Modahl Case News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Still, prosecutors insisted these people were guilty. and all the while two things remained unchanged. the d.a. who oversaw the prosecutions was still in office and john stoll was still in prison. jeff modahl, after his release in 1999, tried to throw a lifeline to his old friend. >> it's important to realize that john stoll had no record before this started. >> modahl's attorneys contacted this group of lawyers with the california and northern california innocence project. >> we began looking through the trial transcripts. >> each of the children were inconsistent with their own testimony. ma...

Months passed, the wait seemed interminable. and then finally the decision. motion granted. a judge would rehear the case against stoll. no cameras were allowed during the testimony. but outside the courtroom, those little boys, now men, described circumstances in 1984 which they said were surreal. terrifying. so how did all this stuff get started? >> the sheriffs came to my house and told my parents that other kids had seen stuff happen to me. >> what kind of stuff? >> that sexual acts occurred between me and john stoll and i had seen stuff happen between john stoll and other children. >> tha...

48-year sentence. and when carla at age 10 took her letter to court and begged to have her dad released, it didn't work. >> they didn't believe me. >> they only believed that story. >> what i said the first time. >> 14 years later in 1999, there was another strange twist in the modahl case. exonerating evidence surfaced. a medical examination given to carla shortly after her dad jeff was arrested said there is no evidence at the present time of sexual molestation. that information was never shared with the jury. modahl's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison. by the time he...

>> sampley and the others say they were finally told what to say. not only by social worker morillo, but also by a prosecutor. >> they did coach us totally. they made us go over stories over and over. >> children, manipulated says sampley, by powerful authority figures. now as adults, they took the stand and proclaimed john stoll innocent. grown men reverted to little boys. they exhumed humiliating guilt riddled memories. they sat up on the stand and they looked down at john stoll in the courtroom and they begged for his forgiveness. >> to see him sitting up there, tears running down looking o...

Now, she implied that they -- that they anticipated gaining money, that they were going to sue and get rich off of this. >> part of the lawsuit, you bet. >> first of all, that meant each of them independently came up with this idea. because when we asked them about the case, they recanted. >> well, maybe you suggested they might want to sue. >> we suggested it? >> how would that conversation go? we would sit down and say there's this guy in prison and we know he molested you a bunch of years ago, but why don't you come in and help us get him out of prison. but then maybe you can come in and su...