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Witch Hunt - With Film Producers and the Innocence Project Staff

Presented by City of Redwood City at Redwood City Public Library

March 24, 2010

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On the night John Stoll was roused from his bed and carted off to jail, his attitude bordered on the cavalier. "Aren't you worried?" His lawyer wondered. "Hell no, I ain't worried," John answered. "I didn't do this. You can't convict me of something I didn't do." It was more than two decades before John Stoll was free again.

Executive Producer Sean Penn proudly presents Witch Hunt, a gripping indictment of the United States justice system told through the lens of one small town. It's John Stoll's story, but it's also the story of dozens of other men and women who found themselves ensnared in a spiral of fear, ignorance and hysteria. These people are Americans, working class moms and dads, who were rounded up with little or no evidence, charged and convicted of almost unimaginable crimes. All sexual. All crimes against children. Years, sometimes decades later, they would find freedom again, but their lives and the lives of their children would be changed forever. This film shows viewers what the real crime in this case is, not molestation, but the crime of coercion. Viewers hear from the child witnesses who were forced to lie on the witness stand as they describe scary sessions with sheriff's deputies in which they were told -- not asked -- about sexual experiences that happened to them. Their coerced testimony led to dozens of convictions. Many times their own parents were the ones they put behind bars.

Narrated by Sean Penn; directed by Dana Nachman & Don Hardy. Not Yet Rated ; 91 min, 2009. Introduced by Northern California Innocence Project Legal Director, Linda Starr & film production team!