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{{short description|American convicted of child sexual abuse (born 1954)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Gerald Amirault
| name = Gerald Amirault
| image =
| image_size =
| image =
| caption =
| caption =
| birth_name = Gerald A. Amirault
| birth_name = Gerald A. Amirault
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|3|1}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|3|1}}
| birth_place = [[United States]]
| birth_place = [[United States]]
| death_date =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_place =
| other_names = Tooky
| other_names = Tooky
⚫
| occupation = [[Child care]] provider
| conviction =
⚫
| spouse = Patricia Amirault (m. 1977)
⚫
| conviction_penalty =
⚫
| children = 3
⚫
| conviction_status =
| conviction = [[Rape]] and abuse of a child (1986, 8 counts)<br>[[Indecent assault]] and battery on a child under 14 years of age (1986, 7 counts)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sorb.chs.state.ma.us/ResultDetail.asp?btn24728=Detail |title=Level 3 Sex Offender - Detail Flyer {{!}} Gerald A Amirault |publisher=[[Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security]] |website=MA.us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827151730/http://sorb.chs.state.ma.us/ResultDetail.asp?btn24728=Detail |archive-date=August 27, 2011 |via=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref>
⚫
| occupation =
⚫
| conviction_penalty = 30–40 years in state prison
⚫
| spouse = Patricia Amirault
⚫
| conviction_status = Released on parole (2004)
| parents = Violet
| trial = Fells Acres day care sexual abuse trial
⚫
| children = 3
}}
}}
'''Gerald A. "Tooky" Amirault''' (born March 1, 1954) is an [[United States|American]] convicted in 1986 of [[child sexual abuse]] of eight children at the [[Fells Acres Day Care Center]] in [[Malden, Massachusetts]], run by his family. He and his family deny the charges, which supporters regard as a conspicuous example of [[day-care sex-abuse hysteria]]. [[Dorothy Rabinowitz]], a member of the Editorial Board of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', asserts that Amirault was railroaded. Rabinowitz was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Commentary]] in 2001,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2001-Commentary |title=The Pulitzer Prizes &#124; Citation |publisher=Pulitzer.org |date= |accessdate=2009-08-05}}</ref> partly for her coverage of the case.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6413 |title=The Pulitzer Prizes &#124; A Hearing in Boston |publisher=Pulitzer.org |date=2000-10-31 |accessdate=2009-08-05}}</ref> The case was also the major topic of her book about [[miscarriage of justice|miscarriages of justice]], ''[[No Crueler Tyrannies]]''. He was released on April 30, 2004
'''Gerald A. "Tooky" Amirault''' (born March 1, 1954) is an American convicted in 1986 of [[child sexual abuse]] of eight children at the Fells Acres Day School in [[Malden, Massachusetts]], run by his family. He and his family deny the charges, which supporters regard as a conspicuous example of [[day-care sex-abuse hysteria]]. Amirault was released from prison on parole on April 30, 2004.


==Accusations==
==Accusations and trial==
Amirault was arrested in September 1984 on charges of sexually abusing a child at his family's [[day care]] facility, which promptly had its license to operate suspended by the state of Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114595272/day-care-center-is-shut-down/ |title=Day care center is shut down |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |newspaper=[[Corpus Christi Times]] |page=20A |date=September 13, 1984 |accessdate=December 13, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114595391/late-news-line/ |title=Late News Line |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |newspaper=[[Pensacola News Journal|The Pensacola News]] |page=2 |date=September 13, 1984 |accessdate=December 13, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114595531/day-care-center-still-closed-after-rape/ |title=Day care center still closed after rape charge |newspaper=[[Argus Leader]] |location=[[Sioux Falls, South Dakota]] |page=3 |date=September 14, 1984 |accessdate=December 13, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> His mother and sister, Violet Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave, respectively, were also later arrested.
The prosecution relied heavily on testimony from young children extracted through long sessions with therapists. Dorothy Rabinowitz, of the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'', wrote that "Other than such testimony, the prosecutors had no shred of physical or other proof that could remotely pass as evidence of abuse".<ref name="WSJ20100114" /> Among the accusations were, as summarized by Rabinowitz from court records, Amirault
⚫
{{quote|had plunged a wide-blade [[butcher knife]] into the [[rectum]] of a 4-year-old boy, which he then had trouble removing. When a teacher in the school saw him in action with the knife, she asked him what he was doing, and then told him not to do it again, a child said. On this testimony, Gerald was convicted of a [[rape]] which had, miraculously, left no mark or other injury.<ref name="WSJ20100114">{{cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003341640657862.html|title=Martha Coakley's Convictions|last=Rabinowitz|first=Dorothy|date=January 14, 2010|work=Wall Street Journal|accessdate=January 18, 2010}}</ref>}}


At Amirault's 1986 trial, the prosecution relied heavily on testimony from young children extracted through long sessions with therapists. Amirault was convicted of assaulting and raping nine children and sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison.<ref name="CBS" /> In 1987, in a separate trial, his mother and sister were convicted of similar crimes against four children and sentenced to jail for eight to 20 years.<ref name=darknessII>{{cite news |first=D |last=Rabinowitz |author-link=Dorothy Rabinowitz |title=A Darkness in Massachusetts--II |url=http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95000780 |publisher=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date= 1995-03-14 |access-date=2007-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030826232642/http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95000780 |archive-date=2003-08-26 }}</ref>
The Amiraults insist they were victims of the [[day-care sex-abuse hysteria]] that swept the US in the 1980s.<ref name="CBS" />
{{more|Fells Acres day care sexual abuse trial}}


===Criticism===
In 1995, Judge Robert Barton ordered a new trial for Violet, then 72, and Cheryl, who had been imprisoned eight years. He ordered the women released at once. Barton expressed his contempt for the prosecutors.<ref name="WSJ20100114"/>
The Amiraults insist they were victims of the [[day-care sex-abuse hysteria]] that swept the US in the 1980s.<ref name="CBS">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-family-accused/|title=A Family Accused: Employees At Day Care Center Accused Of Abusing Children|last=Leung |first=Rebecca|date=April 27, 2004|publisher=[[CBS]]|access-date=January 18, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040828133651/https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/13/48hours/main635980.shtml|archive-date=August 28, 2004}}</ref>


⚫
[[Dorothy Rabinowitz]], a member of the Editorial Board of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', asserts that Amirault was railroaded. She wrote that "Other than such testimony, the prosecutors had no shred of physical or other proof that could remotely pass as evidence of abuse".<ref name="WSJ20100114" /> Among the accusations were, as summarized by Rabinowitz from court records, Amirault {{Blockquote|had plunged a wide-blade [[butcher knife]] into the rectum of a 4-year-old boy, which he then had trouble removing. When a teacher in the school saw him in action with the knife, she asked him what he was doing, and then told him not to do it again, a child said. On this testimony, Gerald was convicted of a [[rape]] which had, miraculously, left no mark or other injury.<ref name="WSJ20100114">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281204575003341640657862|title=Martha Coakley's Convictions|last=Rabinowitz|first=Dorothy|date=January 14, 2010|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=January 18, 2010}}</ref>}}
Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein presided over a widely publicized hearing into the case resulting in findings that all the children's testimony was tainted. He said that "Every trick in the book had been used to get the children to say what the investigators wanted."<ref name="WSJ20100114"/> ''Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly'' published a scathing editorial directed at the prosecutors "who seemed unwilling to admit they might have sent innocent people to jail for crimes that had never occurred."<ref name="WSJ20100114"/>


Rabinowitz was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Commentary]] in 2001,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2001-Commentary |title=The Pulitzer Prizes &#124; Citation |publisher=Pulitzer.org |access-date=2009-08-05}}</ref> partly for her coverage of the case.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/dorothy-rabinowitz |title=The Pulitzer Prizes &#124; A Hearing in Boston |publisher=Pulitzer.org |date=2000-10-31 |archive-date=2005-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050416022748/http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95000789 }}</ref> The case was also the major topic of her book about [[miscarriage of justice|miscarriages of justice]], ''[[No Crueler Tyrannies]]''.
==Parole refused==
⚫
In 2000, the Massachusetts Governor's Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a [[clemency|commutation]] of Amirault's sentence. After nine months of investigation, the board voted 5-0, with one abstention, to commute his sentence, although no [[exculpatory evidence]] was presented. Still more newsworthy was an added statement, signed by a majority of the board, which pointed to the lack of evidence against the Amiraults, and the "extraordinary if not bizarre allegations" on which they had been convicted.<ref name="WSJ20100114"/>


==Post-trial==
In 2002, then-Acting Governor of [[Massachusetts]] [[Jane Swift]] refused to commute Amirault's sentence, despite a unanimous vote in favor of his release by the state's [[parole]] board. Amirault's case had previously been upheld by the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005023 |title=Gerald Amirault's Freedom: Today he leaves prison, after serving 18 years on phony charges|newspaper=Wall Street Journal
In 1995, Judge Robert Barton ordered a new trial for Violet, then 72, and Cheryl, who both had been imprisoned eight years. He ordered the women released at once and expressed his contempt for the prosecutors.<ref name="WSJ20100114"/> Barton found that their convictions were wrongful because they were not able to directly [[Confrontation Clause|confront their accusers]].<ref name=face>{{cite news |title=Day Care Workers Get Retrial, As Accusers Did Not Face Them. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDA1F3AF933A0575BC0A963958260 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1995-08-30 |access-date=2007-10-31 }}</ref> A similar appeal on behalf of Gerald was denied later that year.<ref name=parole>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115042362/amirault-released-from-prison-bringing/ |title=Amirault released from prison, bringing Fells Acres case to end |first=Ralph |last=Ranalli |page=B6 |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=May 1, 2004 |accessdate=December 22, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
⚫
|date=April 30, 2004|accessdate=September 16, 2008}}</ref> [[Martha Coakley]], then Middlesex district attorney and subsequently State Attorney General, lobbied Swift to keep him in prison<ref>{{cite book |author=Mei Ling Rein |title=Child abuse: betraying a trust |publisher=Thomson/Gale |location=Detroit |year=2005 |page= 104|isbn=0-7876-9068-6 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> and Swift denied Amirault's clemency.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020318/pollitt|title=Justice, Not So Swift: Subject to Debate|last=Pollitt|first=Katha|date=February 28, 2002|publisher=The Nation|accessdate=January 18, 2010}}</ref>


In 1997, Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein presided over a widely publicized hearing into the case resulting in findings that all the children's testimony was tainted. He said that "Every trick in the book had been used to get the children to say what the investigators wanted."<ref name="WSJ20100114"/> ''Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly'' published a scathing editorial in September 1999 directed at the prosecutors "who seemed unwilling to admit they might have sent innocent people to jail for crimes that had never occurred."<ref name="WSJ20100114"/><ref>Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, [http://www.cltg.org/cltg/amirault/mlwedit.htm Editorial: Travesty of Justice], Sept. 13, 1999.</ref> Violet died in 1997.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115041101/violet-amirault-center-of-child-rape-ca/ |title=Violet Amirault, center of child rape case, dies at 74 |first1=John |last1=Ellement |first2=William F. |last2=Doherty |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=1 |date=September 13, 1997 |accessdate=December 22, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Cheryl's conviction was ultimately upheld, but she avoided returning to prison by reaching a deal with prosecutors in October 1999.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115040694/lefave-granted-freedom/ |title=LeFave granted freedom |first=Judy |last=Rakowsky |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=1 |date=October 22, 1999 |accessdate=December 22, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Release==
⚫
Amirault was released on parole from the [[Bay State Correctional Center]] on April 30, 2004, 18 years after his conviction.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005141|date=May 28, 2004|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050217160518/www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005141|archivedate=February 17, 2005|title=Homecoming: Gerald Amirault enjoys his first days of freedom in 18 years |last=Rabinowitz|first=Dorothy|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|accessdate=January 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/626224171.html?dids=626224171:626224171&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+1%2C+2004&author=J.M.+LAWRENCE&pub=Boston+Herald&edition=&startpage=007&desc=%60Tooky%27+Amirault+walks+free+after+18+years |title=`Tooky' Amirault walks free after 18 years |publisher=Boston Herald |date=May 1, 2005|accessdate=2009-12-28 | first=J.M. | last=Lawrence}}</ref> Accusers criticized his early release.<ref>http://business.highbeam.com/3972/article-1G1-109003627/parole-board-votes-free-tooky</ref>


⚫
In 2000, the Massachusetts Governor's Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a [[clemency|commutation]] of Gerald Amirault's sentence. After nine months of investigation, the board voted 5–0, with one abstention, to commute his sentence, although no [[exculpatory evidence]] was presented. Also newsworthy was an added statement, signed by a majority of the board, which pointed to the lack of evidence against the Amiraults, and the "extraordinary if not bizarre allegations" on which they had been convicted.<ref name="WSJ20100114"/>
His sister and mother, Cheryl Amirault LeFave and Violet Amirault, were convicted of related charges in a separate trial, and both released from prison after their charges were overturned in 1995.<ref name="CBS">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/13/48hours/main635980.shtml|title=A Family Accused: Employees At Day Care Center Accused Of Abusing Children|last=Leung |first=Rebbeca|date=April 27, 2004|publisher=[[CBS]]|accessdate=January 18, 2010}}</ref>


⚫
In 2002, then–Acting [[Governor of Massachusetts]] [[Jane Swift]] refused to commute Amirault's sentence, despite a unanimous vote in favor of his release by the state's [[parole]] board. Amirault's case had previously been upheld by the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005023 |title=Gerald Amirault's Freedom: Today he leaves prison, after serving 18 years on phony charges|newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=April 30, 2004|access-date=September 16, 2008}}</ref> [[Martha Coakley]], then [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts|Middlesex County]] district attorney and subsequently [[Massachusetts Attorney General]], lobbied Swift to keep him in prison.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mei Ling Rein |title=Child abuse: betraying a trust |publisher=Thomson/Gale |location=Detroit |year=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/childabuse00meil/page/104 104] |isbn=0-7876-9068-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/childabuse00meil/page/104 }}</ref> Swift denied Amirault's clemency.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020318/pollitt|title=Justice, Not So Swift: Subject to Debate|last=Pollitt|first=Katha|date=February 28, 2002|publisher=The Nation|access-date=January 18, 2010}}</ref>
==Personal==
Amirault and his wife Patricia, a schoolteacher whom he married in 1977, have three children: Gerrilyn, Katie, and P.J.


⚫
Amirault was ultimately released on parole from the [[Bay State Correctional Center]] on April 30, 2004, 18 years after his conviction.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005141|date=May 28, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050217160518/http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005141|archive-date=February 17, 2005|title=Homecoming: Gerald Amirault enjoys his first days of freedom in 18 years |last=Rabinowitz|first=Dorothy|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|access-date=January 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/626224171.html?dids=626224171:626224171&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+1%2C+2004&author=J.M.+LAWRENCE&pub=Boston+Herald&edition=&startpage=007&desc=%60Tooky%27+Amirault+walks+free+after+18+years |title='Tooky' Amirault walks free after 18 years |publisher=Boston Herald |date=May 1, 2005 |access-date=2009-12-28 |first=J.M. |last=Lawrence }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Accusers criticized his early release.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115045680/amirault-release-from-prison-after-18-ye/ |title=Amirault release from prison after 18 years |first=Denise |last=Lavoie |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |newspaper=[[North Adams Transcript]] |location=[[North Adams, Massachusetts]] |page=10 |date=May 1, 2004 |accessdate=December 22, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of wrongful convictions in the United States]]


Massachusetts Governor [[Charlie Baker]] recommended Gerald Amirault and his sister Cheryl Amirault LeFave for [[pardon]] on November 18, 2022, subject to approval by the [[Massachusetts Governor's Council]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stout |first=Matt |date=2022-11-18 |title=Baker recommends pardons for siblings convicted in Fells Acres day-care abuse case |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/11/18/metro/baker-recommends-pardons-two-convicted-controversial-day-care-abuse-case-commutation-man-convicted-murder/ |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=BostonGlobe.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The pardon recommendation was withdrawn by Baker on December 14, 2022, as "there didn’t appear to be enough support" within the council.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/massachusetts-sexual-abuse-children-2c5c950557528678bb30a22cbcb11677 |title=Massachusetts governor abandons pardons in sex abuse case |first=Steve |last=LeBlanc |website=apnews.com |date=December 14, 2022 |accessdate=December 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12/14/metro/baker-withdraws-controversial-pardons-fells-acres-child-abuse-case/ |title=Baker withdraws controversial pardon requests in Fells Acres child abuse case |first1=Ivy |last1=Scott |first2=Matt |last2=Stout |first3=Tonya |last3=Alanez |website=[[The Boston Globe]] |url-access=limited |date=December 14, 2022 |accessdate=December 14, 2022}}</ref>
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== References ==
⚫
{{reflist}}


⚫
==References==
⚫
== External links ==
⚫
{{reflist|30em}}
*[http://sorb.chs.state.ma.us/ResultDetail.asp?btn24728=Detail Gerald Amirault's entry] at Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry

* [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=+Gerald+Amirault&By=&&sortby=REVERSE_CHRON ''Boston Herald'' articles] on his case.
⚫
==External links==
*{{Wayback |date=20041208201555 |url=www.opinionjournal.com/search/exec/htsearch.cgi?words=amirault&db=db&where=oj |title=Wall Street Journal articles on this case}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208201555/http://www.opinionjournal.com/search/exec/htsearch.cgi?words=amirault&db=db&where=oj |date=December 8, 2004 |title=Wall Street Journal articles on this case }}
*[http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/175675-1/Dorothy+Rabinowitz.aspx ''Booknotes'' interview with Dorothy Rabinowitz on ''No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusation, False Witness, and Other Terrors of Our Times'', May 4, 2003.]
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?175675-1/no-crueler-tyrannies ''Booknotes'' interview with Dorothy Rabinowitz on ''No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusation, False Witness, and Other Terrors of Our Times'', May 4, 2003.]


{{Satanic ritual abuse}}
{{Satanic ritual abuse}}
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Daycare workers]]
[[Category:Daycare workers]]
[[Category:Wrongful convictions]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Day care sexual abuse allegations]]
[[Category:Day care sexual abuse allegations in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Malden, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Malden, Massachusetts]]

Latest revision as of 18:36, 29 August 2024

Gerald Amirault
Born
Gerald A. Amirault

(1954-03-01) March 1, 1954 (age 70)
United States
Other namesTooky
OccupationChild care provider
Criminal statusReleased on parole (2004)
SpousePatricia Amirault (m. 1977)
Children3
Conviction(s)Rape and abuse of a child (1986, 8 counts)
Indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years of age (1986, 7 counts)[1]
TrialFells Acres day care sexual abuse trial
Criminal penalty30–40 years in state prison

Gerald A. "Tooky" Amirault (born March 1, 1954) is an American convicted in 1986 of child sexual abuse of eight children at the Fells Acres Day School in Malden, Massachusetts, run by his family. He and his family deny the charges, which supporters regard as a conspicuous example of day-care sex-abuse hysteria. Amirault was released from prison on parole on April 30, 2004.

Accusations and trial

[edit]

Amirault was arrested in September 1984 on charges of sexually abusing a child at his family's day care facility, which promptly had its license to operate suspended by the state of Massachusetts.[2][3][4] His mother and sister, Violet Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave, respectively, were also later arrested.

At Amirault's 1986 trial, the prosecution relied heavily on testimony from young children extracted through long sessions with therapists. Amirault was convicted of assaulting and raping nine children and sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison.[5] In 1987, in a separate trial, his mother and sister were convicted of similar crimes against four children and sentenced to jail for eight to 20 years.[6]

Further information: Fells Acres day care sexual abuse trial

Criticism

[edit]

The Amiraults insist they were victims of the day-care sex-abuse hysteria that swept the US in the 1980s.[5]

Dorothy Rabinowitz, a member of the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal, asserts that Amirault was railroaded. She wrote that "Other than such testimony, the prosecutors had no shred of physical or other proof that could remotely pass as evidence of abuse".[7] Among the accusations were, as summarized by Rabinowitz from court records, Amirault

had plunged a wide-blade butcher knife into the rectum of a 4-year-old boy, which he then had trouble removing. When a teacher in the school saw him in action with the knife, she asked him what he was doing, and then told him not to do it again, a child said. On this testimony, Gerald was convicted of a rape which had, miraculously, left no mark or other injury.[7]

Rabinowitz was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2001,[8] partly for her coverage of the case.[9] The case was also the major topic of her book about miscarriages of justice, No Crueler Tyrannies.

Post-trial

[edit]

In 1995, Judge Robert Barton ordered a new trial for Violet, then 72, and Cheryl, who both had been imprisoned eight years. He ordered the women released at once and expressed his contempt for the prosecutors.[7] Barton found that their convictions were wrongful because they were not able to directly confront their accusers.[10] A similar appeal on behalf of Gerald was denied later that year.[11]

In 1997, Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein presided over a widely publicized hearing into the case resulting in findings that all the children's testimony was tainted. He said that "Every trick in the book had been used to get the children to say what the investigators wanted."[7] Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly published a scathing editorial in September 1999 directed at the prosecutors "who seemed unwilling to admit they might have sent innocent people to jail for crimes that had never occurred."[7][12] Violet died in 1997.[13] Cheryl's conviction was ultimately upheld, but she avoided returning to prison by reaching a deal with prosecutors in October 1999.[14]

In 2000, the Massachusetts Governor's Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a commutation of Gerald Amirault's sentence. After nine months of investigation, the board voted 5–0, with one abstention, to commute his sentence, although no exculpatory evidence was presented. Also newsworthy was an added statement, signed by a majority of the board, which pointed to the lack of evidence against the Amiraults, and the "extraordinary if not bizarre allegations" on which they had been convicted.[7]

In 2002, then–Acting Governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift refused to commute Amirault's sentence, despite a unanimous vote in favor of his release by the state's parole board. Amirault's case had previously been upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[15] Martha Coakley, then Middlesex County district attorney and subsequently Massachusetts Attorney General, lobbied Swift to keep him in prison.[16] Swift denied Amirault's clemency.[17]

Amirault was ultimately released on parole from the Bay State Correctional Center on April 30, 2004, 18 years after his conviction.[18][19] Accusers criticized his early release.[20]

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker recommended Gerald Amirault and his sister Cheryl Amirault LeFave for pardon on November 18, 2022, subject to approval by the Massachusetts Governor's Council.[21] The pardon recommendation was withdrawn by Baker on December 14, 2022, as "there didn’t appear to be enough support" within the council.[22][23]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Level 3 Sex Offender - Detail Flyer | Gerald A Amirault". MA.us. Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011 – via Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ "Day care center is shut down". Corpus Christi Times. AP. September 13, 1984. p. 20A. Retrieved December 13, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Late News Line". The Pensacola News. AP. September 13, 1984. p. 2. Retrieved December 13, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Day care center still closed after rape charge". Argus Leader. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. September 14, 1984. p. 3. Retrieved December 13, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b Leung, Rebecca (April 27, 2004). "A Family Accused: Employees At Day Care Center Accused Of Abusing Children". CBS. Archived from the original on August 28, 2004. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  6. ^ Rabinowitz, D (1995-03-14). "A Darkness in Massachusetts--II". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2003-08-26. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rabinowitz, Dorothy (January 14, 2010). "Martha Coakley's Convictions". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  8. ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes | Citation". Pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  9. ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes | A Hearing in Boston". Pulitzer.org. 2000-10-31. Archived from the original on 2005-04-16.
  10. ^ "Day Care Workers Get Retrial, As Accusers Did Not Face Them". The New York Times. 1995-08-30. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  11. ^ Ranalli, Ralph (May 1, 2004). "Amirault released from prison, bringing Fells Acres case to end". The Boston Globe. p. B6. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Editorial: Travesty of Justice, Sept. 13, 1999.
  13. ^ Ellement, John; Doherty, William F. (September 13, 1997). "Violet Amirault, center of child rape case, dies at 74". The Boston Globe. p. 1. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Rakowsky, Judy (October 22, 1999). "LeFave granted freedom". The Boston Globe. p. 1. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Gerald Amirault's Freedom: Today he leaves prison, after serving 18 years on phony charges". Wall Street Journal. April 30, 2004. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  16. ^ Mei Ling Rein (2005). Child abuse: betraying a trust. Detroit: Thomson/Gale. p. 104. ISBN 0-7876-9068-6.
  17. ^ Pollitt, Katha (February 28, 2002). "Justice, Not So Swift: Subject to Debate". The Nation. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  18. ^ Rabinowitz, Dorothy (May 28, 2004). "Homecoming: Gerald Amirault enjoys his first days of freedom in 18 years". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 17, 2005. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  19. ^ Lawrence, J.M. (May 1, 2005). "'Tooky' Amirault walks free after 18 years". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2009-12-28.[dead link]
  20. ^ Lavoie, Denise (May 1, 2004). "Amirault release from prison after 18 years". North Adams Transcript. North Adams, Massachusetts. AP. p. 10. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Stout, Matt (2022-11-18). "Baker recommends pardons for siblings convicted in Fells Acres day-care abuse case". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  22. ^ LeBlanc, Steve (December 14, 2022). "Massachusetts governor abandons pardons in sex abuse case". apnews.com. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  23. ^ Scott, Ivy; Stout, Matt; Alanez, Tonya (December 14, 2022). "Baker withdraws controversial pardon requests in Fells Acres child abuse case". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
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