Dale Akiki

Infobox Person
name = Dale Akiki


caption =
birth_date = 1957
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
other_names =
known_for = Defendent in a satanic ritual abuse trial
occupation =
nationality = flagcountry|United States

Dale Akiki was a mentally handicapped individual charged with child sexual abuse in 1991 as part of the satanic ritual abuse moral panic.

Biography

Akiki was born mentally handicapped and suffered from Noonan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which left him with a concave chest, club feet, drooping eyelids and ears. [cite book |author=Stoesz, David; Costin, Lela B.; Karger, Howard Jacob |title=The Politics of Child Abuse in America (Child Welfare) |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=1996 |pages= 15 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=B70rt3SyhtkC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=dale+akiki&source=web&ots=SM5gJ7le28&sig=7vw0MY0sASN3pgDUGMmXV--Vus0#PPA15,M1 |isbn=0-19-511668-2 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate= 2008-09-19]

Child sexual abuse trial

Akiki served with his wife as a volunteer baby-sitter with the Faith Chapel church in Spring Valley, California. He was arrested and charged with 35 counts of child abuse and kidnapping in 1991, and held without bail for 30 months before trial. [cite news | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CE1DD1E3BF930A35755C0A962958260 | title = Prosecutors Rebuked in Molestation Case | last = Mydans | first = S | publisher = The New York Times | date = 1994-06-03 | accessdate = 2008-09-19 ] The government filed its first case against Akiki on May 10, 1991, in San Diego Superior Court. [ [http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/CISPublic/casedetailr?casenum=CR122381&casesite=SD&applcode=R SDSC Case CR122381] ] A second case was prosecuted against him on February 20, 1992. [ [http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/CISPublic/casedetailr?casenum=CR129395&casesite=SD&applcode=R SDSC Case CR129395] ] Two of the accusers were the grandchildren of Jack and Mary Goodall, the former being the CEO of Jack in the Box. Upon hearing the district attorney was to drop charges against Akiki due to lack of evidence, the Goodalls managed to convince him to continue and prosecution was led by Mary Avery, who was a member of the San Diego Ritual Abuse Task Force. During the investigations, few records were kept of the interviews with children and Avery tried to ban the use of the term "ritual abuse" (a synonynm for satanic ritual abuse), techniques which were useful in obtaining prosecutions in an environment that was increasingly skeptical of allegations of satanic ritual abuse.cite book |author=Snedeker, Michael R.; Nathan, Debbie |title=Satan's silence: ritual abuse and the making of a modern American witch hunt |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |year=1995 |pages= 79-80 |isbn=0-465-07181-3 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=]

His trial started in the spring of 1993. The cases against him included no physical evidence, but allegations of satanic ritual abuse including testimony that he killed a giraffe and an elephant in front of the children, drank human blood in satanic rituals, and had abducted the children away from the church despite being unable to drive. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/innocence/etc/other.html frontline: innocence lost: Other Well-Known Cases] ]

His trial of 7.5 months was the longest in San Diego County history. The jury took seven hours to reach its "not guilty" verdict in November 1993 [ [http://www.ags.uci.edu/~dehill/witchhunt/cases/akiki.htm Los Angeles Times article on Dale Akiki case] ] and the jury's complaints about the "overzealous prosecutors", "child sexual abuse syndrome", and "therapists on a witch-hunt." [cite book | last=Kincaid | first=James R. | title=Erotic Innocence: The Culture of Child Molesting | isbn=0822321939 | publisher=Duke University Press | date=1998 | month=December | pages=263 ] Despite his acquittal, some of the parents involved remained convinced that he was guilty. The deputy district attorney and lead prosecutor Mary Avery disputed the claims that the nine children were systematically brainwashed by parents and therapists, stating "the whole idea of contamination and suggestibility just does not account for the major behavior changes that occurred (in the children) while they were in Dale Akiki's (nursery school) class," referring to certain incidents like nightmares and bed-wetting. [cite news | last =Granberry | first =Michael | title =Ex-School volunteer acquitted of child abuse charges | work = | pages = | publisher =Los Angeles Times | date =1993-10-20 | accessdate=2008-07-06]

ubsequent investigations

The San Diego County Grand Jury reviewed the Akiki cases in 1994 and concluded in part that "There is no justification for the further pursuit of the theory of satanic ritual molestation in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases." [cite book | last=Ceci | first=Stephen J. | title=Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony | isbn=1557986320 | publisher=American Psychological Association | date =1999 | month=July | pages=28 ]

On August 25, 1994, he filed a suit against the County of San Diego, Faith Chapel Church, and many others which was settled for $2 million. [ [http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/CISPublic/casedetail?casenum=680174&casesite=SD&applcode=C SDSC Case 680174] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/cnty/cntydepts/safety/grand/reports/report7a.html San Diego County Grand Jury 1993-94 Report on Dale Akiki Case]