, it's a very
delicate kind of a situation

and it needed to be treated
with sensitivity, yes,

but at the same time,
if they're to be useful

and if they're gonna send
somebody away for 10, 15, 20

years, then you have to
be able to make sure that

they're not dealt with improperly,

that you are getting the
truth and what they are saying

is corroborated.

- [Voiceover] Rouline
Pitts, the co-founder of

Victims of Child Abuse
Legislation, says these findings

are what they've been
fighting for all along.

- We don't wanna see some of
these people that are guilty

get away with it.

All we want to see is these
children protected and

these families protected.

- [Voiceover] Fueled by the
attorney general's findings,

defense attorneys returned
to court to try to free

the convicted.

- We gave, to defense counsel
and to private counsel,

some ammunition.

- [Voiceover] Even so, it took
years to get the first case

in front of a judge.

- Six years, five months and three days.

- [Voiceover] That's how
long Rick Putts spent

behind bars in some of
California's meanest prisons.

He and six others,
including his wife Marcella,

were the first of Kern County's
notorious sex molesters

to get their convictions reversed.

- As you can imagine, it's
pretty good to be out.

Pretty good feelin', but our
kids all grown up by then.

Missed a lot of good years with our kids.

(mellow guitar music)

We didn't have nothin'.

We was livin' in a neighbor's
trailer behind his house.

- When the Pitts got out,
and then we lost our appeal,

it was devastating to us.

- I wrote to this big
amnesty thing in Canada

and they wrote back that
they were terribly sorry

after sending me two letters
and saying they knew I

was innocent and they knew,
they knew I was innocent.

But then they had lost funding
so they couldn't continue.

So they just as much told me,
hey, we know you didn't do it,

but we can't do anything about it.

- It seemed like every
time we had our hopes up

that the door got slammed
on us for a long time.

- The whole way through
the system, on and off,

I would get encouraged by something.

Then I would try to write again.

But when enough people just
stop helping or offering

to help and stop even answering your mail,

you kinda stop writing.

- As the years go by, I still
kept feeling I'd go home.

I kept thinking the boys
would get old enough,

come back, tell the
truth and we'd go home.

- [Voiceover] After six
more years, and hundreds of

letters, Scott and Brenda
Kniffen finally saw each other

again when they got their
long awaited day in court.

- He had less hair.

- She told me in court when
she first saw me after,

what eight years or whatever,

"Oh god honey, you need Rogain."

- Well, you did.

- Our boys recanted, so that
opened it back up for us.

- There was selective
reinforcement of certain kinds

of responses and there
are a number of studies

in literature that show
that when this constellation

of forces comes together,
that you can get children

to make statements about
things that never happened.

Statements that can be
really quite damaging.

- [Voiceover] The Kniffen's
case was strong, focusing

on the issue of improper
questioning techniques that

generated false testimony
from their children.

- They said that the kids had grown up and

weren't able to testify
again or something like that

and that the cases were
overturned on a technicality,

that they'll never come out
and say you're innocent.

- We didn't expect a
judge from Kern County to

reverse our convictions.

It was the first time a
Kern County judge reversed

a conviction instead of the appeals court.

(general chatter)

(cheering)

- Hi, I didn't even recognize you.

I want a hug.

(cheering)

- [Scott] It was great, you know.

Tears of joy.

- Well my aunt gave a big party for us.

Everybody was there.

Everything had changed a lot.

And then you kind of feel like
you're a stranger, don't you?

- Yeah.

- Even with family and stuff.

(mellow music)

- [Voiceover] The Kniffen's
friends, Alvin and Debra McCuan,

were also freed after their
convictions were reversed.

Three years later, Jeff
Modahl got a chance to prove

his innocence.

As the hearing began, a
box of evidence surfaced

which had been in an
investigator's garage for years.

- They asked him to send
anything he had on the Modahl

case so he just threw it
all on and didn't even

go through it.

And he sent them the smoking gun.

- When you find medical
evidence that was hidden

from the defense that said
point blank there is no

sexual molestation at this time.

- They kept saying that
didn't take any medical exams

and then they found one
that said there's nothing

wrong with the child, and they
had hid it all those years

and they found it, somebody just found it.

- [Voiceover] The attorney
general's investigation

found many instances like
this of withheld evidence.

- There were times when
evidence was not disclosed,

that if a child was taken
in for a medical examination

the only time that that would be revealed,

let's say to the DA, was
when it was inculpatory,

when there was some evidence of abuse,

but not, if there has been no evidence,

nothing would come in.

- They sat there with
evidence that could've gotten

me out of prison 15 years before then.

Actually I'd have never been
convicted, not got me out

of prison.

Then my lawyers would
have said, what's this?

And that's reasonable doubt,
that's all you needed.

- [Voiceover] In that garage
along with the medical reports

was a long cassette tape.

- On it was a recording
of law enforcement and

a social worker interrogating,
essentially, interrogating

a child and it demonstrated many of

the inappropriate techniques.

- That's how Modahl got out, that tape.

Just what everybody said
they were doing to the kids

was on that tape.

- [Voiceover] Did that happen
before they tied you down

or after or do you remember?

- [Voiceover] It happened after.

- [Voiceover] After they tied you down?

What did they do, got on the bed and just

put it in your mouth?

- [Voiceover] Uh-huh.

- [Voiceover] This tape was
proof of what the attorney

general's office wrote about
in its report 14 years earlier.

- In a sense, the
investigators really telling

the children what happened
and the children saying yes

or whatever and being sort
of led into statements

rather than having them just,
rather than say what happened,

did anything happen?

- [Voiceover] Now Theresa,
the last time that it happened

was in the summer of '83 at
grandma's house on Cottonwood.

The time before that, when was it?

- [Voiceover] I don't remember.

- [Voiceover] Was it like weeks or days?

- [Voiceover] When I asked
you before you told me that

it happened a lot of times.

Happened off and on all the
time between the first time

it started in 1980 until summer of '83.

And you told me that, remember
how frequently you said

it would happen?

You said not every week,
but how often about?

- [Voiceover] Once a month.

- [Voiceover] About once a month.

- [Voiceover] After hearing
the tape recording of

Jeff Modahl's daughter,
the judge freed him.

- [Voiceover] Today is the
first day in the last 15

years Jeffrey Modahl has
woken up and he is not

in a jail cell.

- How many days, years,
that I had to do that.

To wake up this morning
was pretty fantastic.

- Jeff was the one that told
the Innocence Project about me.

He told his attorney
and his attorney called

the Innocence Project.

When I got the mail from
the Northern California

Innocence Project, I
didn't have a clue who or

what they were.

I just thought it was another
one of them do-gooder outfits

that, you know, pour your guts
out to them and they let ya.

- We're a group of lawyers
and law students and we are

trying to really meet
a need which is address

the problems of people who
are innocent serving time

in California prisons.

- You gotta realize I've
written to hundreds of people

and I got another letter
and it sounded really great,

you know, please answer this
questionnaire, and I thought,

do I really wanna put
myself through this again,

because it's.

You leave a lot behind but
every time you have to drag

it back out and tell it
again, it still hurts just

as much as it did the first time.

- [Voiceover] John decided
to take the emotional risk.

He filled out the questionnaire
and waited for a response.

- So I get this letter,
we're coming to see you.

Yes, an attorney, just
like that, came to see me

in prison.

I couldn't get anybody to
come and see me anywhere

and here they came.

- He answered everything
as openly and truthfully

as he could.

He was emotional at times.

It was difficult to be in
the presence of his emotions.

When he spoke about his
son and how he lost his son

and his regret over that and his sadness.

It was very difficult.

- She's really serious and
she believes me and she

tells me she does.

That was a pretty cool feeling.

She said, "We don't believe
you did this and we're

"gonna do our best to get you out."

- Not long after we decided
we would look into the case,

we spoke with the boys,
now young men, and that was

completely compelling.

To speak with them, hear
their story about what had

happened to them was very,
it was overwhelming to us

that we knew we now had
to pursue this case.

For John and for them.

- I was relieved once I talked to them.

And I guess there was some correspondence

between me and John,

and he's like, hey, everything's cool.

I know, you know, he wasn't
blaming me for stuff.

'Cause I felt like really guilty.

Like there's something
else I could've done.

But I just didn't know what
and I'd asked so many people,

nobody could help.

Here comes this Innocence Project.

It was like a guardian angel or something.

- Each one of them explained
how they had been questioned,

the pressure that had been put upon them,

the fears that they had,
the way they felt obligated

to say what it was that
law enforcement made,

and the social workers
made very clear to them

they wanted them to say.

And that's why they said it.

And they made very clear
they had, that nothing had

ever happened to them.

- [Voiceover] Armed
with these recantations,

the Innocence Project petitioned
the court for a hearing

so they could prove
John Stoll was innocent.

- [Linda] We got a notice
saying that there was going to

be an evidentiary hearing on the case.

And that was, you know,
that was a huge step for us

to be able to get into
a courtroom and prove

what we knew to be the case.

- The kids came forward
and they told what happened

and it was just such a wonderful feeling.

- [Voiceover] Five of the
child witnesses came forward

to recant the statements
they made 20 years earlier.

But there was still one potential
obstacle for John Stoll,

his own son Jed still
thought he'd been molested.

- He didn't say very much,
I mean, that was the most

remarkable thing about what he did say,

which was I believe that I
was molested by my father.

I have no recollection of it.

I have no recollection
of any specific act.

I have no recollection
of any of these people.

I have no recollection of
any of the other defendants.

I don't remember the children.

I don't remember anything,
essentially, except that I

know I was molested.

- Jed was the hardest part.

But I, I feel sorry for
Jed and sorry that he feels

that way, but I didn't do
anything so I'm not carrying

any guilt.

It's a burden to know
that your son thinks you

did something to him.

Even if you didn't,
it's still pretty hard.

- [Voiceover] The prosecution
counted on Jed Stoll's

testimony to convince the
judge that the molestation had

happened.

As the other boys recanted,
the prosecutor, Lisa Green,

fought to discredit them.

- When Lisa Green was asking
the questions, like, you know,

you're lying, are you
lying now, pretty much.

And I would say no, I'm not lying.

Well why would you lie then?

I was six years old, that's
just what they told me to do.

That's what they told me to say.

- Their voracity was questioned.

They were challenged, they
were even accused of lying.

The motive for that was never
really made very clear why

they would seek to come
forward in this public way

with this humiliating
information, to what end

what they would gain from it.

It's preposterous.

They would gain nothing from it.

But that was the approach that was taken,

was that they were
somehow making this up for

some unknown reason.

- Go in there and hear
her say all that stuff and

hear her badger the kids,
treat the children the way

she did, you know, call
them liars, said they were

doing it for their own profit.

- [Voiceover] After five
months of hearings, the judge

finally came to a decision.

- The worst moment, worse
than my conviction was the day

the judge was reading his decision.

And at the beginning it didn't sound good.

- I thought from his first
words that he was saying

he was granting the writ,
and then he goes on to say

all the problems with the
case and it's not clear to me

that maybe I misheard what
he said at the beginning

and he wasn't granting it.

- And I actually thought I
was gonna have a heart attack.

'Cause I'm looking around,
my ears are buzzing,

and I can hear my heart just
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

- [Voiceover] The petitioner
has met his burden of showing

that the interviewing techniques
used by a child protective

service worker and Kern
County sheriff's officer

resulted in unreliable testimony
of the child witnesses.

Consequently, petitioners
remaining claim that his

conviction was the result
of false testimony is moot.

Petitioners motion is granted
and the judgement rendered

against the petitioner is vacated.

(mellow guitar music)

- [Kathleen] It was tremendous.

It was relief like
you've never experienced.

- That was one of the happiest
days of my life I think.

When I seen that on TV when he walked out.

There's nothing better than that.

(applause)

I was happy.

Like somebody let this
huge weight off of me.

- [Voiceover] Today as they
start their own families,

the children are still
struggling to live normal lives.

(kids chattering)

- I carry a lot of guilt.

It's been hard.

- It's really complicated
and it's frustrating

to sort out the emotions.

- I think a lot of them do
a lot of drugs and alcohol

just trying to escape
something, I don't know,

they can't forgive themselves.

I know it's had a lasting affect on them.

- If this would've never
happened, first of all,

I would've never even attempted a drug.

I would've never even thought of a drug.

When'd you get that story book, Jonathan?

- The story book?

- Yeah.

Here, you want the big one?

- [Voiceover] While Carla
Modahl's father Jeff was

in prison, she attempted
suicide more than once.

- [Scott] Brandon, our oldest
son, feels guilty to this day

because of us going to
prison and our families going

through this and we've
tried to convince him

he was only a kid and
they molded and pushed him

and forced him to say what he
said and we don't blame him.

- I'm mad at the court system
and I'm mad at the people

for not catching it and
I'm mad at the counselors

for reinstilling all theses
things and telling me

I was in denial as
opposed to saying, well,

maybe you weren't.

- Despise is a big word.

It's a hard word.

I think despise is a much

harsher word than hate.

And that's the way I feel
about authority figures

in Bakersfield.

- They took my innocence.

I feel raped by them, basically.

I didn't even know none
of this this stuff.

I didn't know kids were being molested.

I didn't, you know, I didn't have any clue

to any of that stuff, so basically

they threw all that
stuff in my head and all

the details and all that stuff.

- I definitely don't
do well with officials.

Anybody who works for the
state or the county or any,

you know, all those kinds
of people, I have this

inherent distrust for.

And the worst part is that
I know where it comes from

and I can't turn it off.

- I didn't bathe my
daughter for the first year,

you know what I mean?

It wasn't until the trial
reopened and stuff that

I realized, hey you know,
there's some characteristics,

I shouldn't be afraid to be
around other people's kids.

- Think about it, all those
people, now all those children

that are just confused and
upset and afraid of their

own kids, I mean, they ruined
a lot of people's lives,

they really did.

- I have a son and I never
got to give him a bath.

I would have my mom bathe
him because I didn't want

people to say, oh you
know you're touching him

the wrong way.

'Cause I knew that I didn't
wanna be in John's shoes

for something that's not true.

- Unfortunately they are
victims but they're just victims

of this county and the
way they tried to make

themselves so powerful and noticeable.

- There was a lot of law
enforcement and DA's office

and so on, judges, that
gained political ground.

- In general there's a
hysteria about crime,

particularly about
crimes against children.

Because, you know, we
value our children and

no parent would like to
ever imagine their child

being molested.

But I think that definitely,
not only in Kern County,

maybe Kern County highlights
it, but I think in general,

I think we live in a society
that's far more fearful

than the statistics or
the objective truth would

point to.

- We had a sheriff at the
time that had a philosophy

that children generally don't lie,

and had a philosophy, to
this day, is absolutely

when you're dealing with
children as victims of crime,

you're in a no win situation.

A lot of what went wrong,
if something did go wrong,

was that the way that
we interviewed children.

We probably should have
relied more on expertise

of professional counselors,
maybe even included them

in interviews.

- I don't think there was
a deliberate witch hunt,

I think it was a, it
was an issue involving

lack of training, lack
of knowledge, maybe lack

of leadership that kept that,

folks that were involved in
it kept supporting each other

and couldn't view it from
any other place except from

the perspective of conviction.

But I don't believe there
was an evil intent on

the part of the prosecutors
or the investigators.

Although, if I were one of
the defendants who had been

sent to prison, I certainly
would feel that there was.

- The witch hunt happened
and when the witch hunt went,

you were guilty.

You were guilty before
you even did anything.

- That would require
the district attorney,

the detective commander of
the sheriff's department,

the sheriff and every officer
involved to conspire to do,

and I can tell you as
a detective commander

that just never happened, ever.

- I think that there were
people in power that set

the tone for what everybody
else did so that the

people who were the
ultimate decision makers,

you know, it starts at the
top and it filters down

to how everybody else
regards their role and

what they're doing.

And the top was one of ambition and

zealotry and that's what
ended up filtering down to

all the other players involved.

- We're just collateral
damage in whatever they were

working on.

And it worked, the guy's still
runnin' the show down there.

- That people get sentenced
to death a higher percentage

of the time.

- There really are no checks
and balances there because

they feed off one another
and there's nobody there to

question what anybody else is doing.

And so I think that really
lends itself to what happened

here where a situation got out of hand.

And there was nobody here
to say wait a minute,

there's something wrong with this.

(mellow guitar music)

- This does happen and it
can be you, your neighbor,

your son, daughter, it
can happen right now.

There's no rhyme or reason why it happens.

If somebody wants to do it, it can happen.

(mellow music)

- [Voiceover] Brenda and Scott
Kniffen are still married

and live in Nevada.

They wish they could live
closer to their two sons

and four grandchildren who
still live in Bakersfield,

but despite the reversal of
his conviction, Scott had

trouble landing a job there.

Now they make a 375 mile drive every month

to visit their family.

- We can't live our lives
being bitter in that regard.

We know in our hearts that
one day God will meet out

justice and we cannot, what
amount of time we have left

on this earth, we cannot run
around with a chip on our

shoulder and be mad about it at everybody.

(mellow music)

- [Voiceover] Jack and Jackie
Cummings never ended up

being arrested.

Even so, their kids weren't
returned to them for a year.

They still live in Bakersfield
with their three sons

and five grandchildren.

The charges against their
friends, the Gonzales',

were dropped.

The couple was never convicted.

Rick and Marcella Pitts
are also still together.

They live in a small Oklahoma
town near their children.

Jeff Modahl also moved
out to the heartland.

He settled in Nebraska with his new wife.

They had a son, Jeffrey Modahl Junior.

- (mumbles) by yourself.

- (mumbles) by yourself too?

- Yep.

You got it?

- Yep.

- [Voiceover] Jeff's
daughters, Carla and Theresa,

moved to the same town to
be close to their father.

- I'm a country boy and
I'm pretty happy where I'm

at right now because I got
lucky with a wife that I have

and my son

and so far still being
graced with good health

and things like that that I'm happy for.

For a 60 year old man to
get out and to have to try

to start over, that's even,
it's got to be rougher yet,

then it was for someone that's 45.

Look at that grin on his face.

How are you my friend?

(mumbling)

- [Voiceover] John and
Jeff are back together now

as free men.

They say the bond they share
is truly that of brothers.

- He knows how I feel.

He knows what I have inside.

A lot of, I'm not gonna say anger,

but there's soemthin' built up inside

and I can talk to it to
him because he understands.

- There was a lot of people
that got out and said,

I know you didn't do this,
John, I'll do my best to

help you, and nobody ever did.

And Jeffrey did, that's just,
Jeffrey's very important

to me.

Very important to me.

- [Voiceover] The day John
Stoll walked out of prison

he was alone.

His parents had died,
his friends were gone,

and the rest of his family
had moved on without him.

Since his release, John
has been piecing together

a new life, new friends,
and a new extended family

of people who believe in him.

Slowly, he's made his way
back into the free world.

California's Victim
Compensation Board gave John

$700,000 for the 20
years he was in prison.

With that money, he bought
his first new car and took

road trips all around the country,

living a life he could only
dream of for all those years.

But John says he would
give it all up tomorrow

for just one more moment, one
more picture with his son Jed.

(mellow music)

(soft guitar music)