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….
Itโs not mistakes that obstruct justice. Itโs the refusal to admit them.
May 21, 2018
โCops, district attorneys, defense attorneys, and judges make mistakes all the time. Mistakes donโt obstruct justice. Justice is obstructed by refusing to acknowledge and rectify mistakes, and instead doubling down on and repeating them….โ
โ From โFor a small, blue state, Massachusetts wrongfully convicts a lot of peopleโย by George Bullen at 50 States of Blue (Jan. 30)
The prosecution of the Edenton Seven blew through one red light after another, willfully blind to the enormous mistakes it had made and hell-bent on making even more.
‘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?
Constitution prohibits ‘punishment in limbo’
Feb. 22, 2012
โ(Even as) prosecutors quietly dropped all charges against the remaining three defendants, (Nancy Lamb) had the temerity to hint that there was sufficient evidence to convict if the state were disposed to go to trial.
โThis kind of talk betrays the same imperious mentality that has left (Robin Byrum, Shelley
Stone and Darlene Harris) turning in the wind for eight years.
โA person charged with a crime is entitled under our Constitution to a timely resolution… a chance either to pay his debt to society or get on with his life. There is no excuse for punishment in limbo.โ
โ Editorial in the Greensboro News & Record, Dec. 21, 1996
Edenton anything but eager to make amends for Little Rascals
Feb. 11, 2019
โSuch stories arenโt proudly passed down from one generation to the next. Unlike some small Southern towns,
which often ignore the troublesome elements of their past, Batesburg-Leesville (the two towns merged in 1993) has embraced [Isaac] Woodardโs tragedy and tried to make amends….โ
โ From โA cop gouged out a black vetโs eyes. 73 years later, the SC town confronts itโ
by Brian Hicks in the Charleston Post & Courier (Feb. 7)
If ever there was a small Southern town committed to ignoring the โtroublesome elementsโ of its past, it is Edenton, North Carolina. Not a hint of the Little Rascals Day Care case โ surely the most significant news event of 20th century Edenton โ mars the civic memory.
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