John Stoll To Receive $5M Settlement In 20 Year Wrongful Conviction Case Featured In The Documentary "Witch Hunt"
BAKERSFIELD Channel 2 News is reporting:
Kern County leaders have agreed to pay a man $5 million after he was wrongly sent to prison for 20 years. John Stoll was convicted in the 1980s on molestation charges that were eventually overturned. He was featured last year in the documentary "Witch Hunt," which told the story of a string of child molestation cases during the '80s that sent 34 Bakersfield residents to prison.
Every conviction was ultimately overturned, including Stoll's, as witnesses recanted testimony and Kern County prosecutors were accused of using coercive techniques to get children to testify against their own parents.
John Stoll's settlement is $400,000 per year for each year he was in custody, far less than the $1M a year rate that plaintiff's lawyers are attempting to set. As recently addressed, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals explained that even $1M a year "approach[es] the outermost boundary of what might be thought conscionable" and is "at the outer edge of the universe of permissible awards."
If you were in prison for 20 years, your relationship with your son and family destroyed, and your name smeared, how much do you think that would be worth?
Saw the documentary "Witch Hunt" and my condolences and sympathy go to each person who was wrongly convicted. Kern County should take a much deeper look at themselves.
There isn't a high enough dollar amount to turn back time and undo the pain that this man has suffered. I am outraged and heartbroken for these families. I pray that they all receive boundless blessings and find at least a shred of peace knowing that justice will triumph over evil.
Just finished watching "Secrets and Lies" featuring John Stoll's story. How terribly heartbreaking! I think those idiots who brainwashed the kids should go directly to jail. They probably set John and others up for their own gain and recognition. Shame on them!! Glad to hear John is doing well now!! Peace and love to you John!!!
I find it sad that John Stoll will never know his son, nor his son him. That's the real injustice of the whole story. That poor boy actually believes this happened to him, despite what the "real" evidence suggests happened instead. He has invested too many years believing a lie, going to therapy, this is "who he is". Sad, but true. I guess he could never allow himself to think that this could possibly be true? Did he not keep up with the story, wonder if possibly he could have been fooled as well into believing this happened? God only knows. Maybe when he dies and goes to heaven, if he does, then God can tell him and then he'll believe.:(
John Stoll was thrust into this line of attack and then made to pay for these lies with twenty years of his life. Just watched “Secrets and Lies” and am once again saddened by the whole situation. How sad that Mr. What a travesty of justice! Thank God for those who came forth with the truth and for his lawyer. Mr. Stoll’s son, Jed, needs to come to himself with the truth. He needs to put all pride aside, ask his dad’s forgiveness for this horrendous lie, reconcile, and forgive himself before it’s too late. I will pray every day for this to happen.
This episode reminds me of a television program of many, many, years ago when, upon completion of a case, the judge reprimands lawyers of both sides reminding them, “…this is NOT about winning; it’s about justice!” I kept hearing these words throughout the program, perhaps because I suspected the prosecutor’s motive and ultimate goal was not for justice but to win. The prosecutor’s motive ultimately ruined the lives of everyone involved and Mr. Stoll lost Jed in the process, and eventually cost Kern County $5M dollars. Unfortunately this mockery of justice happens too often to innocent people as it happened to someone near and dear to me.
This is a too-often forgotten disgrace to our legal system, and to the men and women who support it. Those who set this man up are the real criminals, the ones who never get behind bars. If our system ever wants to right itself, we need to begin investigating those that thwart our system, mis-use their office and cost the taxpayers all this money. Our economy cannot support it, our legal system cannot continue to support it and we cannot continue to pay in-settlement-money for what should not have happened in the first place. Take off the blinders, ask the real questions: (1) Where are the criminal charges for the social worker, (2) Where are the criminal charges for the Sheriff that aided in the lies of these children, and most important of all (3) Where are the criminal charges and disbarment for the prosecutor that failed on so many levels to put the right evidence before the court, not the lies, and failed to reveal critical evidence to the court and counsel. Find them, and those who do like them, and our problems are solved. Think, of the many more people sitting in prison over evidence, known by bad social workers, bad sheriffs and bad prosecutors to be false.