John Stoll

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Charge:	Child/Minor Sex Abuse (incl. molestation)
Sentence:	40 years
Years Imprisoned:	20
Year Crime:	1984
Year Convicted:	1985
Year Cleared:	2004
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	California
County or Region of Crime:	Kern
City of Crime:	Bakersfield
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"John Stoll was wrongly convicted of child abuse based on the testimony of five children aged 6 to 8. In 2004 four of the accusers testified at an evidentiary hearing that investigators coerced their false testimony after "dogging" them for hours to provide evidence aganst Stoll. The fifith witness testified that he has no memories of any abuse by Stoll. On April 30, 2004 a judge in Bakersfield, California vacated Stoll's 1985 conviction. Stoll was released after almost 20 years of incarceration. In May 2006, the State of California determined Stoll was entitled to $704,700 in compensation under California's wrongful conviction compensation statute that provides for $100 per day of wrongful imprisonment. Stoll filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Kern County, which the county agreed to settle for $5,500,000 in September 2009. So Stoll was paid total compensation of $6,204,000. Stoll's case was featured in the 2008 documentary "Witch Hunt," about the two dozen adults convicted in Kern County in the 1980s for child abuse who later had their convictions overturned."
Conviction Caused By:	"Erroneous "eyewitness" testimony by four children who were pressured to testify against Stoll and three other adult defendants. Police misconduct (interviewing techniques resulted in unreliable testimony by child witnesses), prosecutorial misconduct, attorney error."
Innocence Proved By:	"On April 30, 2004 a judge in Bakersfield, CA vacated Stoll's 1985 conviction."
Defendant Aided By:	Northern California Innocence Project
Compensation Awarded:	"$6,204,700 total. $704,700 (State of California, 2006) and $5,500,000 (Kern County, CA, 2009)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	41
Age When Released:	61
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Molestation Conviction Tossed After 20 Years, Bakersfield, CA - Across the Nation section, The Seattle Times, May 1, 2004."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Who Was Abused?, Maggie Jones, New York Times Magazine, September 19, 2004 (7 pages)"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"Not Guilty After All, San Francisco Magazine, November 2004"
Information Location 3:	http://sanfran.com/archives/view_story/200/
Information Source 4:	"County settles overturned molestation suit for 5.5 million, By Gretchen Wenner and James Burger, Californian staff, Bakersfield Californian, September 15, 2009"
Information Location 4:	http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x746310118/County-settles-John-Stoll-lawsuit-for-5-million
Information Source 5:	"In the Matter of the Claim of John Stoll, No. G550759, Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board of the State of California, May 17, 2006"
Information Location 5:	http://www.vcgcb.ca.gov/docs/pc4900/PC-4900-Approved-Stoll.pdf
Book About Case:
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:	"'Witch Hunt," (2008 documentary)"
Comments About Case:

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John Stoll

Charge:

Child/Minor Sex Abuse (incl. molestation)

Sentence:

40 years

Years Imprisoned:

20

Year Crime:

1984

Year Convicted:

1985

Year Cleared:

2004

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

California

County or Region of Crime:

Kern

City of Crime:

Bakersfield

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"Erroneous "eyewitness" testimony by four children who were pressured to testify against Stoll and three other adult defendants. Police misconduct (interviewing techniques resulted in unreliable testimony by child witnesses), prosecutorial misconduct, attorney error."

Innocence Proved By:

"On April 30, 2004 a judge in Bakersfield, CA vacated Stoll's 1985 conviction."

Defendant Aided By:

Northern California Innocence Project

Compensation Awarded:

"$6,204,700 total. $704,700 (State of California, 2006) and $5,500,000 (Kern County, CA, 2009)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

41

Age When Released:

61

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Molestation Conviction Tossed After 20 Years, Bakersfield, CA - Across the Nation section, The Seattle Times, May 1, 2004."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Who Was Abused?, Maggie Jones, New York Times Magazine, September 19, 2004 (7 pages)"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Not Guilty After All, San Francisco Magazine, November 2004"

Information Location 3:

http://sanfran.com/archives/view_story/200/

Information Source 4:

"County settles overturned molestation suit for 5.5 million, By Gretchen Wenner and James Burger, Californian staff, Bakersfield Californian, September 15, 2009"

Information Location 4:

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x746310118/County-settles-John-Stoll-lawsuit-for-5-million

Information Source 5:

"In the Matter of the Claim of John Stoll, No. G550759, Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board of the State of California, May 17, 2006"

Information Location 5:

http://www.vcgcb.ca.gov/docs/pc4900/PC-4900-Approved-Stoll.pdf

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

"'Witch Hunt," (2008 documentary)"

Comments About Case: