Rascals case in brief
In the beginning, in 1989, more than 90 children at the Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton, North Carolina, accused a total of 20 adults with 429 instances of sexual abuse over a three-year period. It may have all begun with one parent’s complaint about punishment given her child.
Among the alleged perpetrators: the sheriff and mayor. But prosecutors would charge only Robin Byrum, Darlene Harris, Elizabeth “Betsy” Kelly, Robert “Bob” Kelly, Willard Scott Privott, Shelley Stone and Dawn Wilson โ the Edenton 7.
Along with sodomy and beatings, allegations included a baby killed with a handgun, a child being hung upside down from a tree and being set on fire and countless other fantastic incidents involving spaceships, hot air balloons, pirate ships and trained sharks.
By the time prosecutors dropped the last charges in 1997, Little Rascals had become North Carolina’s longest and most costly criminal trial. Prosecutors kept defendants jailed in hopes at least one would turn against their supposed co-conspirators. Remarkably, none did. Another shameful record: Five defendants had to wait longer to face their accusers in court than anyone else in North Carolina history.
Between 1991 and 1997, Ofra Bikel produced three extraordinary episodes on the Little Rascals case for the PBS series “Frontline.” Although “Innocence Lost” did not deter prosecutors, it exposed their tactics and fostered nationwide skepticism and dismay.
With each passing year, the absurdity of the Little Rascals charges has become more obvious. But no admission of error has ever come from prosecutors, police, interviewers or parents. This site is devoted to the issues raised by this case.
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Todayโs random selection from the Little Rascals Day Care archives….
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Todayโs random selection from the Little Rascals Day Care archives….
When ‘overwhelming community sentiment’ wins
June 10, 2013
โThe danger posed by courts and prosecutors who abdicate their responsibilities to uphold the Constitution in favor of overwhelming community sentiment was recently illustrated in State v. Robert Fulton Kelly Jr.
โThe trial prosecutor and the Superior Court judge were so overwhelmed by community sentiment that the trial was converted from a proceeding to adjudicate Mr. Kelly’s guilt or innocence into a forum to assist the families of the scores of alleged child victims recover from the gut-wrenching allegations of the 100-count indictment. The result: Justice was poorly served.
โThe individuals thought to be victims and their many family members, loved ones and neighbors were frustrated, angered and in the end felt cheated. The individuals accused of heinous abuse of scores of children were deprived of a fair trial and deprived of liberty for more than three years.โ
โ From a talk byย Henderson Hill, director of the N.C. Resource Center, Office of the Appellate Defender, at theย Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr. Constitutional Issues Program, (May 18, 1995)
Ritual-abuse therapists, meet UFO debriefers
Feb. 13, 2013
โCan we say beyond a shadow of a doubt that any day-care operators in the country are innocent? No. Can we say that those who claim they were abducted by UFOs were not? No.
โ(That) is not a frivolous comparison. The methodology used by therapists on the children is the same methodology used by UFO debriefers. The debriefers ask, Did you see a light? The therapists ask, Did you get taken to a secret tunnel? The debriefers ask, Did you feel a probe by the aliens? The therapists ask, Did Mr. Bob stick a knife in your vagina?
โWhen people, even fully functional members of their communities, regurgitate what they have been told about space probes, we call them lunatics. When children, after constant prodding, regurgitate what they have been told about intimate probes, we put people in prison.โ
โ From โAbusing Justice, in the Name of Childrenโ byย Ed Siegel in the Boston Globe (Sept. 8, 1995)
‘Will Edenton be able to heal from this?’
Aug. 7, 2013
โAfter (the first episode of โInnocence Lostโ aired in 1991), letters and phone calls poured into the mayorโs office.
โ โDear Mayor: Thank God I donโt live in Edenton. Itโs full of witches…..โ
โ โDear Mayor: I suppose since lynching Negroes is verboten, the next best thing is for Southerners to cannibalize each other….โ
โJohn Dowd, Edentonโs mayor at the time, is trying to correct some of the damage done to the townโs reputation….
โMany reporters have wanted to know: โWill Edenton be able to heal from this?โ The question is a little too touchy-feely for some residents, too intimate and much too insincere. Dowd replies, โHell, weโve recovered from the Civil War, from World War II.โ Then, dryly: โYeah, I think weโll recover from this.โ โ
โ From โLittle Town of Horrorsโ by Kathy Dobie in McCallโs (June 1992)
The Civil War, World War II and the Little Rascals Day Care case? The mayorโs resolve was apparent, if not his logic โ but that was true for the whole case, wasnโt it?
What, no applause from Attorney General Easley?
June 17, 2013
โI donโt know if Bob Kelly and the staff of that now-infamous Edenton day care center abused those children… But I do know, beyond any reasonable doubt, that something is dreadfully wrong in that case, and I applaud the (N.C.) Court of Appeals ruling that ordered a new trial for Kelly and Kathryn Dawn Wilson. Everyone who cares about justice should join in a standing ovation for the courtโs common-sense ruling.
โFat chance of that.
โThe prosecution, led by Attorney General Mike Easley, has already begun its campaign to discredit the ruling as a nitpicking exercise that found minor technicalities in the stateโs longest and most expensive trial….โ
โ From โJustice unlikely for Kellyโ by News & Observer columnistย Dennis Rogers (May 9, 1995)
Easley said he would petition the N.C. Supreme Court to review the cases immediately: โThe decision casts no doubt on the credibility of the children or the integrity of the investigation…. In both cases, the facts supporting the convictions were clear and overwhelming. (The appeals court) disregarded these facts and misapplied the law.โ
Theย Wilson Daily Timesย opined that โEasleyโs vow to appeal the overturning is futile, and he knows it. … Easley tried to play tough prosecutor… implying the convictions were thrown out because of technical indiscretions. But he well knows that the errors in the trials were substantial and egregious (and) made a mockery of justice.โ
ย Four months later, when the N.C. Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals, Easley had lost his bravado. โAll prosecutors know that cases involving children weaken with age,โ he said. โA retrial in this matter will be extremely difficult.โ
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