Post Trial
Superior Court Judge John Paul Sullivan reduced Violet and Cheryl’s sentences, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed that ruling in 1993. In 1995, after serving eight years in state prison, Violet and Cheryl were freed on a successful appeal. A Lowell Superior Court judge ruled that their convictions were wrongful because they were not able to directly confront their accusers. However, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated the conviction, citing the need for "finality." While awaiting this verdict, Violet Amirault died. After this, another judge, the Honorable Isaac Borenstein, granted two separate motions for new trials. Judge Borenstein held that the children's interrogations were so tainted by "grave errors" in the investigation process that they could not be used in any new trial. He explained that:
These grave errors led to the testimony of the children being forever tainted. The only allegations made by the child witnesses occurred after they were subjected to the admittedly suggestive interviews, and investigative techniques, as well as inappropriate - even if understandable - influence by their families. Moreover, neither behavioral symptoms nor physical evidence which may be consistent with child sexual abuse were revealed until after the children and their families were subjected to these improper interviewing and investigative techniques. These alleged symptoms were only discussed after the families were overwhelmed by the panic, hysteria and media attention that snowballed this case into national headlines and widespread concern about ritualistic sexual abuse of children.
However, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court once again ruled to send the women back to prison.
In October 1999, the new Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley and Cheryl Amirault LeFave reached an agreement whereby Cheryl would be sentenced to the time served and she was released from prison. In exchange, Cheryl agreed to 10 years probation, and also could not give any television interviews, could not contact the families of the victims, could have no unsupervised contact with children, and could not profit in any way from her trial and imprisonment.
The Massachusetts parole board recommended the commutation of Gerald Amirault's sentence in July 2001 (an action that the alleged victims strenuously objected to). The then–Acting Governor, Jane Swift, rejected the decision in February 2002. He was ultimately released from the Bay State Correctional Center on April 30, 2004.
Read more about this topic: Fells Acres Day Care Center Preschool Trial
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