Convicted molester denied bail
Four of five accusers say crime never happened
BAKERSFIELD, California (AP) -- A judge has denied bail for a man seeking freedom after 20 years behind bars for a child molestation conviction based on the testimony of six child witnesses -- most of whom now say the crimes never happened.
John Stoll, now 60, was convicted in 1985 on 17 counts of child molestation. Attorneys for two Innocence Project chapters in California have been arguing for his freedom since January.
The judge on Monday ruled he would not release Stoll on bail pending his final decision April 30 on whether to overturn the conviction.
The ruling was followed by arguments in a hearing Stoll's lawyers requested to show that he should be exonerated.
"Mr. Stoll's conviction hangs on the falsehoods told by frightened and confused children 20 years ago," Innocence Project attorney Jill Kent told the judge. "It was all a result of suggestive questioning."
Stoll's case was one of hundreds of child molestation cases that swept the nation in the 1980s.
In Bakersfield alone, 46 people were arrested in eight alleged child molestation rings. Thirty were convicted, but 22 of the convictions were later reversed for reasons including prosecutorial misconduct.
Stoll is the last of his group of four still in prison.
Doctors never examined the children, ages 6 to 8, who claimed to have been molested by Stoll and others at parties that included sodomy and group sex.
Four of Stoll's accusers, now adults, recently testified they were manipulated by investigators who dogged them for hours until they fabricated the stories. A fifth witness testified he has no memories from that part of his childhood.
Eddie Sampley was 7 when he says he falsely testified against Stoll. On Monday, Sampley paced nervously outside the courtroom.
"I am just hoping that this burden can be lifted," Sampley said. "If I could take this guy's place, I would."
Kern County authorities defend Stoll's conviction.
"These kids were telling the truth back then and they are not, for whatever reason, today," prosecutor Lisa Green told the judge Monday.
Green has suggested witness memories may have clouded over time.
The prosecution also has Stoll's own son, Jed, who maintains his father is guilty. Stoll blames his son's insistence on a bitter custody dispute, saying his ex-wife filled their boy's head with lies.
"He was convinced to tell so many lies that he is just plain confused," Kent said at the hearing.
In a victory for Stoll, Kern County Superior Court Judge John Kelly ruled Monday he would accept defense experts' testimony regarding comparisons between Stoll's case and another that the judge overturned after finding that investigators coerced false testimony from children.
The same investigators interviewed Stoll's accusers.
Though he is up for parole next year, a release without vindication could send Stoll to a state mental hospital indefinitely.
"I just want to clear my name," Stoll said in a jailhouse interview with The Associated Press. "That's all I've got left."
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