In the 1980s, dozens of Kern County residents were wrongly convicted of child molestation. Twenty-plus years later, the documentary “Witch Hunt” was made to expose the conspiracy behind these wrongful incarcerations.
The film was directed by journalists Dana Nachman and Don Hardy in 2008 and was executive produced and narrated by Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn. On April 28, these three filmmakers and the “stars” of the film met for a Bakersfield rally at the Liberty Bell before the film was shown at the Fox Theater.
Nachman and Hardy first heard of all the cases while covering John Stoll’s case. When he told them about the others, they decided to investigate further.
“Witch Hunt” revolves around Stoll, who was in prison for 20 years but also tells the story of others who were wrongly accused, including Jeff Modahl, Jack and Jackie Cummings, Rick and Marcella Pitts and Brenda and Scott Kniffen, all of whom served a total of 84 years for crimes they did not commit. None of them had met before being arrested, but as Modahl said at the rally, they all became very good friends. Despite the lack of evidence, all of these people were convicted on numerous charges of child molestation.
It is believed that the children who testified against them were questioned by social workers and prosecutors in such a manner that they had no choice but to tell the authorities what they wanted to hear, and that the children were manipulated into giving false testimonies. The district attorney at the time, who is still in office today, was Ed Jagels. The wrongfully convicted and many others believe that he is behind the conspiracy.
“The price these innocent families paid for the overzealous prosecution and the continuing perversion of justice is enormous,” said Jack Cummings at the rally. “The district attorney chose to ignore the facts and continues to ignore them through the vain and criminally dishonest hope that we will just go away.”
Many of the wrongly convicted no longer wanted to live in Bakersfield after finally being exonerated. Modahl was in prison for 15 years and moved to Nebraska after he got out of prison. His daughters followed him there to live near him. He is also enjoying life with his newest son, who is 7 years old.
“I get to have a new chance at watching a child grow up again. I get to raise him, I get to do the things with him that I missed with my daughters,” Modahl said at the rally. “Both of my daughters live in Nebraska with me . so I must not be too bad of a guy if I move back there and then my daughters followed me.”
Many of the speakers at the rally told attendees that they need to hold authorities accountable. Nachman said everyone needs to attend jury duty and make sure they know all of the evidence and can make their own decisions and not be persuaded by others. She also expressed the need for “a real and competitive” election with two candidates, since Jagels ran unopposed for district attorney at the last election. “Nobody’s mad at the people of Bakersfield, just the authorities,” said Stoll.
Los Angeles attorney Jorge Gonzalez was also present at the rally and emphasized the fourth amendment, which protects U.S. citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.
“Have any of you ever heard of the fourth amendment? Because these people basically ripped it to shreds. And somehow, someday they need to be held accountable,” said Gonzalez. “These are the people who are supposed to represent law enforcement, and truth, and justice, and fairness in our society. And they knew . they deliberately were violating the law when they did the things they did.
At the rally, all of the families involved in the wrongful convictions spoke and told their stories and Nachman announced the new organization, Committee for Legislation Education and Reform, or CLEAR. Nachman said that if there was a group in the ’80s like what they hope CLEAR will become, these people’s lives would have turned out quite different.
“When you remain silent when they come to pick up your neighbor and they take your neighbors away, there will be no one to speak for you, when they come for you,” said Kathleen Faulkner, a local lawyer and civil rights activist, who is helping CLEAR get started.
Before the rally ended and the crowd moved to the Fox Theater to see the documentary, Penn spoke about how great it was to see so many people interested in changing the system that did these people wrong and that “nothing changes it like participation.”
“Those of you have seen [the film], and those who will see it, will see the people who suffered the abuse of power in this case are kind, intelligent, humble people. Beyond that, our system is meant to serve all of us,” Penn said.