John Stoll

John Stoll was convicted of 17 counts of child molestation and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was convicted in 1984 after 6 children, ages 6 - 9 years old testified he and three other adults sexually molested them over a period of more than a year. One of the boys, 6 year old Jed, is John 's son.

In the mid 80's a wave of hysteria swept across the United States fed by people who believed that bands of child molesters were preying on small children everywhere. Nowhere was the problem greater than in Bakersfield California where a cadre of child protective services workers, sheriff's investigators and local district attorneys aggressively pursued prosecutions of what they called "child sex abuse rings".

In John's case, with absolutely no claim that he'd inappropriately touched any child, investigators approached six little boys and using interviewing techniques that have been demonstrated to cause false testimony, coerced them into testifying that John and 3 others had sexually molested them. Despite investigators claim that the children reported being sodomized repeatedly for more than a year, and as recently as three days before the arrest, they were not taken to a doctor to be examined. None of the alleged child pornography, photographs or picture taking equipment that investigators claim children said would be found in John's house, was ever found, even though police searched his house within hours of his arrest. He was tried and convicted based solely on the coerced testimony of the boys. John always maintained his innocence. He passed a polygraph test that was ruled inadmissible at trial. When asked at his sentencing if he had any comment on his 40 year sentence, John said "If I had done these terrible things that would be a fair sentence. But I didn't do anything; I 'm innocent."

The Northern California Innocence Project learned about John's case from a call in 2002 from Mark Sagin, an accomplished appellate lawyer now working for CAP (Capital Appellate Project).

It was clear right away that Stoll would be a particularly costly case - in time and money, both scarce resources.

Although there were clearly big hurtles, NCIP knew they had to take the case - there were so many problems and so many reasons to doubt John's guilt.

The testimony from the boys was compelling - each testified about how he 'd been forced to lie and growing up burdened by feelings of guilt. Some cried and some openly apologized to John from the witness stand. Ultimately John Stoll was cleared on all charges on April 30, 2004. He was released four days later. He was met at the gate by lawyers, students and press. John Stoll, an innocent man who served 20 years in prison was released with $200 in his pocket and the clothes on his back. The prosecutor never apologized - her comment: "You win some, you lose some". John now lives with 2 of his lawyers while he's trying to rebuild his life.