AP News, January 13th, 2008
A federal judge has rejected a man's bid for exoneration in a child-molestation case explored in a noted documentary film, saying he filed his appeal too late.
Jesse Friedman's appeal stemmed from the Oscar-nominated 2003 film, "Capturing the Friedmans." His lawyers said the documentary revealed evidence that prosecutors had wrongfully withheld — that at least one of the children who accused Friedman did so under hypnosis arranged by police.
A teenage Friedman and his father, Arnold, pleaded guilty in 1988 to molesting children during computer classes in the basement of their home in Great Neck, on Long Island. Jesse Friedman, now 38, was paroled in 2001; his father committed suicide in prison in 1995.
The son has tried for years to reverse his guilty plea. U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert agreed last year to consider whether his latest appeal was filed within legal time limits, as a first step toward a potential hearing on questions about the hypnosis.
She ruled Jan. 4 that the June 2006 appeal was "untimely," saying Friedman's lawyers knew in 1988 that a therapist had worked with the children in eliciting details of the alleged sex abuse.
Under federal law, the appeal had to be filed within a year after its factual basis "could have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence."
Friedman's lawyer, David Pressman, said the grounds for the appeal emerged only in the film, in which an unidentified accuser admitted that he recalled the alleged abuse only after being hypnotized by a therapist. It took months to identify that accuser and investigate his claims, Pressman said.
A prosecutor said Friedman's appeal was meritless, adding that the therapist has given sworn testimony denying having hypnotized any of Friedman's accusers.
"Further review of this issue is simply not warranted," assistant Nassau County district attorney Judith Sternberg said Friday.
Pressman said his disappointed client — who is still barred from parks and other places children frequent because he is classified as a violent sexual predator — would appeal further.
"He looked forward to the day when he would be able to walk into court and call witnesses and allow some evidence to be seen," Pressman said.
"Capturing the Friedmans," directed by Andrew Jarecki, won several awards. The New York Film Critics Circle named it the best nonfiction film of 2003.
