Come on, hit it!
Swing at it!
- It's okay, you got it!
- Two way, run on anything!
Hey come on, big Ted.
You can do it buddy.
Keep your eye on the ball.
Wait for the!
- Go, go!
Keep going!
- Go!
Keep going!
Woo!
- Now that's my idea of a home run.
- Look, I know what you hear out there,
but drugs aren't cool.
Cigarettes aren't cool.
And alcohol isn't cool.
One-eighth of crack and you can be hooked for life.
Nicotine will give you lung cancer.
Alcohol will wrap that car you worked
so hard to earn around a telephone pole.
Now.
The facts.
Let's hit some of the myths that
you're hearing out in the parking lot.
Officer?
- Yeah?
- I never hit on any myths before.
Am I gonna get hooked?
- No.
Myths are safe, Stu.
It's reality you gotta watch out for.
- Dear God, for what we're about
to receive make us truly thankful.
Keep mom and dad and Teddy and Rex safe.
And lead the Seahawks safely out of the second division.
Amen.
- The blue item on the top of your head?
Thank you.
You stop by the car place today?
- Yeah.
Sign said body shop, but guys were all wearing Rolexes.
- Great.
- I'll make a few more phone calls.
- Thank you.
- You know, I stopped by the teacher's lounge today.
- Unwinding after another grueling day
behind the slide projector?
- Hey.
Watch yourself, young man.
- Brandon Cassidy said you were fighting over cigarettes.
- Yeah.
I lead with my jaw again.
Forget it.
May I be excused?
- Kendra, I'm the chairperson
for the Tiny Tot's fundraiser this year.
- I know, I got the invitation.
- It should be a fun evening.
- Helen, we've gotta do something for the school,
but I just started temping again.
And Roger isn't much of a dancer.
Maybe I can hit you up
with a garage sale this spring.
- Great, good deal.
- Good.
You know who turned me down flat?
Who?
- Miriam Stossburg.
- Josh's mom?
- Sunday night.
She gets Alex up out of bed at 2 AM,
he meets them at the ER.
You know what it was?
- What?
- Gonorrhea.
It was Josh.
- Hi Rog.
- Morning Roger.
- I think I'm in love.
- Who's she?
- Miriam Stossburg.
- About Tiny Tot?
- She wanted to file a complaint.
Had to talk her out of it.
- What kind of complaint?
- Would you believe sodom?
She had nothing but the kid's word on it.
- Don't you think it'll be investigated?
I mean it's our kids' school.
- The chief has known the Richardsons for 25 years.
Believe me, they're solid.
Wanna know the real story?
Stossburg just broke up with her boyfriend.
He runs some sort of art gallery in Portland.
Mrs. Richardson thinks he raped Josh.
- Did you talk to this guy?
- I called a buddy of mine in Vice.
They're checking him out.
- What happens to Tiny Tot while they're checking?
- Innocent until proven guilty.
- Come on.
What about this new teacher?
- George Olin took a voluntary blood test.
No trace of any form of VD.
- How we doing?
- About five minutes.
- Perfect.
- Doctor Wells redid all the tests.
There was no screw up.
- Well can you get gonorrhea any other way?
- Not that I know of.
The only place Josh goes is Tiny Tot.
- It's a preschool, for cryin' out loud.
There's gotta be a reasonable explanation.
- Okay you two, dinner's almost ready.
Melinda, you wanna go wash your hands?
There you go.
Bear, is there anything you wanna tell me about?
- Nope.
- Like about school?
- No.
What are we having for dinner?
- Hamburgers.
- Pickles?
- Baby dills, the kind you like.
- Yummy.
- I heard Josh is sick.
Has he been at school?
- No.
Do any of the teachers make you uncomfortable?
- No, they're nice.
- What about Mr. George?
- He plays baseball with us.
- Does anyone at school touch you in a bad way?
- Like we talked about?
- Like that.
- Nope.
- You guys wanna eat these on the swings?
- Oooo.
- Yeah, all right! - Yay!
- Sounds good to me.
- Thank you.
- Did you talk to Melinda?
- She loves school, everything's great.
- Did you talk to Teddy?
- Yeah, he's fine.
I could tell if there was something.
- Mrs. Stossburg, officially I'm not here.
- But unofficially, you'd wanna see if you buy.
- Well I've been doing some research.
Sexual abuse in preschools is very very rare.
- Really?
Then why do the police wanna
cover it up when it actually happens?
- Now nobody wants to cover anything up.
The chief has been playing golf
with the Richardsons for years now.
A lot of questions.
- You're the detective, ask me...
- Now I'm not a detective.
I'm just a parent.
- Okay then.
As a parent.
What about you?
What do you believe?
- Well.
I guess I have a lot of trouble stomaching the idea
that any grown up wants to have sex with a child.
- What they're saying about me isn't true okay?
I don't have any boyfriends.
I wish that I did.
- Well it couldn't have been George Olin,
he doesn't have the disease.
- It happened during nap time.
They gave Josh something funny tasting,
they put it in his fruit juice.
He woke up in the back of a van, now he was groggy,
but he still remembers them taking him.
Who?
- The Richardsons, the chief's
golfing buddies drove my son to a motel room.
There was a man there that Josh didn't know.
He was very fat.
He took pictures of Josh.
- Is that all?
- The fat man raped him.
- So you're not saying that
the Richardsons had sex with Josh?
- The Richardsons watched.
- All right look, our investigation didn't locate a van.
Josh is the only kid who's told a story like this.
- Could your son make up something like this?
- Does this hurt?
It hurts huh?
Well you just relax now.
I'm gonna make it all better okay?
There you go.
How's that?
- Hi, can I help you?
- Oh, yes.
I was just wondering if I could visit my son's class.
- Oh sure, what's his name?
- Teddy Dollison.
I think he's in Mavis' class.
- Yeah, they're still out in the yard.
- Oh, great.
We haven't met yet, I'm Kendra Dollison.
- George Olin.
I'll show you.
- Great.
- Hi Arthur.
- I think he's over there.
- Thank you.
Hi Bear.
- Hi mom.
- Is it okay if I come to visit?
- Wanna see me hang from a bar?
- Sure.
- Kendra, what a nice surprise.
- Hi Mavis.
I just thought I'd stop by and see how Teddy's doing.
If that's okay with you.
- Of course it is.
There you go Teddy.
Getting lots of good feedback at home?
- Oh, well Teddy seems a little bored of school.
- I hear that all the time.
Why aren't they reading?
What about their time tables?
- Well I'm not complaining.
- See, you have to realize the important thing
right now is socialization.
And you don't have anything to worry about
as far as Teddy is concerned.
He's making lots of friends.
- That's good.
Everybody seems to be having a good time.
I was a little surprised to find the front door locked.
- You never know who's gonna walk in off the street.
Come on, let me show you some of Teddy's artwork.
- Great.
So any news on the collision shop front?
- Well Otto's Welded Hammer will do it for 1,800 bucks.
- For body work or orthodontry?
So how was school?
- Boring.
- Boring?
Honey, did anybody unusual ever pick Josh up after school?
- No.
- Like maybe somebody Josh's mom would see?
- Mom, he said no.
- Do I have to eat all these carrots?
- Well you wanna hit home runs?
- Will the carrots buy me a catcher's mitt?
- Uh-uh.
Catcher's mitt you gotta eat parsnips.
- Teddy?
Are there any new men teachers at school?
- Mom, what is it with you?
You don't believe anything Teddy says.
- Of course I do, I'm just interested in school.
- Parents.
Gotta watch 'em, Ted.
Jeff Woodbeck's mom took him into
the drug store to discuss condoms.
- She didn't.
- No, she did.
Then she cut off his allowance
when he knew what aisle they were in.
- Turn it off Sandy!
But mom, it's the National Geographic special.
- Since when did Bob Hope start doing
National Geographic specials?
- Brooke Shields is an educated woman.
- She's cuter than you are, honey.
From you, Princeton's gonna expect homework.
Okay mister, time for bed.
Hey Robbie, what happened to you?
- Nooo.
- Oooh.
Are you sure there isn't anything you wanna tell mommy?
A catcher's mitt only costs $30.
- You did?
Night night, little Bear.
- What about a first baseman's mitt?
You would tell mommy if...
- I like school, I like learning stuff.
- Night sweetie.
Goodnight mom.
- I'm gonna go to the cash machine,
so you guys get to surprise me.
Now remember, no fast food.
He gets to pick the place he likes.
- All right.
See ya!
Can you tell us more about the blood?
Where did it come from?
Sweetheart, what do you mean covered in blood?
- Hey.
Happy birthday daddy.
- Well thanks guy, what are you guys doing here?
- Why is Melinda here?
- Dad, what's going on?
Why are Teddy's teachers here?
- Is Melinda going to jail?
- No, we don't put kids in jail.
- Dad, what's she saying?
- Why don't you guys go wait in the interrogation room okay?
Sandy, keep the door shut.
Hi Teddy.
- Is Melinda gonna have to wear handcuffs?
- Dad told you they don't arrest little kids.
- Then why is she still here?
Paula's taking her home.
- Teddy.
Honey.
Wake up.
Teddy, wake up honey.
I need to talk to you.
You've gotta tell me the truth, Bear.
What Melinda said happened at school.
Did you see it?
Honey, look at me.
Teddy, look at me.
Did you see anyone do anything bad to Melinda?
- The teachers are nice, mom.
- Did you see anyone hurt any of the kids?
Any of the kids at all?
- No.
- Night night, little Bear.
- Goodnight.
- What happens if Melina wakes up
tomorrow and changes her story?
What happens then?
- Melina isn't making up a story.
- Tiny Tot has been opened for years.
Why would the Richardsons suddenly
start something like this?
- Okay, okay, so what's it gonna take
to get you to believe the kids?
- I'm the one who believes.
Teddy says that Josh and Melinda
are making up a story, I believe my son.
- You're not being rational.
- Rational?
Don't talk to me about rational.
People don't do things like this to children.
- Okay, so it's a coincidence that
Josh and Melinda just make up stories that
the exact same four people molested them?
- Then Teddy didn't know.
- Melinda said it's been happening
for a long time in a small house.
How could he not have known?
- Then why won't he tell me about it?
- I don't know.
But you think a four year old
could make something like that up?
Even about the baby powder?
- Get dressed Teddy.
And Beth will show you the toy drawer.
- Come on, Teddy.
- His blood tests are all normal.
- So he's all right?
- There are laceration scars on his rectum.
- The scars could come from a lot of things.
- Kendra, Teddy's been raped.
- God.
Well if you've been through what Teddy's
been through, would you wanna tell people about it?
Dr. Billington, we're his parents.
It's been six weeks.
- He's making real progress in his therapy.
- You mean he's talking to you?
- There are nonverbal ways for a child
to tell a therapist what's wrong.
I have to warn you, the healing process
can take a long time.
Years even.
It can put the family under stress.
And no one's ever done a longitudinal study...
- Come on Martha, what's he told you?
- I want you to see one of Teddy's drawings.
What does it mean?
We're not sure.
- They aren't here anymore, Bear.
- They're gonna be in jail for a long time.
- Aunt Mavis?
Uncle Arthur?
Mr. George?
Miss Susan?
- They're gone.
Lots of kids have told.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Nobody is gonna hurt you.
Honey, nobody is gonna know you told.
Remember what daddy said?
They're all in jail.
- They'll find out.
- Nobody will know but us.
It's our secret.
Mavis gave it to him.
She brought it to the house just as he started school.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
There are no more secrets.
- They said you'd die if I ever told.
- Oh honey.
You're never gonna have to worry
about anything like that again, I promise.
- Which one of them hurt you?
- They all did.
Miss Susan took pictures.
- While they did what?
- Mr. George let them play a game.
- Tell us about the game.
- Listen Bear, they're going to jail.
They're not gonna hurt you.
And they're never gonna hurt us.
- Tonight they're gonna find out
how many victims there really are.
Ready?
- Yup.
- Go!
- Because we didn't want you to read about
these indictments for the first time in the papers.
So here it is.
Tomorrow the district attorney will announce
indictments against two defendants,
Mavis and Arthur Richardson, on 37 separate counts
of child molestation and sexual abuse.
- What about the other two?
- We've elected not to indict either
Miss Larrimer or George Olen.
- Miss Larrimer raped my daughter!
- What do you have to do around here to get indicted?
- Your daughter is only two.
A two year old is not a good witness.
You have to realize that we wanna make cases we can win.
There just wasn't enough evidence
against the other two teachers.
- Are you telling us you let them walk?
- They've left the community, yes.
- In the absence of an indictment
they're entirely within their rights.
- That's crap, Bernstein!
I ran NCICs on all four of these freaks.
Susan Larrimer has a record.
She was tried in Kentucky for molesting a retarded kid!
- And she was acquitted.
It isn't a crime to be accused of a felony.
- Yeah, but you've gotta admit, somebody screwed up.
How did she get a job at Tiny Tot?
- Didn't anybody from the licensing board check this woman?
- Look, you entrusted your children to these people.
The defense is gonna harp on that.
Nobody, including you,
knows what a child molester looks like.
So don't go after all the people
who should've known, you should've known.
Listen, listen.
We need your children as witnesses.
The defense is gonna try to destroy
their credibility on the stand.
If you don't support your children,
if you don't help them testify,
you have no prayer of getting a conviction.
None.
And I promise you.
Every person in this room is gonna
wanna give up before this trial is over.
- Mr. Bernstein.
Our son is ready to testify against George and Susan.
- Which one is your son?
- Teddy Dollison.
- Right, he's almost five.
He's very bright, he'll make a good witness.
- Look, I don't know how much
you know about courtroom strategy...
- I know that you're missing evidence.
Teddy talked about photographs.
- No, I'm not talking about evidence.
I'm talking about pedophilia.
The average person doesn't wanna believe
that adults have sex with children.
Now jurors are average people, which means
that a prosecutor has gotta stay
below their threshold of credibility.
- Mr. Bernstein, Susan and George raped my son.
- What are you saying?
Are you saying that Teddy
doesn't have the right to accuse them?
- No, I'm saying that Teddy unfortunately
is one of only four kids who have made
specific allegations against George and Susan.
- Wait, you have four witnesses?
And that's not enough?
- Three of them are two year olds
who won't do me any good on the stand.
That leaves me with one.
And the simple truth is most of the witnesses
we have today will drop out before this trial...
- Teddy will not drop out.
- Look, I know you wanna get these people.
I feel the same way.
But the bottom line is convictions.
I have got to make a case I can win.
- All right, so what if we find Susan and George right?
What if there are photographs or video tapes...
- These people are not dumb.
If there ever were photos, there aren't now.
- All right, but what if there were?
- Then we'd reexamine the situation pretty fast, okay?
- Ken?
- What?
- Nothing.
Couldn't you see it?
- See what?
- That it was going on.
- It happened at nap time.
They kept the doors locked,
there were lookouts, there was nothing to see.
- Couldn't you see it in his eyes?
- You saw him at breakfast.
You saw him every night at dinner.
Couldn't you see anything?
- Well I'm not his mother!
Mothers are supposed to know when things are going on.
- So this is all my fault.
- No.
It's my fault.
- No, it's their fault, they did it!
- You heard Bernstein, we should've known.
God, I keep going through this over and over in my mind.
What did I miss?
I mean how could Teddy keep something like this inside him?
I mean how did it happen that one day,
I'm off doing something for myself.
I don't know, eating a danish.
And these people are raping our baby?
You know, I never consciously wanted to hurt anyone before.
I want to fight these people.
I want to beat their faces into a pulp.
And I wanna tell Teddy that I did it.
We can't let them get away.
- Susan and George?
Case is too weak.
- Not if we find some hard evidence.
Now why'd they take pictures?
Huh?
There's gotta be some kind of pornography connection right?
So we go down to Portland, we'll start there...
- Hold on, hold on, look, I'm the detective,
trust me, it's just not worth wasting time over.
- Hey, I got nothing but time.
- You're very good at what you do, Roger.
- But I'm not a detective right?
- That's not the real problem.
- It's not real to you because
Susan and George didn't hurt your kid.
- No.
The real problem is they're gone.
- We've been through this before.
You don't want me to have to do this.
Have to do what Steve?
- You and Kendra don't believe that nonsense.
- No, we think that Josh Losberry
got gonorrhea from the Tooth Fairy.
- Josh was raped by his mother's boyfriend.
- Yeah, see, that's your story.
Teddy said he saw it happen at school.
Said he saw Susan taking pictures of George raping Josh.
- That's ludicrous.
Susan is a master teacher.
She supervised George while he was
doing his practice teaching.
I've known them both for years.
- What's it like Arthur?
- Hmm?
- Watching.
- Did Teddy tell you all this before
or after his treatment with Dr. Billington?
- What's Dr. Billington got to do with anything?
- She debriefed all 37 victims didn't she?
- Doesn't prove anything.
- She cooked it all up, Roger.
Every sordid line.
- Who's the fat man?
- I told you.
No conversations.
Excuse me sir, could you just...
No!
Stay away!
- Honey, honey!
Teddy, Teddy, wake up sweetie.
Wake up, calm down.
It's all right, it's all right.
Calm down.
It's okay.
- It's all right, Teddy.
It was just a bad dream, you're all right.
- Sweetie, calm down.
Just go back to sleep.
- You got any idea who to call
if you need something even younger?
- Take it from a guy who's worked a lot of vice tours.
This is a waste of time.
- Listen, you told me about the pedophile rings,
we gotta get inside one.
- The right one.
How do we know the Richardsons
didn't sell their stuff in San Francisco or LA?
- Well we copy down some phone numbers anyway.
- Can I help you guys?
- Yeah, we're staying in a hotel around the corner.
Room service doesn't have what we're looking for.
- Which is?
- Young boys.
Four, five.
- Everything in my store is legal.
Come on man, we'll pay,
just tell us who to call.
- You sleazy creep.
What are you gonna do next?
Show me your damn snapshots?
I don't want your money, sex with kids makes me puke.
- What snapshots?
- "What snapshots."
Sick weirdos.
Get out of my face.
- Then Uncle Arthur took off the baby's clothes.
- And you're sure you saw this, Melinda?
With your own eyes?
Because it's very important you don't tell me
things you heard, just what really happened to you.
- It was my day to be the baby.
- Okay.
Show me what Uncle Arthur did to the baby.
- I called our insurance company.
For group therapy they pay less than half.
Gonna have to go back to work full-time.
Know anybody who's looking for a secretary?
Or a receptionist?
Paula?
Are you all right?
You sick?
- I looked at her last night while she was sleeping.
- Nightmares?
- I watched her all night.
Since the minute I found out,
she hasn't been out of my sight.
- Yes, George and I were in the same class.
I was supposed to call him about the alumni magazine.
Uh-huh, no, that's the address that I had,
now do you have anything more recent?
Well I thought I might try the preschool
where he did his practice teaching,
now is that in your records?
I see.
Okay.
Thank you.
- I feel like I live in a phone company commercial.
- I'm gonna have to call every preschool in Connecticut.
Why?
What makes you think he went back east?
- Well as Arthur said, George and Susan
met practice teaching while he was in college.
Went to the Connecticut Institute
for Early Childhood Development.
- Well before you do that then, will you call
these people for me and tell them I'm on my way.
- Sure, who's this?
- That's a meat packing plant.
Nine bucks an hour.
They said if they like me they might make it permanent.
- Hey.
It's not gonna be permanent.
I love you.
- Bye.
- Fag!
- Shut up!
- Hey, come on guys, come on.
Whoa whoa whoa, hey hey hey.
- What'd he call you?
- What's a fag?
- A guy who's gotta be tough to survive.
Next time he gets on base, spank him.
What kind of school's open in the middle of the night?
Go to bed.
- I'm getting closer.
- You think I like playing den mother to my father?
This kind of responsibility could warp
an adolescent's basic oedipal drives.
- I reached a guy who knows George,
he thinks he's teaching at a school near New Haven.
Hey.
I found him.
He's teaching at a preschool in Bridgeport.
- You didn't go to work today?
- Called in sick.
- I wish I had known.
Teddy could've stayed here with you.
- Hey, I like the meat place.
- You eat too much salami buddy.
- Are you going?
- I got a ticket on the red eye.
Will you be back before I tell?
- Wouldn't miss that.
- He's gotta make sure Mr. George
doesn't hurt anymore kids, Teddy.
- Daddy, don't go near him!
- We don't let people hurt us in this family.
- Come on Teddy.
- Well how'd you pay for the ticket?
- Plastic.
- Okay, say you get lucky.
Say George does keep photos of the kids.
Say Bernstein decides to reindict.
What happens then?
- Then we get them all.
Show Teddy they can't spit in our faces.
- And how long is that gonna take, Roger?
Don't give it to me in years, give it to me in nightmares.
Or better yet, maybe insults.
- You know how many kids one person can abuse in a lifetime?
- What about our kid, Roger?
People avoid me in the market.
I can't afford to fix our car.
Even Teddy's friends have started calling me names.
- Okay, fine.
You don't want me to go?
I won't go.
- Roger?
- Hey.
- Ernie Ronay.
- How are you?
- Just fine and you?
- Is he still in town?
- Yeah.
He doesn't suspect a thing.
- All right, good.
I'll start watching the place this afternoon.
- We've done better than that.
We put a policewoman in there undercover.
- How'd you manage that?
- I had a talk with the owner.
- Did you mention George?
- No way.
I just said that we got a tip
about somebody abusing kids...
- You said child abuse?
- Well she doesn't want abuse at our schools.
- Ernie, did you ever handle a case like this before?
- Never heard of anything like this around here.
- Let's get going.
Mr. George is sick today.
Well he still hasn't cleaned out his desk.
- Maybe he really is sick.
- If he keeps snapshots they'd be in his apartment.
You got the address?
Yup.
- Well let's get over there then.
- Gonna take a couple hours to get another warrant.
- Hey Sarge.
Take a look at this.
It's his address book.
With phony names.
You want it?
- I want everything.
- Mr. Olin, police.
Open up sir.
Open it.
He's gone.
Now Melinda, how often did you play baby nursery?
Every Thursday during nap time.
- And did Aunt Mavis play too?
- She changed the baby's diapers.
- And you were the baby?
So then Aunt Mavis took your clothes off.
And what did Uncle Arthur do?
- He powdered the baby's bottom.
- With baby powder?
From a can?
- On his fingers.
Then what did he do?
- The bad thing.
- Now Melinda, can you tell us where
Uncle Arthur put his fingers?
- I don't wanna tell.
- Okay.
Can you tell us then if the game hurt the baby?
- It hurt the baby's vagina.
- Melinda, how does a five year old
know a word like vagina?
- Women have them!
- But how do you know Melinda?
- It's one of Dr. Billington's words.
My mommy told me what it means.
- Ah.
One of Dr. Billington's words.
- Objection Your Honor, argumentative.
- Sustained.
- Melinda, does your family own a VCR?
You know, a machine to play movies?
Answer my question Melinda.
Do mommy and daddy watch movies on a VCR?
- We all do.
- Then isn't it possible that you got these ideas
from some of the video cassettes mommy and daddy watch?
- That's a lie!
We've never watched an X-rated movie in our lives!
- You're not on trial here, Mrs. Stockman.
- Melinda isn't either.
Mr. Stockman!
- How can you let him badger her
while they're glaring at her?
You're just as bad as the people
you're supposed to be judging!
- Mrs. Stockman, please.
- Melinda, did you first hear
about grownups abusing children
from Dr. Billington or from your mother?
- My mommy didn't do anything.
- Then why is she trying to coach you, Melinda?
What are you two trying to hide?
- 10 minute recess.
- Mom, you didn't finish.
What happened to Melinda today in court?
- Pugliotti confused her.
She couldn't remember a thing she said on her deposition.
Sandy can you help me with that?
Get the door.
- She was gonna be one of the best witnesses.
- I know.
She cried a lot.
She wasn't sure of things.
It was a mess.
- Can I ride my bike before dinner mom?
- Did you clean your room?
Remember what we said, you don't
ride your bike 'til you clean your room.
Teddy, Sandy, go around the side of the house!
- I'll do it later, I wanna go over Mikey's.
- Around the side of the house right now, both of you.
Thanks.
- You don't have to worry honey because...
- Teddy!
- Dad, they killed Rex.
They're gonna kill you.
- No no, now what happened to Rex was an accident.
- He was poisoned.
- No no, now come on Teddy.
Mama thinks that he must've got into
that stuff we use on snails in the garden.
- No dad, it's cause you went to find Mr. George.
- But I never saw him, Teddy.
He was gone before I got there.
Hey, he doesn't know you told.
- Are you sure?
- I'm sure.
Okay?
- Come on Ted, I'll buy you some gum.
- Good seeing you.
- I don't get it.
He's convinced the Richardsons
are the one who killed Rex.
- What'd the guys in the lab say?
- Well the autopsy showed it was rat poison.
- Here we go.
Judge is coming in.
How'd it go back east?
- He took off before we could get anything.
- Too bad.
Okay big guy.
Let's do it.
Okay, could you turn around for us?
Can you smile?
- Remember what we talked about, Bear.
Just get up there and tell the truth.
Nobody can hurt you now.
- Remember, Mr. Bernstein's our friend now.
You just answer his questions in a nice loud voice.
Okay?
- Don't look at her, Teddy.
Just us, that's why we're here.
The honorable Clinton C. Allen presiding.
All rise.
- You need to stand up honey
to show respect for the judge.
Teddy!
- Teddy!
Teddy!
Teddy?
Teddy.
Teddy honey, what's wrong?
Sweetie, nobody is gonna hurt you.
I would never let anybody hurt you sweetie.
What is it, what is it?
- They were right.
- Who was right?
- Aunt Mavis and Uncle Arthur.
They said if I told, a man would be here to punish me.
- A man?
Who?
- A man in a black robe.
- No Bear, no, see they knew that there'd be
a man in a black robe, but he's the judge.
He's your friend.
- No dad.
People who wear black are servants of Satan.
- Servants of Satan?
Black robes.
Dead rabbits.
Think maybe Teddy was right about Rex.
- Dad, you know don't you?
- Why you're scared?
I sure do.
- No, that they have magic powers.
- Now listen Bear, they're not devils
or whatever they told you they are, okay?
They don't have any magic powers.
- Then why are we going home?
- Because they're sick.
They're bad.
- Are you scared of them?
What they did was bad.
It wasn't the kids.
It was them.
Right mom?
- Hey.
You still wanna tell them that in court?
- It wasn't the kids.
- Now Teddy, you said that baby nursery was a bad game.
Did anyone tell you baby nursery was a bad game?
- Dr. Billington.
- Ah.
Dr. Billington again.
Dr. Billington told you that you were bad to play the game.
- No, she said it was a bad game,
but she didn't say we were bad to play it.
- So you told Dr. Billington about the game,
and she told you what to say here today.
- Objection, Your Honor.
He's twisting the facts.
- Goes to state of mind, Your Honor.
- Rephrase the question, Mr. Pugliotti.
- Teddy, can you tell the difference
between what's true and what's false?
- Yes.
- In baby nursery.
Were Mr. and Mrs. Richardson really doctors?
- No.
What about Dr. Billington?
- Yes.
- What would you say if I told you
Dr. Billington isn't really a doctor?
- She isn't?
- She's not a medical doctor, no.
Now what about the Easter Bunny, Teddy?
Is the Easter Bunny real?
- Objection Your Honor, the Easter Bunny is irrelevant.
- Goes to the witness's credibility, Judge.
- I'll allow it.
- Is the Easter Bunny real?
- Yes!
- Did Uncle Arthur ever dress up in a rabbit costume?
- Yeah.
At Easter.
- Was he really the Easter Bunny?
- No.
- Well if Dr. Billington wasn't really a doctor,
how can you be sure Uncle Arthur
wasn't really the Easter Bunny?
Who are you looking at Teddy?
Is someone coaching you now the way Dr. Billington
coached every alleged victim in this case?
- Objection, Your Honor!
The boy is looking at his parents.
- Sustained.
Mr. Pugliotti, you are treading on thin ice here.
- I believe the relevance will be apparent, Your Honor.
What it boils down to is this.
A lot of the time, you don't know
if a grownup is telling you the truth or not.
- No.
And you get confused don't you?
- Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
- Now wasn't it really other kids that you
played doctor with and not your teachers?
- I don't know!
- Leave him alone!
Mr. Dollison, let Mr. Bernstein do the objecting.
- What kind of a man are you?
He's a child.
- A child you put on the stand.
- No!
A child they put on the stand!
- Why won't you let me tell what really happened?
- It's late.
Recess.
Reconvene in my chambers in 10 minutes.
Ah, Melinda.
Teddy.
Oops.
I'd like to try something different.
Sit down.
Melinda, why don't you sit in my chair.
And Teddy, you stand right here
like Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Pugliotti do.
Now what we're about to do is off the record.
That means it's not part of the trial, it's just for me.
'Cause I'm confused about something.
Melinda, you said that Uncle Arthur and Aunt Mavis
stood over you and killed a rabbit.
And then Teddy, later you said the rabbit was still alive.
Well which is it?
Dead or alive?
- Both.
- Judge, this is what I'm talking about.
They have no...
- Steve, be quiet okay?
How can something be both dead and alive?
- Satan.
- Who's Satan?
- The devil.
- Satan makes the rabbit die
and then brings him back to life?
- Aunt Mavis told us.
- There was always a new rabbit the next morning.
- Why does Satan do this?
- 'Cause we're bad.
- The rabbit's good.
And if we're good, and we tell...
- What will happen?
- Robbie will tell Satan, and Satan will punish us.
- Satan?
Robbie Rabbit?
Let's get serious here.
- Mrs. Richardson gave each of the kids a stuffed rabbit.
- A toy, so?
- The toy was actually a totem.
An evil eye watching them.
- An evil eye?
Come on Marv, who's your next witness gonna be, a bat?
- You watch your tone of voice with me okay?
This whole case is a gross fabrication...
- Be quiet, both of you!
I have what I need.
I want you to come back to court on Monday.
And tell the jury exactly what you told me okay?
- Ellis!
Come on, wait!
- Melinda is not going back on that stand.
- Ellis, we're not gonna stop now.
- What, you wanna take on satanists?
People like the Manson gang?
Uh-uh, no thank you.
- Teddy needs Melinda.
- I'm sorry.
- What about what they did to Melinda?
- What about what you're doing
to these kids by putting them on the stand?
- Ellis, you want Arthur and Mavis to go free?
- I wanna keep my daughter alive.
We're down to just three witnesses.
Teddy, Jennifer, and Josh.
Now it's clear to me from our sidebar yesterday
that the judge is as ticked with Pugliotti as we are.
I can see the same thing in the jury's eyes.
Your three kids are our only hope.
We can't afford to lose any of them now.
- So when are you gonna tell the jury about the Satanism?
- Satanism wasn't the way to go
a year ago, it's not the way to go now.
- Wait a minute.
You mean you knew about this all along?
- Black robes, killing bunnies.
Your dog.
I had a pretty good idea.
- And you didn't think that was relevant?
- I talked to a lot of other prosecutors.
Everybody says the same thing.
Juries cannot deal with Satanism.
- Oh yeah, juries can't deal with it.
Well you know what, kids don't deal with it so well either.
- Miriam.
- You know what, I can't believe
that you decided this on your own.
You know, that stinks.
- You can't run a criminal prosecution by committee.
- Okay, you can't run it without witnesses either.
- Now wait, wait wait wait wait.
What if we can get one of them to cut a deal with us?
- They take oaths.
They ID their relatives for the group.
That way if somebody rats, they know there'll be reprisals.
- So you admit this is real.
- It's not a question of what I believe.
I mean look at the Presidio case.
El Paso, West Point.
The same stories keep cropping up all over the country.
This many Satanic ritual abuse cases,
there's gotta be something out there.
- All right, then tell the jury that.
- Look, we're doing the best we can.
I just can't make any promises.
- You're telling us that we're going to lose.
After you put Josh on the stand so that
Pugliotti could rape him all over again?
My son is starting to stutter.
He's in a five a week therapy.
He could be in that for several years.
And all this time you knew...
- Miriam.
Josh probably won't have to testify again.
- You're right, Bernstein.
You're damn right he won't.
Look, I'm sorry.
- Let's go.
- Teddy can't do this alone.
- You want some mint tea?
- You agree with mom?
You're just giving up?
- Bernstein hasn't got anymore witnesses.
It's over.
- Just like that.
We don't let people hurt us in this family
you said, but what the hell right?
- Look, you saw what it's doing to him.
- You have to understand,
these people killed our dog, remember that?
- Shh shh, you're gonna wake everybody up.
- I didn't think you were such a damn wimp.
You're always backing out.
And you want Teddy to grow up just like you.
- Hey!
That's enough!
- No it's not!
You can't back out!
You're letting him down, you're letting everybody down!
You can't let this happen again!
- All right, now listen.
You've been a good brother to Teddy.
You got him through the trial.
Done everything a brother possibly could...
- No!
Don't touch me, all right?
You don't understand anything.
Don't you get it?
- Get what?
- It's all my fault, me, mine.
I screwed it all up.
And Teddy, he...
- Sandy, it's not your fault.
- Please don't touch me all right?
Just leave me alone.
- All right, Sandy, you're right.
I don't understand.
- I can't.
I just can't.
I knew.
Oh god, I knew.
And the reason I knew...
Is because the same thing happened to me.
If I told you what they did to me
at Tiny Tot, Teddy would still be fine.
- Wait a minute.
What do you mean what they did to you?
George and Susan weren't even there.
- The Richardsons were.
- Oh my god.
- Once I was out of there, nobody else knew
and nobody was hurt, I just wanted to forget.
To pretend it never happened.
I'm sorry, but I just couldn't tell you.
- Why?
- I was so ashamed, mom.
- Honey, it wasn't your fault.
- I was different from the other kids.
Mavis told me that I was special.
Her special kid.
- You mean she threatened you?
- She made me lie on the table.
And then she, she...
- She raped you honey, that's okay
'cause she did that to the other kids.
- Mom, you don't understand.
She did it with me more than with the other kids.
Because I was special.
- No you weren't honey...
- Mom, you still don't understand what made me special.
It wasn't just that I'd done it with her.
Mavis told me that I liked it.
Mom, I hated it.
I always hated it.
I was afraid.
That's why I let Teddy down.
I had to lie nude on the altar.
The altar was inside a pentagram inscribed in a circle.
The other kids would hold the torches.
Mavis would stand in the center
of the circle holding the knife.
First she would slit a rabbit's throat.
And I had to whisper these chants
and call her by her satanic name.
Then she would raise her robe.
And underneath she was naked.
Then I had to do it with her.
- He's your witness.
He can stand up to Pugliotti.
- Sandy, do you wanna wait out the hall for a minute?
It'll never fly.
- So what do you think, that we tell
our son to go in the stand and lie?
- No.
I think that you know these people are guilty.
So polygraph them.
- Come on, Roger.
You know that polygraph results are unreliable.
- Oh cut through it, Marv.
Do you believe Sandy, yes or no?
- Why did he wait 10 years?
- The woman bent his mind.
She convinced him that he liked what she was doing to him.
She laid guilt on a four year old child.
Now wouldn't you have kept quiet about that?
- Pugliotti will scream perjury.
- So what?
Sandy wants to testify against this woman.
Stand up and help your children tell the truth, you said.
Are you the one in the end who's gonna
end up burying the truth?
- All I'm saying, Kendra, is...
Is it gonna help?
- Is it gonna help?
No, not a hell of a lot.
It may kill him to get on that stand
and tell what she did to him.
But it's better than keeping it bottled up
inside of him for the rest of his life.
- Okay, I'll put him on the stand.
- Teddy.
Wake up.
- It's still dark.
- I know, but you gotta listen.
Sandy said that in the ritual, they made you
use Satanic names, you know their special names?
- Let me sleep.
- Listen.
Susan's name.
What was it?
- Miss Susan's name?
Yeah Bear, think.
- Aunt Mavis was Miss Virgo.
Miss Susan was...
I don't remember.
- Bear.
All right Bear, what name did Virgo call her friend?
Right, she's standing above the altar.
Now what name did she make you whisper?
- Isis.
- What are you doing?
- This is a file the police found in George Olin's office.
- Who's Isis?
- You wanted to see me?
- Roger Dollison.
- I got a staff meeting in five minutes.
- I'll wait 'til it's over.
- Why wouldn't you tell my secretary what this is about?
- Look, I've got the address of a woman who I think
is sexually abusing kids in your jurisdiction.
- We've got procedures in place
for taking child abuse claims.
- I've been through this in Connecticut.
I wanna extradite this woman.
But I can only do it if I catch her in the act.
Now I know how.
It's gonna work, but it's gotta be kept quiet.
Just you and me.
- What, you go around the country doing this?
Yeah, I know, they're all cute.
- This one's my son.
Sandy, these crimes happened to you 10 years ago.
Are you sure you're not just telling us
about things you've heard?
- Until last weekend I never talked
to anyone about this stuff.
Why?
- I was ashamed.
- That you were forced to have sex with the Richardsons?
- That I never told anyone what went on at that school.
- But you left the Tiny Tot preschool to start kindergarten.
Why didn't you tell your parents then?
- The Richardsons knew my dad was a police officer.
Mrs. Richardson said if the police ever came
to the school, she would've known it had been me.
And I'd have to watch my parents have their hearts cut out.
- Have their hearts cut out?
And you believed them?
- I had seen them kill cats and rabbits that way.
I knew they'd do it.
- Did the Richardsons ever tell you why they killed animals?
- It gave them power to kill things
that were innocent and good.
- Sandy, you haven't told us one single detail
that your brother hadn't already mentioned.
How many sessions with Dr. Billington did you have?
- I have never met Dr. Billington.
- Oh come on.
Sandy.
Altars.
Pentagrams.
Murdered bunnies.
Curved daggers.
- Athames.
- What?
- They're called athames.
Call Dr. Billington back and ask her
if she knows what they're called.
- These are exactly the same stories
Dr. Billington fed the children.
- The rituals didn't change.
They happened to me and my friends.
They happened to other kids 10 years later.
- The rituals?
Rituals?
Are you saying that my clients were involved in something
other than what the prosecution has characterized
as games and psychological manipulation?
- Your clients are satanists.
They told us so, they're proud of it.
- Let me get this straight.
You're saying that my clients
are pedophiles and pimps and pornographers.
And devil worshipers?
- I saw them kill rabbits and pour
the blood over little kids.
You can call them anything you wanna call them,
they call themselves satanists.
- Do you think this jury will buy
that cheap horror film story?
Is Geraldo gonna rush in here now
and interview people with hoods over their heads?
Do you seriously expect this jury to believe
that these two gentle people,
three college degrees between them,
residents of this community for a quarter
of a century, have committed crimes that we
wouldn't believe at a drive in movie?
Sandy.
Who put you up to this?
Your father?
- Nobody put me up to anything.
- No.
No.
It didn't matter that the prosecution's
case was falling apart.
No, you expect us to believe that last weekend
you just decided to talk about things
that you haven't mentioned for the last 10 years.
- They killed my dog.
They threatened my brother.
They told me I enjoyed being raped.
- You're lying.
- Well that's not what the lie detector said.
- Your Honor, I move that last remark be stricken.
Polygraph results are inadmissible.
- What about the truth?
- Police, anybody home?
- Anything?
- Not a thing.
How about you?
- No.
She sure likes music.
CDs, cassettes.
Hey.
How come she's got records if she doesn't have a turntable?
Are you a pedophile, Mrs. Richardson?
- No sir.
- Did you, or your husband, or any member
of your staff ever have any sort of sexual relations
with any student at the Tiny Tot preschool?
- No sir.
- Then we have a mystery here don't we?
Why are all these people saying
all these incredible things about you?
Will you tell us why you think this has happened?
- Objection, Your Honor.
Counselor is asking the witness to speculate.
- I'll allow the witness to try,
if she chooses, to put the charges against her
into some kind of rational perspective.
- Thank you, sir.
Your Honor.
My husband and I don't deny touching those children.
You know, when you're running a nursery school
you spend a lot of time wiping runny noses,
or drying tears, or putting on band-aids.
Not once has a parent ever accused us of anything improper.
Until Josh Stossburg developed venereal disease.
And then what did we do?
Did we behave suspiciously?
No.
Did we run?
No.
We voluntarily took medical tests.
And as you know, we all tested negative.
- If we're gonna do it, let's do it.
- No.
Yesterday while you were waiting for the warrant,
I was over here watching the place.
- Then what are we waiting for?
- The janitor.
While it's going on, he's never
more than 30 feet from that alarm bell.
- I don't like the quiet.
Why isn't anybody having recess?
How do we know they're not doing it now?
- On April 15th, 1987.
Miriam Stossburg met with Dr. Martha Billington
of the Children's Therapeutic Institute Incorporated.
A for profit corporation.
Mrs. Stossburg told Dr. Billington
that we had molested her son.
To cover up the fact that Mrs. Stossburg's
lover had actually sodomized him.
And then Dr. Billington convinced those children.
In this atmosphere of hysteria
whipped up by the press in a small town.
We had abused them.
This is a witch hunt.
Unfortunately the witches only exist
in Dr. Billington's mind.
What time is it?
12:30 exactly.
Right On schedule.
- Why bother to lock the gates?
- You got it.
Hey pal.
You got a bathroom I can use?
- It's nap time.
We don't disturb the children during nap time.
- I'm a police officer, just step back.
Step back!
Got him?
- Police!
- You're under arrest!
You have the right to remain silent.
- Drop it!
- We're rehearsing a play.
- Miss Larrimer, you have testified
in stomach-turning detail about several instances
of child molestation in which
you say my clients were involved.
Now I ask you, did the district attorney
promise you anything in return for this testimony?
- Unconditional immunity from prosecution.
- So you would smear my clients, say anything at all,
in order to get the deal Mr. Bernstein promised.
- Objection, Your Honor.
Argumentative.
Sustained.
- I'm telling the truth.
- A person like you.
Sure you are.
- Objection!
- Granted.
Mr. Pugliotti, please.
- Well since you're telling the truth,
Miss Larrimer, one last question.
The prosecution's last witness testified
about certain occult practices.
Are my clients satanists?
- No sir.
- Nothing further, Your Honor.
- I apologize to you.
For some of the grizzly, unthinkable things
that I have made you listen to in this courtroom.
Little children should not be asked
how it feels to be raped or sodomized.
It could've been your children.
Or yours.
Could've been yours.
They could've been mine.
If just listening was painful for us,
think how much more painful it was
to live through the acts that these children described.
Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest to you
that these 37 children do belong to you.
Those children had the courage
to stand up and tell you the facts.
Now you must have the courage.
To show these defendants that decent men and women
will not tolerate the kind of behavior that they have shown.
By your verdict, you can show
the children that they're not alone.
For all of us.
Believe the children.
- Mr. Bernstein, the man who has just put
Susan Larrimer, the one self-confessed
child abuser in this case, back on the street,
has just asked you to believe the children.
Believe the children.
When you've heard them describe day trips
in a van to visit a fat man on the moon.
Believe the children who talked about sinister rabbits
marching by torchlight through a gothic cathedral.
Believe the children who use such
obviously adult words as penis.
Vagina.
Anus.
Believe.
That these children have vivid imaginations.
Yes.
Believe they are the unwitting dupes
of a paranoid therapist, yes.
Believe that they were abused by my clients, no way.
The law demands that you deliver a not guilty verdict
if you have even a reasonable doubt
as to the suspect's guilt.
Ladies and gentlemen, no reasonable person
could avoid doubts about some of the things
these children have told you accordingly.
You have no choice.
You must acquit my clients.
- And finally, ladies and gentlemen, bear in mind
as you deliberate, that the defendants
are guilty only if you find them so absolutely.
Conclusively.
Beyond a reasonable doubt.
Take all the time you need.
You may retire.
- Thank you Stephen.
- Thanks pal.
- So?
- I don't know, Rog.
- Come on now, what is it?
Something on their faces?
- I just think it's gonna be hard to find 12 people
who have no reasonable doubts in a case like this.
I don't know, I'll see you later.
- Okay, thanks.
- Mavis said they'd never go to jail.
- Yeah?
Well even if they do go to jail Bear, it won't be
for enough years to pay for what they did.
- Then why'd we do it?
- 'Cause we knew what they did was wrong.
- And we had to say so.
- That's right.
You all set?
- Yup.
- You got your lunch?
- Yup.
- You got your pencils?
Is that everything?
- You got your baseball glove?
- There's baseball in kindergarten?
- Yeah, you think you do arithmetic all the time?
- I didn't bring it.
- Well I guess you'll have to use this one.
- Dad!
Thanks!
- Okay, partner.
Have fun.
Thanks mom.
- Bye honey.
Bye hun.
Sandy.
Be sure he finds his classroom.
- No mom, I was gonna put him in my locker.
- If you weren't sure they were
going to jail, why'd you talk?
- Dad says they may be out in a few years.
Even if I didn't testify.
They said someday they'd come for me.
They said they'd tell me the evil I had to do.
- And did they come for you?
- In a way, when they found you.
See, the evil would've been to let them destroy our family.
Keeping quiet would've meant they owned us.
- Nobody owns us.