Experts say an Oakland County detective ran roughshod over a 13-year-old in a sexual abuse case against his parents

BY BRIAN DICKERSON • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • March 16, 2008

Part one of two

In the fading twilight of a Tuesday in early December, a 13-year-old boy sat alone in a West Bloomfield police interrogation room, sobbing as he cradled his head in his hands and rocked from side to side.

For nearly an hour, Detective Joseph Brousseau had grilled the boy about accusations that he and his autistic sister had been sexually molested by their father. No, the boy insisted, he'd seen nothing to support the detective's lurid suspicions. Three times, he offered to take a lie detector test. But Brousseau hammered away, challenging the boy's honesty, his manliness, his loyalty to his disabled sister.

Again and again, the detective told the boy his body language betrayed the burden of a terrible secret. "What if I told you that one of those videotapes confiscated from your parents' house had you in it?" the detective asked suddenly. The 13-year-old straightened. "Was it me doing something sexually?" "I don't think I'd be bringing it up if it wasn't," Brousseau answered. "That's what I'm trying to tell you -- it's going to come out."

If it were merely what it purported to be -- the disclosure of a deviant father's treachery -- the videotaped exchange would be excruciating enough to watch. But the truth is a good deal uglier than that.

Charges have been dropped. In fact, prosecutors now concede, much of what Brousseau told the boy during his Dec. 4 interrogation was a fabrication. There were no videotapes depicting the boy in sexual situations with his father or sister. There was no new crime lab evidence confirming his sister's allegations, despite Brousseau's repeated assertions to the contrary.

Legal experts who have reviewed the videotaped interrogation, which was obtained by the Free Press, say it reveals multiple violations of the rules Michigan law prescribes for questioning juveniles who may have witnessed sexual abuse."I would not hesitate to use the word 'reprehensible,' " David Moran, associate dean of the Wayne State University School of Law, told me after watching the interrogation at the Free Press' request.

Brousseau didn't respond to voice-mail messages I left at his office and home. His supervisor, West Bloomfield Police Lt. Carl Fuhs, said he hadn't seen the videotape but defended Brousseau's motives. "He didn't mean to harm anyone," Fuhs said. "The bottom line here is that the detective was trying to get to the truth. I don't know whether he went over the line or not."

Case dropped; damage remains

Last week, after a 105-day ordeal that began when a 14-year-old girl with autism, assisted by a teacher's aide at her Walled Lake high school, typed graphic allegations of sexual torture, Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca announced that his office was dismissing criminal charges against the girl's parents and dropping its objections to the family's reunification. The Free Press is withholding the parents' names to protect their children's anonymity.

The father had spent 80 days in jail without bond on three counts of first-degree sexual assault. His wife, whom prosecutors had charged with abetting her husband's alleged crimes, had been confined by an electronic tether, and their children had been dispatched to separate foster homes.

Prosecutors said the case collapsed when the girl, who cannot speak and communicates only by typing with the physical assistance of a paraprofessional facilitator, indicated that she was afraid of her father and was no longer willing to testify. But attorneys for the girl's parents rejoined that their daughter's statement had been suspect from the beginning, and reported that she hugged and kissed her father and mother joyfully when the family was reunited last week. "This is a case that should never have been brought," said Jerome Sabbota, the father's lawyer.

In fact, the prosecution's case already had begun to unravel by Dec. 4, when the girl's 13-year-old brother, who has been diagnosed with a mild form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome, was brought in for questioning. A psychologist who'd treated the girl warned police that the teacher's aide might have unconsciously authored the allegations against the girl's parents. And a nurse's examination revealed that the girl's hymen had three "nonacute" tears but remained intact, casting doubt on her supposed assertion that she had been raped repeatedly from the time she was 6 years old. In hindsight, the boy's Dec. 4 interrogation can be understood as a desperate attempt to salvage a doomed prosecution -- a charade calculated to conjure credible evidence where none existed.

Former Wayne County Circuit Judge James Lacey, who retired in 2006 after presiding over juvenile cases for more than two decades, said Brousseau got off on the wrong foot by interviewing the 13-year-old without notifying his family or Abbie Shuman, the lawyer a judge had appointed four days earlier to look out for the boy's interests."Anything he said in that situation, I would never admit into evidence," Lacey said.

Moran said the boy's youth and what Moran called obvious signs of an autistic disorder made the detective's use of deception and coercion especially difficult to excuse."The officer was using tactics that are used to break down adult criminal suspects," Moran said. "It's remarkable those tactics didn't work. But he did succeed in inflicting a lot of damage on an extremely vulnerable young man."

The damage is manifest in the videotaped interrogation when the boy admits that Brousseau's revelations about hard evidence supporting his sister's allegations have undermined his confidence in his father's integrity."It's not going to be the same anymore," he tells the detective, "because now I've lost my trust in my dad."

No threats or pressure allowed

Since the early 1990s, when a series of celebrated child abuse prosecutions against workers at the McMartin preschool in southern California ended in acquittals or hung juries, legislators and law enforcement officials across the nation have taken dramatic steps to protect juvenile witnesses from abusive interrogation and to minimize false allegations of sexual abuse.

Michigan's reform efforts culminated in a 1993 Forensic Interrogation Protocol, incorporated in the state's child abuse law, which lays out the ground rules for interviewing children and teenagers about suspected sexual abuse. The protocol warns interviewers to avoid threats, promises and leading questions. It recommends that they pose open-ended queries without betraying their "surprise, disgust, disbelief or other emotional reactions" to the juvenile witness' answers.

Lt. Fuhs said he didn't know whether Brousseau was familiar with the protocol. In any event, the detective appears to have ignored it throughout the Dec. 4 interrogation. At one point in the interview, when the boy confesses doubts about his parents' innocence, Brousseau scoffs at his professed confusion:

Boy: I'm starting to believe that my dad might actually have --.

Detective: Let's stop it right there. You know what's been going on. You know it. You know firsthand what's been going on.

Boy: No! That's --

Detective: You're using this excuse, this crutch of "I think I know what's going on, or "I think I've got a feeling" -- B******t, man! You know what's going on, because you've experienced it firsthand."

Accusations and warnings

Later in the interview, under continuing pressure to recall anything that might be construed as inappropriate, the boy tells Brousseau that his father has helped shower his disabled sister, sometimes when both were naked, and once joked about seeing a mouse after the boy glimpsed the father's exposed p***s."But do you know what?" Brousseau interrupts. "That's how it starts. And things gradually progress. They push the envelope a little bit further to see what they can get away with. So after that, how did it progress?"

Sandra McClennen, a psychologist who treated the autistic daughter for five years, said the girl frequently needed assistance with bathing, and that she was not alarmed to learn that the girl's father had sometimes helped her shower. "She at times gets stuck, and her body kind of freezes," McClennen said. "Would it have been better if her father pulled on a pair of bathing trunks before helping her? Probably. But any parent of autistic children will tell you that some of the typical rules for how a family functions don't apply, because you have to adapt to the needs of the autistic child."

The Forensic Interviewing Protocol warns investigators not to express their own judgments while interviewing juvenile witnesses about suspected abuse.Yet in his interrogation, Brousseau repeatedly challenges the 13-year-old's truthfulness, suggesting 35 times in the course of two hours that the boy is holding back. "It's right on the tip of your tongue," he tells the boy at one point, "and you're kind of like teetering -- Should I say it? Should I not say it? ... I can't express to you the relief that you are going to feel when this is no longer a secret. It's an absolute enormous feeling."

On at least a dozen other occasions in the interview, Brousseau challenges the 13-year-old to "be the man" and "speak for your sister." "You think you feel guilty now?" the detective says. "Wait till later. Wait till later, when that guilt just eats at you because you didn't do the right thing, you didn't help your sister."

Lawsuit is a possibility

Christine Henk, a speech and language pathologist who treated the boy for Asperger's syndrome for more than 10 years, said that no one from police or the prosecutor's office ever called her to ask about his condition, although Michigan's interviewing protocol recommends such a query. Henk, who viewed a video of the boy's interrogation at the Free Press' request, said that some of the behaviors Brousseau interpreted as signs of evasion or nervousness were classic Asperger's symptoms that surfaced under the stress of the confrontational interview.

"The rocking and the crying and the constant nose-wiping were all typical of" the boy "under extreme duress, especially when he was younger," Henk said. She said obvious manifestations of the boy's condition, such as an aversion to eye contact, had all but disappeared in recent years, but that they had clearly reemerged during the interrogation."Really, he held himself together very well," she said. "But there was some regression, and I think at some point he began to lose confidence in his own thoughts and memories."

Moran and attorney Alan Zweibel, who won a $750,000 civil judgment against New York's Orange County after suing on behalf of two parents who lost custody of their child in a similar FC prosecution, agreed the boy's interrogation may yet see daylight in a civil action against police and prosecutors. "There's definitely a potential lawsuit there," Moran said. "People who see it will be horrified."

Sabbota, the attorney who defended the boy's father, wouldn't speculate on the prospect of a civil lawsuit. But he worries that his client's 13-year-old son, who was separated from his parents for more than three months, may have a hard time understanding that he was deliberately deceived by the police Near the end of the Dec. 4 video, the weeping boy tells Brousseau: "I've lost the image I've had of my dad -- the image of a trustworthy person." I'll bet a lot of municipal lawyers are already worrying about the price tag jurors might place on such a loss.

BRIAN DICKERSON

Part two:

A legal horror show tears Oakland Co. family apart

BY BRIAN DICKERSON • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • March 17, 2008

Last Jan. 29, with her sexual abuse case against a West Bloomfield couple on the verge of collapse, Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Andrea Dean called a psychologist named Sandra McClennen to the witness stand.

Dean was trying to persuade a judge to allow statements in which the couple's autistic 14-year-old daughter, who communicated by typing on a keyboard with the assistance of a teacher's aide, had seemingly leveled horrifying allegations against her parents.

Dean hoped McClennen, who had treated the girl for five years, could convince the court the typed statements represented her ex-patient's words.

But on the witness stand, the prosecution's star witness voiced grave doubts the girl had authored the allegations herself. "She has never been very good at accurately conveying information about past events," the Plymouth psychologist testified. "There's, like I said, a lot of room for" the aide's "influence, and we have to constantly worry about that." Under cross-examination, McClennen was less circumspect. The parents, she insisted, "aren't guilty of this."

Charges dropped

Last week, more than three months after judges jailed the autistic girl's father, confined her mother to an electronic tether and dispatched the girl and her 13-year-old brother to separate foster homes, Oakland County Prosecutor Dave Gorcyca announced his office was dropping all charges and returning the children.

Gorcyca declined several invitations to discuss the case. Subordinates who filed papers dismissing multiple legal actions against the parents say they were hamstrung when the autistic daughter stopped cooperating with the investigation. But that is disingenuous. In fact, police and prosecutors never established that the daughter has ever made credible allegations against her parents, nor even that she had authored the statements attributed to her.

The belated decision to drop charges ended a 100-day horror show marked by investigative ineptitude, prosecutorial tunnel-vision and judicial timidity. It also begs a question of great consequence to other parents suspected of sexual abuse: How did the case get so far on so little evidence?

Facilitated what?

It is understandable that police and prosecutors reacted swiftly in late November when a high school administrator reported that an autistic freshman at her Walled Lake school had accused her father of raping her for eight years.

"My dad gets me up, bangs me and then we eat breakfast," typed messages the school provided to the police said. "He puts his hands on my private parts mom knows and doesn't say anything." Other messages said her father had assaulted her in the shower and that her younger brother had fondled her breasts and genitals.

Prosecutors may also have been perplexed by the spectacle of the teenager typing responses to their questions as her paraprofessional facilitator, Cindi Scarsella, supported her typing arm.

Scarsella, a teacher's aide who had accompanied the autistic student to classes since the beginning of the school year after just two hours of training as a facilitator, told police the girl had spontaneously typed the allegations, while Scarsella supported her forearm, during a Learning Skills class in late November.

Prosecutors said the girl repeated the allegations -- again with Scarsella facilitating her typewritten answers -- in an interview at Care House, a facility that specializes in interviewing suspected victims of abuse.

Care House interviews are confidential, but Dr. James Todd, an Eastern Michigan University psychology expert who reviewed a video record of the girl's interview at the request of her parents' defense attorneys, testified that he detected signs that Scarsella was subtly directing the autistic girl's typing.

Scarsella, who did not respond to voice mails left at her home, has said under oath that she did not consciously or unconsciously influence the girl's responses.

"No one in our office had ever heard of facilitated communication," Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton said.

But the girl's parents believed the controversial method, whose proponents called it FC, had unlocked their speechless daughter's inner voice. Ironically, it was the parents' faith in FC that convinced investigators the girl's facilitated accusations were authentic.

But if police and prosecutors had Googled the phrase "facilitated communication" as my Free Press colleague L.L. Brasier did when she first heard about the case, they would have learned that most educators and autism experts had long ago lost faith in FC, and that researchers had repeatedly failed to establish its legitimacy in controlled experiments.

Too good to be true

Conceived in Australia during the 1980s to help people suffering from cerebral palsy, FC was based on the theory that patients with impaired motor skills could learn to type with the help of facilitators who steadied their arms or slowed down their jerky movements.

The method piqued the interest of researchers at the University of Syracuse, which began training facilitators in FC with autistic children.

By 1990, parents who had never had meaningful exchanges with their autistic children were reporting seemingly miraculous breakthroughs. Overnight, youngsters who had never spoken or written a word were participating in classroom discussions, composing sophisticated poems, and articulating their affection for parents and teachers.

Or so it seemed.

But within a few short years, skeptics were pouring cold water on those anecdotal accounts.

Spurred by a flurry of cases in which autistic children using FC accused seemingly trustworthy adults of sexually molesting them, researchers began conducting double-blind experiments. In trial after trial, experimenters demonstrated that typed messages were actually being directed -- albeit unconsciously -- by the facilitators themselves.

Alan Zwiebel is a New York civil rights lawyer whose legal crusade against FC culminated in a celebrated 1997 case in which a federal jury awarded $750,000 to a New York couple who'd lost custody of their retarded daughter. Jurors concluded officials knew or should have known the girl's facilitated allegations of abuse were bogus.

Zwiebel professed astonishment when I told him that Oakland County prosecutors had relied on FC evidence to bring criminal charges against the West Bloomfield girl's parents.

"Facilitated communication? My God -- I though we stuck a stake through its heart in 1997," he said.

Since his 11-year-old federal case, Zwiebel said, "there's been a bright-line rule that facilitated communication is unreliable, period."

Too scared to proceed?

Barbara Morrison and Paul Walton, the assistant prosecutors who took over the West Bloomfield case from Dean in February, say they quickly became aware most experts had rejected FC.

The prosecutors also knew the case had been damaged badly when their autistic 14-year-old witness and her facilitator were unable to type responsive answers to any of 17 questions posed during a two-day court hearing in January:

Q: What color is your sweater?

A: JIBHJIH

Q: What are you holding in your hand right now?

A: I AM 14

The prosecution's case was further weakened when McClennen, the state's own expert witness, testified West Bloomfield police had rebuffed her when she suggested a way to test the authenticity of her former patients' allegations.

McClennen said she had recommended a new interview using a "naive" facilitator -- one unfamiliar with the allegations -- but police blew her off.

In an interview Tuesday, Morrison and Walton said they had planned to use a new facilitator if their autistic witness was willing to go forward, but admitted they had never interviewed the girl with such a naive substitute present.

The two prosecutors said the girl had indicated through the original facilitator, Scarsella, that she was too scared of her father to go back to court. But the girl's parents and their attorneys say she hugged and kissed her mother, father and brother when she was reunited with them last week.

McClennen, who has not seen the family since they were reunited, said she believes her former patient is relieved to be home, but worries about repercussions.

"Everyone who she has had contact with for the last three months has behaved as if she was a victim of her parents and it wasn't safe for her to be with them," the psychologist noted in an interview last week. "I can't imagine what's in her head after 100 days of that."

A conspiracy of timidity

Legal experts such as David Moran, assistant dean of the Wayne State University School of Law, speculate that the girl's parents may soon return to court as plaintiffs in a civil suit against police and prosecutors who tore their family apart.

Among the lingering questions:

• Why did Gorcyca and his subordinates rely on allegations obtained using a method long rejected by courts, academics, and professional groups?

Gorcyca declined to discuss the case. Walton and Morrison say it took their office months to determine the girl's statements were not going to stand up in court. But that does not explain why prosecutors never interviewed the girl with a naive facilitator, as numerous experts had suggested.

• Why did Bloomfield Hills District Judge Marc Barron refuse to exclude statements obtained through FC even after the girl and her facilitator were unable to answer a single question in court?

Baron said it would have been premature to exclude the girl's statements before she had been given a chance to testify about the allegations. He speculated that the girl would have ultimately failed to pass a competency test, but added: "We never got to that point."

• Why was Abbie Shuman, the lawyer appointed to represent the children's interests, absent from key hearings in the case? Did Shuman do anything to expedite a resolution that could reunite her clients with their parents?

Shuman did not respond to four voicemails left over the course of a week.

• Why did Bloomfield Hills District Judge Diane D'Agostini decline to act last month when prosecutors abruptly reversed themselves and petitioned her to release the girl's father on bond?

D'Agostini said she was reluctant to set bond for the father even after prosecutors requested it because Barron was on vacation. An Oakland County Circuit judge eventually authorized bond for the father.

What seems beyond dispute is that police, prosecutors and judges missed repeated opportunities to confirm the girl's accusations by interviewing her with a naive facilitator, or interviewing her brother in a noncoercive setting.

No one should be surprised if Oakland County foots the bill for their carelessness.

CONFRONTATION AND DECEPTION: On the videotape, the boy wipes his face on his sleeve as Detective Joseph Brousseau of the West Bloomfield Police Department leans forward to question him.

Police video of 13-year-old boy's interrogation -- 3/16/08

PART ONE READERS COMMENTS

I am the the parent of an autistic adult man. When I read this article in Sunday's Free Press I was outraged at the conduct of this cop and his superior. Reprehensible is not the word for his conduct, I would call it criminal. This cop is reminiscent of the Gestapo. He rode roughshod over the rights of this vulnerable young man, and should be charged by the spineless Prosecutor in Oakland County. Furthermore this so-called "para-professional facilitator" should be fired by the school system. This so called "facilitating " was debunked and completely discredited years ago. The official idiots in Oakland County have again managed to destroy a family. I hope that a jury in a civil case would award damages in this case the would bankrupt this County and it's officials.3/16/2008 6:15:00 PM

To continue, these police and prosecuters that abuse their power MUST to held accountable and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Hopefully, Mike Nifong is just th first of many. These men and women, who are sworn to uphold the law and protect the innocent must to held to a higher standard. They just aren't any Joe Blow breaking the law. These people have the power to and often do, destroy lives! How in the world did that cop justify to himself what he put that poor 13 year old boy through? And why shouldn't he be charged with every charge possible? And the prosecutors office has refused to apologize, instead behaving like they were the ones slighted. It's just sickening. 3/16/2008 6:06:19 PM

This happens all to often, but the public doesn't hear about it. Just last week a Michigan State cop testified to events that never happened in an attempt to have an innocent man found guilty and jailed. When a video was produced, it showed that EVERYTHING the cop had just sworn to was nothing but a lie. The judge let the cop testify again and change his answers. Nothing was doing to punish the cop. He's still out there. Next time it might be you or yours. Last year a Waterford cop tried to testify to statements that had never been made to convict an innocent man. He still out there, too. Sexual child abuse is the modern day "Salem's witch hunt.". No evidence is needed, just an accusation. When will this stop? When will the law start protecting the innocent? At the rate these false accusations and convictions are happening, it's only a matter of time that everyone will know of someone who has had their entire life turned upside down by these vile people. 3/16/2008 5:51:32 PM

I seeall this outrage, and it is justified. Completely. However, all of this will blow over, people will forget, and abuses like this will continue to happen on a daily basis until by some miracle a case such as this one makes the news. I cannot impart enough how true it is that for each case you read about, there are hundreds, likely thousands JUST LIKE IT that never make the news. The only way to do anything about this is to pay attention to who you elect. In our area, well, we know who we've elected... and I didn't vote for her. In Flint, they MUST get rid of Clack. Pay attention to your senators and representatives and hold them accountable. The meager few of us out there already doing it are not nearly enough, and they know it. 3/16/2008 5:45:24 PM

My husband and I are the parents of two beautiful autistic children and the thought of this happening to our family scares me because it could. All it would take was one over zealous teacher or one crazy law official to determine that my husband and I are doing something improperly. There are no safe guards for us as parents, yes I do admit that the laws are needed to help the helpless but oft times it is taken too far and innocent families are harmed every day. I believe that not only should the police department be held accountable but the school should be held accountable also, They had no concrete proof that this child was molested. No matter how much money the parents win their family is going to be forever broken, and that is priceless. Thank you MI for giving me less faith in our justice system, even less faith in our teachers and school system and thank you for letting me know that you don't have my back as a parent. 3/16/2008 5:09:41 PM

Deplorable. Inexcusable. Horrible. ALL apply. I have also read posts refering to police as cowards and pigs. A Taylor officer just arrested two murderers for the Troy homicide, leading to two arrests in Texas. Are ALL to be tainted by the brush of a few? It doesn't excuse this debacle. It does mean that ALL are not like this example. Just like not ALL in Detroit are thugs, not ALL priests molest, not ALL politicians are crooks. To argue otherwise would be deplorable, inexcusable, and ignorant.
3/16/2008 5:09:06 PM

There is more police and prosecutorial abuse in Oakland County marked by investigative ineptitude, pride, and an attitude that any man is guilty simply because of the claim by a vindictive teenager. Check out the stories at this blog INJUSTICE IN MICHIGAN. http://crossingnineveh.blogspot.com/2008/01/injustice-in-michigan.html 3/16/2008 5:01:09 PM

For those old enough to remember, "shades of Brooks Patterson"! I have followed this case from its beginning and still can't understand why the parents were treated as "guilty" and the preliminary exam was never comcluded. There was never any reasonable, let alone credible evidence of any wrongdoing; certainly not sufficient to incarcerate the parents and keep the children in foster care when family and other alternate qualified volunteer resources were available.

The governor must immediately take action to remove the boss (prosecutor) who allowed this destruction of family and Constitution to persist so long. The assistant prosecutors who should have known better from the beginning, and the judge who was obviously too concerned about his public image to do his job to not only protect the Constitution and laws of Michigan as well as the United States, and to attempt to preserve the integrity of the family. The citizens of the state must be protected from abuses such as occurred in this situation. Send a strong message to those who hold more power then they are qualified to administer by offering this family compensation in the amount of $50,000,000 as well as a written apology. Then the community should mobilize to assist this family which will need extensive support long into the foreseeable future. I've already contributed to the defense fund, have you? 3/16/2008 4:34:54 PM

Lt. Fuhs says, "He didn't mean to harm anyone." Well, I'm relatively sure that the guy who drove the wrong way down the freeway and killed most of that family in Ohio didn't mean to "harm" anyone either, but he's still going to spend a majority of his life in prison. And so should Detective Joseph Brousseau. Lt. Fuhs should be fired for being oblivious to things happening on his watch, or for covering for Detective Joseph Brousseau, which I suspect is closer to the truth. I think Detective Joseph Brousseau should be named as often as possible and he should be the poster child for the abuse of power by the police. Yearling, I love the idea of charging him with felony torture. It would be obvious to any civilian that it was, unfortunately it's highly doubtful that he'll face criminal charges. That would mean somebody in the prosecutors office would have to charge an accomplice with the crime. It'll never happen. 3/16/2008 4:08:16 PM

Dave1234 places blame on the media, and excuses,no, promotes, Police State mentality and behavior, claiming most cops are good cops. Dave1234, do you understand the Constitution of this Country? Do you understand the meaning of taking an oath to uphold this constitution? Do you know the difference between God's Law and public policy? All these "good cops" you refer to contumaceously ignore our constitutional rights by exercising compelled performance (ie seat belt laws, helmet laws, MIP, illegal traffic inspections etc). They are violating their oath!!! What don't you understand about the word "oath" and the meaning of "violate"? 3/16/2008 3:47:55 PM

This will never see a jury, because no court is going to allow the case to be heard. They will protect their own at all costs, which is already evident. See mvalenti's snowfall.pdf. We've given government way too much power through our apathy. Everything the Bush Admin has ever done illustrates that. I know a solution, but since AT&T is feeding the Justice Department everything I'm typing, I'll just keep it to myself. But this I will share: if I lived in WB, I would organize people to flood every city council meeting and civilly disrupt the agenda until Fuhs and Brousseau were disciplined.
3/16/2008 3:44:30 PM

I certainly hope that boys family sues the prosecutor and police for millions,the family I know could sure use the money to pay for the care of these two disabled for life children,I hope the boy learns to trust his father again,I also hope this cop gets fired immediatey for ignoring the proper interrogation protocol against this 13 year old,an innocent man also came very close to spending a good portion of his remaining life behind bars for a crime that was not even committed,now THATS a crime and the prosecutor and police should be put on civil trial for that,please all me as a juror,please.
3/16/2008 3:19:43 PM

It is important to understand that at any point in the process, any one person could have taken a stand and changed the course of these events. It is reprehensible that our police interrogated a 13 year old without any legal guardian present. There is no excuse for what the police did and I call for the resignation of all involved to publicly apologize to the family, the child and the community. I would like to also demand the same from all that were involved in the process. All of whom, should have done the right thing and not just acted like a prosecutorial pawn. This goes for the school, child protective services, prosecutors and JUDGE Baron. Any one of these individuals could have made a positive difference had they just educated themselves and cared more about the individuals they serve and not about 'winning' a case.

At every juncture each one of these people could have followed a path of knowledge, fairness, human kindness and justice. As a community we must encourage worker's in the system to use independant thought and not to be afraid of taking a stand that may not be favored by overzealous prosecutors. Gorcyca's office has shown itself to be mean spirited and we must demand change!
3/16/2008 3:13:39 PM

There seems to be a whole municipal and state industry in convictions. When my daughter was heading for trouble, I let her be arrested for domestic violence (she grabbed my wrist and left marks). Her attitude in court got her into further trouble and bought her a five-week stay in juvy, six weeks on a tether. Her father and I were billed over $10k from Oakland County. Since we are divorced, I was able to negotiate a lower financial burden. I am stil paying it back six years later. When I went in to negotiate reimbursement, I said, "I am the victim - this doesn't make sense". They said, "You are the mother - you are responsible". What the h**l are our taxes paying for? And why would any parent want to trust the police or courts for help when a kid spins out of control if they are going to be charged rates comparable to a 5-star hotel? 3/16/2008 2:24:14 PM

This is just the beginning. I hope he writes follow pieces on the prosecutor and the Judge Marc Barron
3/16/2008 2:11:07 PM

This young man, and his parents, should be incredibly proud. Under the horrific conditions and out right lies of this disgusting interrogation, he expressed himself clearly and eloquently. I don't know of many people - young, old, handicapped, whatever - who would not have completely broken down under the harassment this boy was subjected to. I sincerely hope he and his family are able to recover from this absolute nightmare. I also hope that that the so called facilitator, police, and courts are held accountable. At the very least, the prosecutor's office needs to publicly apologize to this family and admit that they did not drop the case because the "girl was afraid to testify" but because the case from the beginning was a complete witchunt. 3/16/2008 2:07:58 PM

"the boy's Dec. 4 interrogation can be understood as a desperate attempt to salvage a doomed prosecution -- a charade calculated to conjure credible evidence where none existed." Yes. These sick predators in the DAs office and in the police stopped at almost nothing. They make money destroying families based on the flimsiest of evidence. Then they enjoy the fruits of their labor by taking the assets of the parents, garnishing their income, getting a steady stream of Federal Title IV-D and Title IV-E money for "caring" for these children they abuse. They belong in the jails they take pride in filling.
3/16/2008 1:28:30 PM

I wonder if the zealots in the prosecutor's office will charge the officer? They probably see the officer as victim of the bleeding heart media. It matters not that the West Bloomfield Police with the knowledge and consent of the Oakland County prosecutor went after and basically destroyed a family. The fact that the alleged victims have a handicap makes it even more reprehensible. I am glad that I don't live in Oakland County! I wonder if Gorcyca would would go after one of his own (under the same circumstances) with the same zeal that he pursued this family. 3/16/2008 11:24:03 AM

"Michigan's reform efforts culminated in a 1993 Forensic Interrogation Protocol, incorporated in the state's child abuse law, which lays out the ground rules for interviewing children and teenagers about suspected sexual abuse. Lt. Fuhs said he didn't know whether Brousseau was familiar with the protocol. In any event, the detective appears to have ignored it throughout the Dec. 4 interrogation. Lt. Carl Fuhs, said he hadn't seen the videotape but defended Brousseau's motives."He didn't mean to harm anyone," Fuhs said. "The bottom line here is that the detective was trying to get to the truth. I don't know whether he went over the line or not." LT FUHS NEEDS TO BE FIRED FOR INCOMPETENCE AND BROUSSEAU NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED FOR CHILD ABUSE. NOW, G-D IT, NOW!
3/16/2008 10:41:41 AM

This is just one more incident of despicable Oakland County justice. In response to Awnorm, you must live in lala land, and have never been exposed to the corrupt, evil, and vindictive behavior of the Oakland County Court System and the "criminals" (cops, prosecutors, and judges) that control this criminal enterprise with impunity. Most cops are liars. They take an oath to uphold the constitution only to ignore their oath and the constitution by subscribing and hiding behind "public policy", not the common law this country was founded on, to do their dirty deeds. Cops like Brousseau and his superiors, should be held accountable, prosecuted for their crimes against society, and, if found guilty, be sentenced to death, a sentence which is more than fair considering only one life is taken for the many lifes ruined. 3/16/2008 10:00:18 AM

Wow, nice job West Bloomfield, open your wallet real wide! Failure to train comes to mind immediately. I like how Lt. Fuhs has no clue to what is going on, nice supervision ther LT! Dave Gorcyca, your prosecuting yourself out of a job by bringing all these meritless cases.
3/16/2008 9:43:03 AM

This happens because prosecutors and judges reinforce it and allow it to happen. They do not call the police into question even when they know that they are acting improperly. Whatever the p[olice write up is the truth, and nothing will change that. This is especially true in Oakland County, where the "D**k Thompson" mentality has crept its way back into the prosecutor's office. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could see this was a joke of a prosecution, becoming a face saving vendetta.
3/16/2008 8:55:50 AM

I'm not happy about the way this case or the case with the Oak Park kindergarten teacher was handled. I think the Oakland County Prosecutors Office needs to make some changes in its sex crime staff. There is plenty of blame to go around here. I think the detective would admit that things could have been handled differently. However I refuse to blanket all officers as liars and "dim witted." The people who make these statements are the same people who next week, will say that police don't do enough to catch criminals. Police are in a no win situation. This constant polishing bashing will only keep more qualified people away from the profession. Look at the Taylor officers who caught the hired killers from the Troy murders. The murders hadn't even been reported yet and those sharp police officers already had the suspects in custody. 3/16/2008 8:44:14 AM

These gestapo tactics will continue unless those responsible are held accountable. Suing the city is not enough. The detective, his supervisor, the prosecutor and the judge (who left the father in jail for 80 days) should all lose their jobs, and they should be sent to jail for eighty days. Then, maybe the authorities would think twice before running over peoples rights. 3/16/2008 8:42:07 AM

This article makes one want to throw up. First and foremost Joseph Brousseau must be made to resign from the police force. He must never work in law enforcement again. He must be made to pay for any and all of the therapy that this child ( and at 13 one is still a child) will have to have. And finally, if at all possible a civil lawsuit should be filed against Joseph Brousseau. He is a disgrace to the wonderful police officers across this country. 3/16/2008 8:39:39 AM

It is just sickening and I have no doubt that this not only is tolerated, it is actually taught.. it is considered standard operating procedure, not only in Bloomfield Hills but in every police station across the country. The zeal, the reprehensible indignation displayed by today's law enforcement officers when it comes to laws and rights of the everyday citizens. A fabrication. A lie. Told by an adult, a cop, a detective to a kid. A 13 year old kid. This wasn't a street thug, some g*** ***ger whom the cops had witnessed commit a 100 other crimes, acts of violence and whom was suspected to have committed yet another one from which they had some evidence, some tip, some kind of probable cause. They had nothing and with nothing.. they destroyed this kid, this 13 year old kid. 3/16/2008 8:18:51 AM

http://ivalenti.com/snowfall.pdf This happens EVERY DAY in Michigan... just no one wants to admit it, because if they did, then the possibility that it could happen to them becomes real, and no one wants to admit that. 3/16/2008 7:57:22 AM

I didn't watch the video and I won't. This makes me sick. The police are not above the law and neither is the Oakland County Prosecutor. This case demands a Grand Jury to investigate the conduct of both. And how much money did this voodoo evidence trial cost us, the taxpayers? 3/16/2008 6:45:21 AM

PART TWO READERS COMMENTS

Judge Barron�s response is shocking shocking shocking! He says that he knew that the case will fall apart but that wasn�t the time. If he saw how weak the case was, why didn�t he at least let the father out on bail, with a tether? And why didn�t he ask for an expedited hearing? You had an innocent father sitting in jail and two children in foster homes for NO REASON. Why is there no consequence for a judge who makes such a wrong call? I know that people will say that he has to be careful because if the father was guilty and would do something again then people will complain to him. If he can�t stand the heat let him step down. That is not an excuse to keep an innocent man in jail. The least he should do is find a way to apologize to the parents. 3/17/2008 8:13:48 AM

If the charges were dropped because the girl is afraid of her father, why is she being allowed to go back to the family with him? I agree what the detective did was heinous, but nobody is talking about the welfare of the girl. 3/17/2008 8:07:19 AM

Are these people more interested in arrests and convictions than in justice? Just another reason not to trust cops 3/17/2008 7:53:25 AM

THIS IS GOING TO COST THE TAXPAYERS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN JUDGEMENTS AGAINST THE PROSECUTORS. THESE PEOPLE ARE TAUGHT TO GET CONVICTION BY ANY MEANS AVAILIBLE AND THIS MAKES ME SICK. THE FACT THAT POLICE AND PROSECUTORS ARE ALLOWED TO LIE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A CONVICTION EVEN IF IT IS UNTRUTHFUL IS JUST DEAD WRONG. WE THE PEOPLE ALLOW THIS CRAP ON A DAILY BASIS BECAUSE NONE OF US RAISE RALLYS AND PROTEST AGAINST THE OVER ZELLOUS PROSECUTORS THAT HAVE SO MUCH CONTROLL OVER OUR DAILY LIVES. I HOPE THIS FAMILY WINS 100 MILLION DOLLARS FROM O.C. THEY DESERVE IT.
3/17/2008 7:51:12 AM

HOLY CR@P is this going to cost the taxpayers in OC a bunch of money. I really hope that the prosecutors lose their jobs and license to practice law, and Gorcyca needs to start looking for another job. 3/17/2008 7:16:15 AM

The family has been separated, reputations ruined, painful emotional wounds that will never heal, and all due to another all-too-zealous judge and police task force. These so-called enforcers of the law are an embarrassment to us all. It's also a warning: to be careful hence your lives also be destroyed by individuals who would rather take the illegal stance of "guilty until proven innocent". Many years ago, my brother told his gym teacher that he often wore 5-6 shirts while at home so that it wouldn't hurt so much when our father beat him. This was a lie, my dad didn't even spank us when we were little kids. My parents were submitted to examinations and our family was humiliated. Children DO lie. Children DO NOT understand situations like this and hence say things that they do not realize will convict those they love. This poor family, I hope that everyone involved was punished severely, especially the idiots who assumed that the kids would be safer in Foster Care-what a joke! 3/17/2008 7:14:37 AM

I must say that it is a good thing that this story got so much media attention or else this unfortunate man could still be languishing in jail (and perhaps have been convicted), the children might have been taken away permanently, and no one would have been the wiser. The poor 13-year old brother was pretty much subjected to mental torture. Can the questioner be charged for torturing this young boy? Many other families have been torn apart by false accusations and poor investigations. 3/17/2008 7:07:42 AM

As a lawyer, I am absolutely astounded by this case. The police officer who interrogated the boy should be charged. The police officer's supervisor defending him as "trying to get to the truth" is nothing short of Orwellian. The prosecutor and assistant prosecutors who went forward with this case should be charged. The family has suffered unimaginably. This appears to have been a criminal conspiracy between the police and the prosecution. The attorney general should become involved or, if he is too close to Gorcyca, an independent counsel should be appointed to investigate. The behavior of public officials in this case is worse than what we know about the scandal in Detroit. 3/17/2008 7:05:06 AM

wow what sad sad story, will we really know what happened ? doenst sound like it, poor family either way . . my heart goes out to them. 3/17/2008 6:59:06 AM

Does anyone know how to contact the OC Prosecutor's office to voice our concerns? I have also lost all respect in the West Bloomfield Schools and the West Bloomfield police. The detective that tortured this boy is not much of a man. 3/17/2008 8:23:42 AM

This family was significantly harmed. There should be NO limit on any amount of money they will receive. The prosecutors and police should be looking for new jobs; perhaps as meter readers. 3/17/2008 8:23:25 AM

The bogus "facilitated communication (FC)" is where this all started. What's next? A prosecution based on astrology? If lawyers (and the public) were even a little skeptical they would have known that FC is completely bogus and would never have proceeded. Our educational system does not teach people to be on the look out for scams and bogus "science." Most attorneys I know have NO science background and many seem to be proud of it. Unfortunately there seems to have been no body to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes. 3/17/2008 8:19:24 AM

Judge Barron�s response is shocking shocking shocking! He says that he knew that the case will fall apart but that wasn�t the time. If he saw how weak the case was, why didn�t he at least let the father out on bail, with a tether? And why didn�t he ask for an expedited hearing? You had an innocent father sitting in jail and two children in foster homes for NO REASON. Why is there no consequence for a judge who makes such a wrong call? I know that people will say that he has to be careful because if the father was guilty and would do something again then people will complain to him. If he can�t stand the heat let him step down. That is not an excuse to keep an innocent man in jail. The least he should do is find a way to apologize to the parents. 3/17/2008 8:13:48 AM

THIS IS GOING TO COST THE TAXPAYERS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN JUDGEMENTS AGAINST THE PROSECUTORS. THESE PEOPLE ARE TAUGHT TO GET CONVICTION BY ANY MEANS AVAILIBLE AND THIS MAKES ME SICK. THE FACT THAT POLICE AND PROSECUTORS ARE ALLOWED TO LIE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A CONVICTION EVEN IF IT IS UNTRUTHFUL IS JUST DEAD WRONG. WE THE PEOPLE ALLOW THIS CRAP ON A DAILY BASIS BECAUSE NONE OF US RAISE RALLYS AND PROTEST AGAINST THE OVER ZELLOUS PROSECUTORS THAT HAVE SO MUCH CONTROLL OVER OUR DAILY LIVES. I HOPE THIS FAMILY WINS 100 MILLION DOLLARS FROM O.C. THEY DESERVE IT.
3/17/2008 7:51:12 AM

HOLY CR@P is this going to cost the taxpayers in OC a bunch of money. I really hope that the prosecutors lose their jobs and license to practice law, and Gorcyca needs to start looking for another job. 3/17/2008 7:16:15 AM

The family has been separated, reputations ruined, painful emotional wounds that will never heal, and all due to another all-too-zealous judge and police task force. These so-called enforcers of the law are an embarrassment to us all. It's also a warning: to be careful hence your lives also be destroyed by individuals who would rather take the illegal stance of "guilty until proven innocent". Many years ago, my brother told his gym teacher that he often wore 5-6 shirts while at home so that it wouldn't hurt so much when our father beat him. This was a lie, my dad didn't even spank us when we were little kids. My parents were submitted to examinations and our family was humiliated. Children DO lie. Children DO NOT understand situations like this and hence say things that they do not realize will convict those they love. This poor family, I hope that everyone involved was punished severely, especially the idiots who assumed that the kids would be safer in Foster Care-what a joke! 3/17/2008 7:14:37 AM

I must say that it is a good thing that this story got so much media attention or else this unfortunate man could still be languishing in jail (and perhaps have been convicted), the children might have been taken away permanently, and no one would have been the wiser. The poor 13-year old brother was pretty much subjected to mental torture. Can the questioner be charged for torturing this young boy? Many other families have been torn apart by false accusations and poor investigations. 3/17/2008 7:07:42 AM

As a lawyer, I am absolutely astounded by this case. The police officer who interrogated the boy should be charged. The police officer's supervisor defending him as "trying to get to the truth" is nothing short of Orwellian. The prosecutor and assistant prosecutors who went forward with this case should be charged. The family has suffered unimaginably. This appears to have been a criminal conspiracy between the police and the prosecution. The attorney general should become involved or, if he is too close to Gorcyca, an independent counsel should be appointed to investigate. The behavior of public officials in this case is worse than what we know about the scandal in Detroit. 3/17/2008 7:05:06 AM

The paraprofessional, Cindi Scarsella, was a pawn and a victim, too, just like this family. Scarsella was in the wrong job at the wrong time, doing as she was told. According to the article, she was given a mere two hours of training, not nearly enough. Paraprofessionals are helpless to ask for more training or follow-up training. Blame the school district, the superintendent, the special ed director, the head of the program that services students on the autism spectrum, but don't blame Scarsella. 3/17/2008 7:02:59 AM

wow what sad sad story, will we really know what happened ? doenst sound like it, poor family either way..my heart goes out to them. 3/17/2008 6:59:06 AM

Kinda reminds me of the Duke Lacrosse case or lack there of. They were in a hurry to throw someone under the bus before checking the evidence, or waiting to have any. 3/17/2008 6:50:00 AM

How did the case get so far on so little evidence?-------------Answer: Self-righteous, holier than thou, oft times hypocritical, condecscending morality nazis. 3/17/2008 6:11:54 AM

"Oakland County" isn't going to foot the bill for this... *I* am. The taxpayers are. Could somebody -please- tell me why Gorcyca, Dean, Morrison, and Walton still have jobs? The rule that prosecutors are granted unqualified immunity for their reckless prosecutions must be overturned and it must be overturned now. For that matter, going a step further and holding all government electees, appointees and employees personally responsible when their actions lead to a lawsuit or settlement would go a long way towards ending government abuse. 3/17/2008 5:45:45 AM

I agree with DiamondP, Cindi S. needs jail time. The bottom line, the prosecutor office, their zeal to convict is paramount. There job, yes, but like Ms. Worthy, investigate . "In a reasonable amount of time". I would hope they are compensated so that they can MOVE out of Michigan and start over.
3/17/2008 5:30:31 AM

Pretty typical of the general attitude towards child abusers and sexual predators; guilty until proven innocent. 3/17/2008 5:23:45 AM

What happened to "innocent until proven guilty". Everyone on this case automatically assumed these parents were guilty and to h**l with their rights. It would be interesting to find out if the facilitator, Cindi Scarsella, had ever been abused. 3/17/2008 5:04:13 AM

And we can only hope that these parents do just that. It will make the county think twice before ever doing this to another family. The police officer that interviewed the boy and the facilitator, Cindi Scarsella both need to be jailed for their criminal actions on this. This family went through 100 days of horror at the hands of these so called authority figures, and everybody involved should be sued to the maximum. This could happen to any of us, at any time..and that is so scary! 3/17/2008 3:35:54 AM

INCREASINGLY ANGRY READERS COMMENTS CONTINUED

For Reichsfuehrer Gorcyca and Reichsmarshall Carley, there is only their side of the story and it is seen only in black and white. Let's just prosecute them and throw them all in jail. Don't take into consideration that the stories they hear might not be accurate or even correct or, God forbid, that maybe we should take a look at a way to help people. Nope, not in Oakland County. Let's lock 'em all up and screw their civil rights. It'll teach 'em a lesson. Well, the only lesson I see here is that the stormtroopers in jackboots are alive and well and reside within the walls of the Oakland County Prosecutor's office. I'm going to be very interested to see how Dave and Deb spin this one. Oughta be interesting.

How could that many people be THAT ignorant?? How could no one even BOTHER to see if this FC nonsense was remotely legit? My reaction was the same as Zweibel's; basing arrests on testimony on FC is about the same as including testimony that the parents are witches and gave 'the evil eye.' I hope the parents sue the living heck out of these people.
3/17/2008 11:22:38 AM

It is obvious that someone didn't want the case to be dismissed or it could have been done shortly after arraignment, or at least when the preliminary hearing was started and demonstrated NO credible evidence. Now the far right "do gooders" in Pontiac see fit to voluntarily ask to have the case dismissed and the family reunited. This looks like an effort to minimize potential unlimited damages. If that is the case, then why doesn't someone responsible within Oakland County government introduce a resolution to initiate a financial resolution and thereby further reduce the trauma which has already been fostered on this hard working caring family? It might be possible to avoid having to shell out $50,000,000 to $100,000,000. Can't they see the outrage brewing in the neighborhoods? 3/17/2008 11:14:53 AM

Gorcyca's office isn't there to "help" the victims. Look how these children were treated. Gorcyca's office (along with Ms. Carlee) have never seen a case that they wouldn't prosecute. They don't plea bargain, and they don't return phone calls. Compassion is not in vocabulary of these people. Everyone is guilty of something. 3/17/2008 10:34:14 AM

I don't normally support lawsuits, but in this case I make an exception. If for no other reason than to thoroughly embarass the West Bloomfield Police, Oakland County Courts, and most especially the chief law enforcement officer for the county, Mr. Gorcyca. His office ran roughshod over this family (and this isn't the first incident of this type.) I hope they file...and it is on the front page. 3/17/2008 10:30:01 AM

The following is the "MISSION STATEMENT" for Dave's Gestapo, sometimes known as the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office. It says, "The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office is one of the largest "law firms" in the state. Our "clients" are the victims of crime whom we zealously represent in the courts of Oakland County. The entire staff of the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office is committed to maintaining the highest degree of representation to its constituents through our "Tough Justice" philosophy and "no plea bargaining" guidelines." Well, it's about time Herr Gorcyca (and his chief assistant hatchet woman Deb Carley) gets called out for his tactics. Keep this in mind every time you read something negative about the Michigan Department of Human Services in Oakland County. While DHS has plenty of faults, it IS there to try and help people.

For Reichsfuehrer Gorcyca and Reichsmarshall Carley, there is only their side of the story and it is seen only in black and white. Let's just prosecute them and throw them all in jail. Don't take into consideration that the stories they hear might not be accurate or even correct or, God forbid, that maybe we should take a look at a way to help people. Nope, not in Oakland County. Let's lock 'em all up and screw their civil rights. It'll teach 'em a lesson. Well, the only lesson I see here is that the stormtroopers in jackboots are alive and well and reside within the walls of the Oakland County Prosecutor's office. I'm going to be very interested to see how Dave and Deb spin this one. Oughta be interesting. 3/17/2008 10:27:12 AM

It looks as though this family has hit the civil court lottery. Were it I I'd sue everyone remotely connected to Oakland County from the janitors up to the highest elected official and let the chips fall where they may. THEN I'd insist that the amount of jail/tether time I'd suffered be doubly inflicted on the entire prosecutors office and the keystone cops, THEN I'd demand that the entire gang of bullys, thugs and inept clowns be fired with their law licenses revoked. THEN I'd want to hit "em in the face with a pie because they are a bunch of slap-stick buffoons and deserve it. Whew! guess I vented here, eh? 3/17/2008 10:01:27 AM

Whew!!!!! How could so much go so wrong? It is scary to know that your rights can be violated and then it's just, OOPs! "I guess we messed up" I wonder if this man lost his job while he was locked up? The mom was on tether so I suppose she wasn't able to work. Although the names weren't used in the article. I'm sure the entire neighborhood knows who this family is. So now this boy has to suffer that humiliation as well. Do you all know how cruel teenagers can be to one another this is so wrong on s o many levels !!!! SCARY, because we all could be this family. 3/17/2008 9:44:17 AM

i really wish someone will get on here and try to defend the police, prosecution office and judge. I cannot imagine that it is as crazy as it sounds. Please tell us: what were you thinking? 3/17/2008 9:43:51 AM

hopefully Walled Lake Schools and the para pro that initiated this farce will get sued for millions. Just goes to show you that at any given time, a rogue prosecutor or government agency can go off the grid and take away your rights. Is it any wonder schools and prosecutors are doing this with whats happened with police and routine traffic stops turning into inquisitions? people need to wake up and pay attention to elections and who is being elected. Best wishes to the family and may you enjoy your millions, even though it will be years before things return to normal. If they ever do. 3/17/2008 9:09:21 AM

This is not the only case where the Oakland County prosecutor's office and local police have used irrational and presumptive guilty tactics to charge and ruin the lives of good men. Check out the two stories at this blog on the Injustice in Michigan: http://crossingnineveh.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html The civil suits against local police and Oakland County will be many. As it is, the ease with which vindictive or psychologically dysfunctional children (and adults) can bring charges against another person (and subsequently ruin their lives) is the fault of police and prosecutors who are overly anxious to make a name for themselves. Write your state legislators and ask for legislation that protects fathers and close relations from being charged without secondary substantive evidence NOT obtained under prejudice means. 3/17/2008 8:29:06 AM

We now have a system of tyranny. I do believe Jefferson warned us about this.. we allowed too much power to be wielded by too few... with no checks and balances. Time to work on getting our state and country back from the tyrannical. No more gestapo seat belt g*** ***gs, and no more police using the general law-abiding population for revenue generation. How many tickets for "Impeding Traffic" were issued this year alone? When was the last time you had any dealings with city, state or federal officials that they didn't have their hand in your pocket? I hope this family wins millions in court, maybe that will wake some people up. 3/17/2008 8:25:31 AM

Does anyone know how to contact the OC Prosecutor's office to voice our concerns? I have also lost all respect in the West Bloomfield Schools and the West Bloomfield police. The detective that tortured this boy is not much of a man. 3/17/2008 8:23:42 AM

The bogus "facilitated communication (FC)" is where this all started. What's next? A prosecution based on astrology? If lawyers (and the public) were even a little skeptical they would have known that FC is completely bogus and would never have proceeded. Our educational system does not teach people to be on the look out for scams and bogus "science." Most attorneys I know have NO science background and many seem to be proud of it. Unfortunately there seems to have been no body to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes. 3/17/2008 8:19:24 AM

An attorneys science background is irrelevant.  First the courts, established in another case, that F.C. is not recognized as being credible scientific method (see Dickerson article) - it is court rulings that control, not the belief of an attorney.

But, when you have a prosecutor like Dean, she is going to ignore established precedent, hoping that the accused will have court appointed counsel, who does not pick up on this.   This is a common tactic, unethical but common.

Anderea Dean's misconduct is why Perry will not get a fair trial.  

An attorneys science background is irrelevant.  First the courts, established in another case, that F.C. is not recognized as being credible scientific method (see Dickerson article) - it is court rulings that control, not the belief of an attorney.

But, when you have a prosecutor like Dean, she is going to ignore established precedent, hoping that the accused will have court appointed counsel, who does not pick up on this.   This is a common tactic, unethical but common.

Anderea Dean's misconduct is why Perry will not get a fair trial.  

The American Psychology Association said in a 1994 resolution that the method "is not a scientifically valid technique," and that messages were "directed or systematically determined" by the therapists who provided the assistance. "In particular, information obtained via facilitated communication should not be used to confirm or deny allegations of abuse or to make diagnostic or treatment decisions," the resolution said.

Yet Gorcyca brazenly asserts

Court records also show that police interviewed the girl's 13-year-old brother, who is treated for Asperger's, a form of autism. He can speak and told police that he saw his father nude in the house and showering nude with his sister.

West Bloomfield: Abuse case hinges on a keyboard-autistic girl typed dad raped her, aide says

Detroit Free Press (MI) - December 18, 2007

Author: L.L. BRASIER and JOHN WISELY, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

West Bloomfield police say a 14-year-old girl with autism who cannot speak cried rape the only way she could: through a controversial technique where a teaching aide helps a student type words on a keyboard.Earlier this month, the girl accused her father of raping her repeatedly while her mother did not intervene, investigators said. The girl's 13-year-old brother, who also is autistic , told investigators he saw his father showering with his sister and naked with his sister. "Just because she is autistic , just because she may have trouble communicating, doesn't mean it didn't happen," said West Bloomfield police Lt. Carl Fuhs. "It makes it tougher, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen."

Lawyers for the girl's parents deny the criminal allegations and are scheduled in court today to challenge efforts to terminate custody of the children. Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca declined to comment in an e-mail last week, citing concerns over pretrial publicity and potentially tainting a jury pool. The Free Press is not naming the parents to shield the identity of a possible sexual assault victim.

A key issue in the case will be the reliability of the method used to make the allegations. Investigators said the girl typed out statements of the alleged abuse last month on a facilitator board - a keyboard designed for autistic children - at school while an aide helped guide her hands to the keys. "My dad gets me up, bangs me and then we eat breakfast, he puts his hands on my private parts mom knows and doesn't say anything," the girl reportedly typed on the board.

Defense attorneys describe the girl as severely autistic and said she does not speak. It is unclear to what degree she can communicate in other ways, they said. In recent years, courts have found facilitated communication unreliable, said professor John Myers, a child abuse expert who teaches law at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. "The empirical evidence is that it's invalid," Myers said.

The American Psychology Association said in a 1994 resolution that the method "is not a scientifically valid technique," and that messages were "directed or systematically determined" by the therapists who provided the assistance. "In particular, information obtained via facilitated communication should not be used to confirm or deny allegations of abuse or to make diagnostic or treatment decisions," the resolution said.

Even advocates say the use of facilitator boards has not met scientific standards of reliability for courtroom evidence. "There's no way that we can satisfy it at that level," said Marilyn Chadwick, a Mt. Clemens native and assistant director of the Facilitated Communication Institute at Syracuse University in New York. "This type of information can add to, but not be the only information you have to look at. It's basically the judge's call."

Most academics dismiss the technique. "It's bogus and it's nonsense," said Dr. Howard Shane, director for the Center for Communication Disorders at Children's Hospital Boston, and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. "The problem here is that the prosecutors are acting as though the only limitation this child has is that she cannot speak," said defense attorney Robyn Frankel, who represents the girl's mother against charges of child abuse and witness intimidation. "What they don't understand is that when a person has autism, their brains are wired differently."

Said attorney Jerome Sabbota, who represents the father: "Here these people struggle all these years to take care of these disabled children, and something like this happens" The father is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

In court documents, authorities do not report physical evidence, such as DNA, to link the father to a sexual assault, instead citing a registered nurse's report that the girl's hymen showed three "non acute tears," likely signs of sexual assault. Police and prosecutors decline to discuss the case outside of the filing, which includes also alleges the "children have endured years of sex abuse by father and severe mental and emotional abuse by mother."

Fuhs said additional details will come out in court. Court records also show that police interviewed the girl's 13-year-old brother, who is treated for Asperger's, a form of autism. He can speak and told police that he saw his father nude in the house and showering nude with his sister. Defense attorneys said the strength of the prosecution's case is undermined by the girl's claim that her parents and brother violated a court order by visiting her in the home in which she was placed.

The child, in additional typed messages, said the parents visited her at night and said they would be taking her to South Africa. "I can say absolutely it did not happen," said Rabbi Levy Shemtov, the family's rabbi with whom the girl has been staying. "Her parents were never there. And the child was never alone."

The mental status and abilities of the child, who attends special education classes, are unclear based on the court filings and other sources. Pretrial investigators noted that the girl needs help with her hygiene. The girl can swim and recently completed a 5k race. She's been using the facilitator board for three years and an earlier posting by her mother on an autism Web site said the child wrote poetry.

The girl described early morning rapes, assaults in the shower and fondling by her brother, said the school paraprofessional, who added that the girl told her the assaults began at age 6 and that she tried to tell her mother through pointing and pictures, but that her mother did nothing.

Contact L.L. BRASIER at 248-858-2262 or brasier@freepress.com.

A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING
Facilitated communication is a controversial and disputed method intended to help people with developmental disabilities to communicate by typing on a computer or by pointing to images. Here is how it is supposed to work:

THE METHOD
The person is aided by a facilitator, both physically and emotionally, to
learn to share his or her ideas and thoughts. Typically, the facilitator holds the person's hand or wrist, allowing them to use an extended finger to type or point.

PEOPLE WHO BENEFIT
It was developed for use by people born with cerebral palsy, but also is used to help a variety of developmentally disabled people. Examples of those who may benefit from this support include people with autism, Rhett's syndrome and Down syndrome. There is no age limitation or requirement.

NEUTRAL KEYBOARD GUIDANCE
1. A facilitator supports the hand or wrist of the person above the keyboard in a neutral, ready-to type position. They are encouraged to look at the keyboard.

2. The person is allowed to extend an isolated finger to type the desired key. The facilitator doesn't press forward, giving the person time to select what to type. They need to allow the person to type without anticipating the desired word.

3. The facilitator assists the person's hand back to the neutral position to get ready to choose the next letter.

INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATION

Many people eventually require less support to use the keyboard and may just need a slight touch at the shoulder or support of the elbow while typing.

Facilitated Communication Institute, Syracuse University

The children's father, who was watching Tuesday's hearing from jail, began sobbing when the police interview with his son was discussed and at other times during the hearing. He said, "This is not justice."

Carley said prosecutors are asking for the dismissal only because the teen is not going to testify. "We used the facilitated communication ... with her, and found it to be a perfectly acceptable way for us to communicate with her, just like her parents did."

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Parents of speechless child charged

By SHAUN BYRON and ANN ZANIEWSKI

Of The Oakland Press

A West Bloomfield Township couple are facing criminal charges and could lose their parental rights after the man was accused of repeatedly raping his teenage daughter while her mother looked the other way.

Autistic and unable to speak, the 14-year-old disclosed the alleged abuse by typing on a keyboard in a method called facilitated communication. Both parents deny wrongdoing. Their defense attorneys say the communication method hasn't been held up in courts of law as scientifically reliable.

In facilitated communication, a person helps the teen type on a computer by directing her fingers to the corresponding keys. Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Andrea Dean said the teen's parents have previously publicly supported facilitated communication, with her father even authoring an article about it in an autism magazine. "It's amazing how the parents are very big proponents of this method of communication, but as soon as the child discloses sexual abuse, now the parents are arguing that this is not a proper means of communication," Dean said. The Oakland Press is not naming the defendants to protect the teen from being identified.

Dean said the teen was working with a paraprofessional at Walled Lake Central High School who asked about her Thanksgiving break. The teen responded that it was awful, and said that "My dad gets me up, bangs me and then we have breakfast." The girl clarified that "bangs" referred to having sex."The father denies it," said defense attorney Jerome Sabbota, who is representing the father. "But the way it works is the child has been abused, let's arrest everybody."

Dean said the teen said the abuse started when she was 6 and that she used symbols and pictures at that age to try to communicate what was going on to her mother. "Mom basically looked the other way and failed to protect her," Dean said. Investigators requested that the teen have a physical examination. Dean said that her mother threatened her to not tell anyone what happened, and the exam never took place. After the teen was removed from the home, an exam was conducted that revealed tears consistent with sexual abuse.

Dean said the teen's brother has said he observed some of the abuse. The brother has a form of autism known as Aspergers Syndrome, which leaves him with communication problems, although he doesn't use facilitated communication.

Dean said the teen was removed from her home around Nov. 27 and went to live with a rabbi the family knows. Dean said the teen said that her parents visited her at the rabbi's house and said that they weren't happy with what she had told investigators, and that they were going to take her to South Africa. The rabbi denies they were ever there. Sabbota said that story is just not true, and that the family had planned on going to South Africa before the allegations arose.

The girl's 52-year-old father is being charged with three counts of first-degree child abuse and a count of second-degree child abuse. The 44-year-old mother is being charged with second-degree child abuse and witness intimidation with an alternative charge of interfering with a police investigation. A preliminary exam on the criminal charges is set for 8:30 a.m. Jan. 24 before 48th District Court Judge Marc Barron.

Prosecutors are moving to terminate their parental rights to the victim and her 13-year-old brother, who are now in protective care. At a court hearing this week, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Joan E. Young granted the mother a one hour-a-week, supervised visit with her son, but neither parent is allowed to have contact with their daughter, Dean said. Another pretrial hearing about parental rights is scheduled for Feb. 5.

Attorney Robyn Frankel, who is representing the mother in the criminal case with former circuit judge Deborah Tyner, also said that the facilitated communication has been proven unreliable. "It is not a scientifically based program, it is based on emotional support," said Frankel, adding that the parents now question the method's legitimacy. "One of the criticisms over the years is that it gave unrealistic hope to parents that there was intellect and brilliance in this child," she said. "There are critics that say the primary supporters are parents who want to believe in their children."

Sabbota said facilitated communication has been their only way to unlock their daughter's mind after years of silence. "These parents have tried for years and years to communicate with their child," Sabbota said. "Imagine what that would be like, that your child can't tell you what she wants. ... You don't know if they want to eat or go to the bathroom. "It's a different world they live in." Sabbota said the girl's disability doesn't mean she isn't capable of confused sexual thoughts. "Just because they're autistic doesn't mean children don't have sexual drives," he said. "Who knows what they fantasize about?"

Frankel said she has not seen the girl use the communication method herself and is withholding judgment, but says even the American Psychology Association labels it as being unscientific. "Her thought process is different from yours or mine," she said. "It stores information differently, it processes it differently. It is on a different level than yours or mine.

"It's a tragic case all the way around."

 Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Judge: Autistic girl must remain at public school

By ANN ZANIEWSKI

Of The Oakland Press

A judge denied an attorney's request that an autistic teen be pulled out of her high school, where she used a controversial form of communication to accuse her father of sexually abusing her.

The teen's parents, a West Bloomfield Township couple, face criminal charges and proceedings to terminate their parental rights. The 14-year-old is unable to speak and, through facilitated communication, told a paraprofessional at Walled Lake Central High School that her father repeatedly raped her while her mother looked the other way. In facilitated communication, a person types on a keyboard with the assistance of a facilitator.

On Tuesday, attorney Deborah McKelvy, who is representing the mother in the parental rights case, asked Oakland Family Court Judge Joan E. Young to remove the girl from school, where she continues to work with the aide to whom she disclosed the abuse. At a hearing last week in district court on the criminal charges, the teen was unable to answer simple questions when the facilitator was outside the room. McKelvy said she is concerned that the facilitator could influence the girl."The (facilitated communication) demonstration last week demonstrated that what is really being facilitated is from the facilitator and not the child," she said. Referring to the girl's inability to answer the questions, prosecutors said that simple changes in her environment -- such as room lighting -- can affect her ability to communicate.

McKelvy and Jerome Sabbota, an attorney representing the father, also argued Tuesday that the girl should be ordered to stop using facilitated communication in school. Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Barbara Morrison countered that taking away facilitated communication would rob the victim of her voice.

Young said the girl can stay in school because she's comfortable there. The judge ordered that she can use facilitated communication but not beyond the scope of academics and what is needed as part of the investigation.

McKelvy had also asked that the victim be moved from foster care to live with a former teacher who could home-school her and that the victim's 13-year-old brother, who has Asperger's syndrome, be moved from foster care to live with a member of the family's congregation. Young ordered them to stay in their current placements.

Young also said that neither the victim nor her brother can be questioned by investigators without their guardian ad litem present. McKelvy and Sabbota said the victim's brother was alone when he was interviewed for an hour-and-a-half by police detectives who yelled at him at times.

"The judge is trying to protect the best interests of these children," Morrison said after the hearing. "That's what everyone is trying to do."

The children's father, who was watching Tuesday's hearing from jail, began sobbing when the police interview with his son was discussed and at other times during the hearing. He said, "This is not justice."

The children's court-appointed guardian said Tuesday that the 14-year-old girl seems happy and cheerful while the 13-year-old boy is anxious.

A preliminary exam on the criminal charges is scheduled Feb. 22 before 48th District Court Judge Marc Barron, but prosecutors are asking that it be moved to March. The trial on the petition to terminate the parents' parental rights will start April 24. Both parents have denied wrongdoing. The Oakland Press is not naming them to protect the identity of their children.

The parents were ordered to have no contact with their children, but Barron agreed Monday to modify the mother's bond so that she can visit her son. Young previously agreed to the visitation.

Contact staff writer Ann Zaniewski at (248) 745-4628 or ann.zaniewski@oakpress.com.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Prosecutors seek to dismiss charges in autistic abuse case

By ANN ZANIEWSKI

Of The Oakland Press

Prosecutors are moving to dismiss charges against a man accused of raping his autistic teenage daughter, as well as charges against her mother."(The teen) will not testify," said Oakland County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley. "She has repeatedly said that she's afraid... You have to have some testimony as to what happened. Medical testimony alone is not enough, and there weren't any alternative proofs, unfortunately, so we could not proceed."

Unable to speak, the 14-year-old was working in November with a paraprofessional at Walled Lake Central High School when she disclosed the alleged abuse through a method called facilitated communication. In facilitated communication, a facilitator assists a person in typing letters on a keyboard.

The teen said the sexual abuse by her father began when she was 6 years old and that she had told her mother, but the abuse continued. A medical examination revealed that the teen had three non-acute tears to her hymen, but a defense attorney argued that they could have been self-inflicted. The teen's father was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of second-degree child abuse.

Her mother was charged with intimidation/interfering with a witness and second-degree child abuse. The couple, from West Bloomfield Township, denied wrongdoing. The Oakland Press is not naming them to protect the teen's identity. Defense attorneys slammed facilitated communication as being highly unreliable, though the teen's parents previously supported it.

At a hearing earlier this year at 48th District Court, the teen was asked simple questions with her facilitator out of the room. When the facilitator returned to help the girl type her answers, many of the responses were nonsensical. Carley said since that hearing, the teen has become more withdrawn and is not doing well in school. Carley said the teen, though she has consistently disclosed the abuse to several people, told prosecutors that she would not testify.

At a Feb. 29 meeting, the teen typed, "I know I have to talk but I'm afraid of my dad will hurt me." Carley said that the teen, on March 4, told an assistant prosecutor, "I am afraid" and "I am mad everything is falling apart I don't know what to do ok I guess this is it I am really afraid thanks for trying to help me."

Prosecutors sought to terminate the couple's parental rights, but recently asked for a dismissal. Oakland Circuit Family Court Judge Joan E. Young dismissed the family court case Monday. Prosecutors have also filed a petition to dismiss the criminal charges; 48th District Court Judge Marc Barron has scheduled a hearing at 10 a.m. today.

The parents had been ordered to have no contact with their children, and both the teen and her younger brother have been living in separate protective foster care placements.

Last month, the mother was granted visitation with her son. Both children could be returned to their parents' custody today."I have concerns about her safety," Carley said. "I think when we filed the warrants, she was a completely cooperative witness/victim. Unfortunately, that's changed during the course of this."The teen's brother, who has a form of autism and said that he witnessed some of the alleged abuse, has also become less cooperative over time, and especially since he started having visits with his mother, Carley said.

Defense attorney Jerome Sabbota, who represents the teen's father, said Monday that the case was problematic from the beginning. He said "it's about time" it was dismissed."I suspect the reason that they're dismissing the case is because they could never qualify the girl as a witness. I know that they could never qualify this girl without the facilitator. The facilitator left the courtroom, (and) the answers were nonsensical," Sabbota said, referring to the district court hearing. "I think that facilitated communication is nothing more than a Ouija board technique."

Carley said prosecutors are asking for the dismissal only because the teen is not going to testify. "We used the facilitated communication ... with her, and found it to be a perfectly acceptable way for us to communicate with her, just like her parents did."

Contact staff writer Ann Zaniewski at (248) 745-4628 or ann.zaniewski@oakpress.com.

FREE PRESS EXCLUSIVE

Parents cleared in sex case file suit

Our autistic kids suffered, they say

BY L.L. BRASIER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • September 12, 2008

Thal Wendrow was at her mother's home when the police came to get her. Four West Bloomfield patrol cars pulled up to the curb. Her husband, Julian, at their home a few blocks away, also was being arrested that day last December.

The couple, who had no criminal history, suddenly faced decades in prison. He was charged with repeatedly raping their 15-year-old, severely autistic daughter, and she was charged with child abuse for failure to stop it.

Thus began a four-month ordeal, a prosecution based solely on statements their mute child reportedly made while using a widely discredited method called "facilitated communication," in which messages are typed on a keyboard with the help of an aide called a facilitator.

Thursday, the Wendrows, who saw all charges against them dropped in March, filed a lawsuit in Oakland County Circuit Court, alleging 38 counts of wrongful imprisonment, invasion of privacy, violation of their due-process rights, malicious prosecution and other misdeeds. Lawsuits on behalf of their daughter and her 13-year-old brother, who was repeatedly interrogated by police, are expected to be filed today.

They are seeking unspecified damages.

'It doesn't get much worse'

"It was as if our lives were pristine, and then this tornado tore through and devastated everything," Thal Wendrow told the Free Press on Thursday at the Bloomfield Hills office of her attorney, Deborah Gordon.

Julian Wendrow, who spent 80 days in jail without bond before prosecutors dropped the case, is furious.

"My son was emotionally raped by the state, and my daughter was clinically and emotionally raped by the state. I felt so helpless," he said. "You're supposed to protect your children, and these malevolent no-gooders kept me from them."

Gordon called the case "horrific."

"It doesn't get much worse. They literally broke up a family," Gordon said. "These people are out of control. We're hoping this lawsuit stops this insanity."

Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca and his chief assistant, Deborah Carley, named in the suit, did not comment Thursday. Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Dean, who handled the case, also is named in the suit, along with the West Bloomfield Police Department and Joseph Brousseau, the detective who interrogated the couple's son.

Lt. Carl Fuhs, the department spokesman, who is also named in the suit, did not respond to a call for comment.

The Walled Lake school district and several employees also are named in the suit because the girl reportedly made the statements in a classroom, with the help of a paraprofessional who was guiding her hands. A school spokesperson said Thursday that the district had not seen the suit and would have no comment.

Also named as defendants are the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and the state Department of Human Services.

Facilitator hopes go wrong

The Wendrows were living a seemingly simple life in December 2007. Julian Wendrow owned his own painting company. Thal Wendrow worked as a research clerk for Oakland County Circuit Court. They were active at their synagogue and involved in their children's schooling.

Both children had been diagnosed with autism. But their daughter was, by far, the more impaired, with a low IQ and an inability to speak. Their son, two years younger, was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a milder form of autism.

Although facilitated communication had been widely discredited by major universities and researchers, the Wendrows were hopeful it would help their daughter and insisted that Walled Lake schools train a paraprofessional to become a facilitator.

In November, the girl reportedly typed a statement accusing her father of raping her since she was 6, and claiming that her mother knew of the assaults but did not stop them.

A physical exam showed the girl's hymen was intact. But prosecutors pushed forward with the case.

Fallout changes family

Within days, the girl was placed in a foster care home in Detroit, and the boy in a Pontiac facility for delinquent minors, even though he had no history of trouble.

Thal Wendrow was released on a tether after five days in the Oakland County jail, but Julian remained for weeks.

When the couple's daughter was unable to answer questions on a keyboard in March during a courtroom demonstration to determine whether the alleged facilitated statement would be admissible in trial, prosecutors decided to drop the charges.

The girl, now back in school, shows signs of anxiety much of the time, her mother said. And the boy is struggling with his studies and prone to tears.

"This should never have happened," Gordon said. "The prosecutors... just couldn't let it go and own up that they'd made a terrible mistake."

Contact L.L. BRASIER at 248-858-2262 or brasier@freepress.com.