Legal Abuse in Dade County

In: New statesman & society, Band 6, Heft 244, S. 12-13

Abstract

Traces the highly politicized & publicized 1984 ritual abuse case in the Miami (FL) suburb of Country Walk where Ileana Fuster (age 17), an undocumented Honduran worker, & her husband, Francisco, ran a home-based babysitting service. It is argued that the case against the Fusters was weak, the atmosphere hysterical, & months of brainwashing techniques were used by prosecution psychologists to turn Ileana against her husband, & plant in her mind much of the testimony on Satanic abuse that she made. Ultimately, in exchange for the confession, she was given a ten-year prison term while her husband was sentenced to six life terms plus 165 years. It is argued that then Dade county prosecutor Janet Reno endorsed questionable prosecution methods because she needed a conviction to win reelection. F. Shephard