It was the longest criminal trial in American history, and it ended without a single conviction. Five people were charged with child sexual abuse based on extremely weak evidence. Some parents began to believe strange stories about ritual abuse and tunnels beneath the preschool. It is not surprising that the McMartin case, once called the largest “mass abuse” case in history, is now beginning to be referred to as a witch hunt. Former Times reporter Clyde Haberman reiterated the view that the case was a witch hunt in a comment he made to Retro Report earlier this month, stating that it paved the way for a series of other cases with “questionable origins.” Is this statement accurate?
A careful examination of court records reveals that the witch hunt narrative surrounding the McMartin case is a powerful but not entirely accurate story. First, critics have obscured the facts surrounding the origins of the case. Richard Beck, quoted as an expert in the Retro Report news story, recently claimed that the McMartin case began when Judy Johnson “went to the police” to allege that her child had been abused. Co-author Debbie Nathan, also quoted by Retro Report, went even further, arguing that “everyone ignored the fact that Judy Johnson was psychotic.”
However, the Manhattan Beach Police did not initiate this case based on Judy Johnson’s statements. Instead, they were influenced by the medical evidence of her son’s anal trauma. Johnson did not go to the police station on August 12; after examining her son, she went to the family doctor who referred him to the emergency room. The doctor recommended that the child be examined by a specialist. The pediatrician was the one who informed the Manhattan Beach Police Department that “the victim’s anus had been forcibly penetrated a few days earlier.”
Judy Johnson died of alcohol poisoning in 1986, which made her an easy target for supporters of the witch hunt narrative, but there was no evidence three years earlier that she was a “psychopath.” A profile published in the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner after Johnson’s death clearly stated that in 1983, Johnson was “strong and healthy” and “ran regularly and ate a healthy diet.” Yes, in February and March 1984, the parents said many strange things. But this does not mean that all of them were “psychopaths” six months earlier. The case did not begin with the ramblings of a legendary madwoman.
Retro Report dismissed the extensive medical evidence in the McMartin case with a single claim that it was not “conclusive” evidence. However, defense attorney Danny Davis acknowledged that the genital injuries to one girl were “serious and credible.” (His main argument to the jury was that this girl mostly attended McMartin outside of recess hours.) The vaginal injuries of one of the three girls who participated in both McMartin trials were described as “ostentatious” by a pediatrician. The sexual abuse was based on “medical certainty.” Were the Retro Report reporter and fact-checkers aware of this evidence?
None of this is to defend the charges against the five (possibly six) teachers in the case. Nor does it corroborate some parents’ claims that numerous children were subjected to ritual abuse. Rather, it is a defense to treat the case as something that unfolded over time and to treat the children as individuals rather than as an undifferentiated mass. In both cases, there appear to be compelling reasons for the jurors to vote in favor of a guilty verdict on some counts. These facts do not fit the witch hunt narrative. Rather, they reflect the reality of a complex case.
When the story of overzealous prosecution in child sexual abuse cases overshadows all the evidence, it is children who are sold short by the media. Retro Report did just that earlier this month. The injustices in the McMartin case were significant, mostly directed at the defendants, and the story has been told many times. However, there were also some credible instances of abuse that should not be overlooked or erased from history simply because they overshadowed a good story.
The witch hunt narrative has replaced all the complex truths surrounding the McMartin case, and Retro Report, whose mission is to debunk media myths, is firmly on the side of the myth. Not everything was a witch hunt.