From: Randal Whittle 
Message-Id: <199405061840.LAA15366@aludra.usc.edu>
Subject: The Swan case
To: witchhunt@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 11:40:04 -0700 (PDT)
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	The following is a text file that I received nearly 2 years ago
which first alerted me to the incredible lengths some D.A.'s will go to
prosecute a high-profile case in which innocent people are railroaded
into jail.

	After receiving the file, I sent in a little money to the Swan Defense
Fund (the Swans were in prison at the time--they were released about a year
ago after serving their time) and got a videotape of various shows (including
60 minutes) that detailed the swan case.  It is truly ugly--and preposterous.
I have since recieved various newsletters from their friends and have kept
somewhat abreast of their situation, but confess that I have not done so
closely at all.  They are out of prison now, trying to make lives for
themselves again, have more or less lost their oldest daughter due to the
state, and are flat broke because of legal costs.  Although out of prison, 
(they refused to plea-bargain their case, claiming innocence all along)
they are still trying to get their case overturned on appeal in federal
courts and to prevent a dangerous precedent--that of being convicted on
hearsay alone--from hurting other people.

	Here is the file--I have no idea who wrote it!:
(sorry about the ^M's--I don't know why my Unix editor does it!)

                    -------------------------

                  The Bill and Kathy Swan Story

     "The trial of this offense must not be conducted like other
      crimes.  Whoever adheres to the ordinary course of justice
      perverts the spirit of the law, both divine and human."

               --Jean Bodin
               Esteemed French Lawyer, judge and witchhunter
               The Demonomanie published circa 1580

When first charged in October, 1985, Bill Swan  was 33  years old
(born  3/23/52  in Fredericksburg,  Virginia) and  employed as  a
$50,000  per  year senior  computer design  engineer for  a small
computer  company  near  Seattle,  Washington.   He  has master's
degrees  in  engineering  and  computers from  the University  of
California at Santa Barbara.

Kathy Swan, age 32 at the time (born 9/13/53 in  New York  City),
was  raised  largely in  Europe, primarily  in Belgium  where her
father was  employed as  an executive  with General  Motors.  She
attended high  school in  Sweden until  graduating in  1971.  She
graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from the  University
of Connecticut in 1977,  and met  Bill Swan  at UC  Santa Barbara
while  working  toward a  Master's Degree  in French  literature.
Kathy is an accomplished linguist who speaks twelve  languages in
addition to English.

In 1985, Beth Anne Swan was  3+-years-old and  had been  enrolled
for over a year in a private day care run  in a  private home  in
Redmond, Washington.  The day care center  was operated  by Cindi
Bratvold, a young mother of two.

On the evening of  October 1,  1985, Beth  Anne was  playing with
crayons  when  she inserted  a brown  crayon stub  into her  left
nostril where it stuck.  Kathy took her to  a hospital  emergency
room at 9:00 where  it was  removed by  a physician  in a  highly
traumatic  procedure  using sedatives  and scissor-like  forceps.
Beth became more hysterical  than Kathy  had ever  seen her,  and
broke  out  in a  bright red  rash from  elevated blood  pressure
caused by her excitement.   The rash  remained for  more than  24
hours.  Her nose bled heavily.  In her hysteria  she vomited  all
over the nurse who was restraining her.

Less than twelve hours later, with  the rash  still prominent  on
her face, Beth was delivered to Cindi Bratvold's  day care  where
she  usually  spent  three  days  each  week.  Shortly  after her
arrival,  Beth  Anne, who  had worn  diapers until  just a  month
earlier, returned from the bathroom with her skirt caught in  her
underwear.  A new day care teacher cautioned Beth  Anne to  "keep
her privates covered," and  warned her  that "no  one should  see
your private parts." Accustomed  to parental  help with  bathroom
functions as well as  bathing and  dressing, Beth  Anne remarked,
"Mommy and Daddy do."

The teacher, Lisa Conradi, promptly took Beth Anne  to a  private
room for further questioning.  Adults have a duty,  she felt,  to
uncover  child  abuse so  that it  can be  reported and  stopped.
During  the  questioning  that  followed,  Beth   Anne  mentioned
scissors, blood, and Mommy in confused remarks no doubt referring
to her experience in the emergency  room.  According  to Conradi,
however, the child's remarks  described a  shocking tale  of oral
and genital  rape by  both parents  and by  a third  person named
"Josh."  These  incidents, she  said, had  occurred the  previous
evening and numerous other times, and  included another  child of
the same age, Rachel Thiel, who attended the same day care.

Together,  Conradi   and  Bratvold   called  Washington's   Child
Protective Services  agency to  report an  incident of  suspected
abuse. Soon a CPS representative arrived  to question  Beth Anne,
but the child denied anything unusual.  No notes were kept of the
questions asked  or exactly  what responses  Beth Anne  made.  No
films were made of the interrogation.   No one  but Conradi  EVER
heard any incriminating remarks or description  of abuse  by Beth
Anne.
The next day, Beth Anne did  not attend,  but young  Rachel Thiel
did.  This time Mrs. Bratvold questioned Rachel.  Soon, according
to their later testimony, the Thiel child described  similar acts
of  oral  and  genital  sex  performed  by Bill  and Kathy  Swan,
including bizarre tales of marbles, candles and scissors inserted
into her "bottom" by the Swans.

According to the Swan family, many  of the  statements attributed
to Beth Anne use  language alien  to her.   For instance,  she is
said to use the word "potty" for both male and  female genitalia.
Her family insists that, to Beth Anne, a "potty" was  a "toilet."
A reference to "icky milk" attributed  to Beth  Anne is  commonly
used in child abuse seminars attended by the  accusers, where  it
is attributed to much older children.   Children Beth  Anne's age
are thought to be  incapable of  such an  abstract analogy.   The
questioning, however, continued.

On  the  third  day,  a Friday,  both children  and Conradi  were
present.  A CPS representative attended the questioning, but Beth
Anne said nothing incriminating.  Finally, at  around noon,  Beth
Anne nodded in response to a  question.  This  was accepted  as a
positive affirmation of abuse and was judged to confirm that both
girls were telling the same story.  On that basis, CPS called the
police and both children were taken away.

When Kathy Swan arrived a few minutes later, she was  met outside
the house by two policemen (who had hidden their car,  apparently
in the  Bratvold's garage)  and who  blocked her  passage to  the
house.  Beth Anne was in custody, she was brusquely informed, due
to an allegation of child abuse.  She and  her husband  Bill were
the suspects.

Rachel Thiel was returned to her mother a  few hours  later after
the state gave Mrs. Thiel a detailed account of the  sexual abuse
the  child  was  said  to have  suffered and  after extracting  a
promise that Rachel would under no condition be allowed near Bill
and  Kathy  Swan.   Although  Mrs.  Thiel  had been  Kathy Swan's
closest friend,  she believed  the report  given her  by CPS  and
roundly cursed Kathy and Bill by telephone a few hours later.

It was not until the following Tuesday that  Bill and  Kathy were
able  to  learn  more  about the  charges against  them.  Moments
before a hearing in  the King  County Juvenile  Court in  Seattle
they were handed a detailed account of the charges.  According to
the document, both children had described  repeated incidents  of
"birthday games" in which marbles, lighted  candles and  scissors
had been placed in  their "bottoms,"  and "exercise  games" where
Bill,  Kathy  and "Josh"  played touchie-feelie  games with  both
children on Kathy's bed while naked.


        "In all cases of witchcraft, the evidence of the child
        ought to be taken against the parent."

                --Henri Boguet
                Grand Judge of Witches, St. Claude, France
                1550-1619


According to an affidavit submitted to the court, a physician who
examined Beth  Anne at  the request  of the  state reported  that
there  was  physical evidence  supporting the  rape charge.   The
judge remarked that the  charge was  "very serious"  and that  he
gave great weight to the fact that the attack was documented by a
physician.  Following  arguments by  the opposing  attorneys, the
court agreed to allow the family doctor, Dr. Lawrence Parris,  to
examine Beth Anne.  Over the Swan's protest, the judge agreed  to
allow  the  two physicians  to discuss  the case  beforehand.  To
assure that the new examination was not tainted by the opinion of
the  first  examiner, the  court ruled  that the  Swan's attorney
would  arrange  and  monitor  the  conversation  between the  two
physicians  to  assure  that  only  observations  were  discussed
(reddened tissue), not the first physician's conclusion that Beth
Anne had been raped.

CPS  circumvents  the  judge's  order: When  the Swan's  attorney
returned to his office 30 minutes  later to  arrange a  telephone
conference between the two physicians, he discovered that CPS had
taken the matter out of his hands. Instead of waiting for him  to
arrange the call as ordered by the judge,  CPS had  conducted the
call  itself  immediately  following  the  hearing.   Instead  of
discussing  only  observations  as  directed  by  the court,  the
physicians had discussed the first examiner's conclusion that the
child  had  been  raped.  Further,  the  attorney  for  the Swans
discovered that the first examination had not been conducted by a
physician,  as  had  been  represented  to  the court,  but by  a
registered  male  nurse who  had no  special training  with child
abuse or with gynecology.  Bill and Kathy complained to the court
that the court's orders were ignored  and their  rights violated.
The court ignored their complaint.  This would be just the  first
of a long series of events seemingly devised  to frustrate  their
defense.

The Swans are arrested: Three weeks  later, Bill  and Kathy  were
awakened at 10:30 by loud knocking  on their  front door.   Three
policemen  demanded  that  they  come  to  the station  to answer
questions.  It was too late, Bill  told them.   They were  tired,
needed their  sleep, and  would come  down in  the morning.   The
policemen persisted.  When Bill  and Kathy  refused to  come out,
the policemen stood back from the house and yelled loudly for the
benefit of the neighbors, "If you won't come out now, we will get
an arrest warrant and come back  and make  things very  difficult
for you."  Lights flicked on all over the neighborhood.

Bill and Kathy stepped out on the front porch to try to quiet the
uproar when suddenly they were brusquely handcuffed behind  their
backs and led roughly down the gravel driveway  in bathrobes  and
bare feet, leaving the lights on in the house, the door open, and
the dog loose.  After pleading for  mercy, they  were allowed  to
dress.  Then the policemen took them to the local jail.

"Hey, we got some lovebirds in this one," one of  the men  yelled
to his buddies when Bill and Kathy held  each other  for comfort.
Later they were transferred to the downtown Seattle  lockup where
they were held overnight.   Bill's cell  was so  overcrowded that
the only place to sit was on the  floor next  to the  toilet.  No
calls to  their attorney  or to  anyone else  were permitted  for
several hours--for these were not ordinary criminals.  These were
"child molesters," undeserving of the ordinary protections.


        "A mere suspicion of witchcraft justifies the
        immediate arrest and torture of the suspected person.
        If the prisoner mutters, looks on the ground, and does
        not shed any tears, all these are proofs positive of
        guilt."

                --Jean Bodin
                Esteemed French lawyer, judge and witchhunter
                The Demonomanie, published circa 1580


In the morning, the arrest warrant was found to be faulty and had
to  be  rewritten.   Finally,  later  that  afternoon, they  were
brought before a judge and formally  charged with  two counts  of
rape.  Ordered released without bail on  their own  recognizance,
they  were  set  free  at  7:00PM  Halloween evening.  They found
themselves in downtown Seattle more than 20 miles from home  with
no transportation and no money for telephones or cab fare.  Until
this incident, they thought their problems were with the juvenile
court system alone.  From this point on they would be facing very
serious charges of "child rape" and  a judicial  system specially
organized to assure their conviction.

                    -------------------------
The  Trial:  Bill and  Kathy Swan  were tried  before Judge  Anne
Ellington  in  King County  Superior Court  in April,  1986.  The
court, apparently upon the  demand of  the prosecution,  required
them to have separate lawyers, because  a single  lawyer, it  was
argued, might  constitute a  conflict of  interest--apparently in
case only  one of  them was  actually guilty.   (This requirement
would seem to indicate that the prosecution was not quite certain
of their guilt, since  they seem  to have  wanted to  assure that
either Bill or Kathy could turn against the other.  One  wonders,
too, what right the prosecution has to interfere in their  choice
of how to defend themselves.)

The requirement for two attorneys also essentially doubled  their
trial costs, since each  attorney charged  $50,000 for  his trial
work.  Bill and Kathy sold their home to help cover  the expense.
Several relatives mortgaged their homes to help.


        "While providing a living for those connected with the
        trials, the property of the condemned witches also
        yielded extensive booty for whatever local authority
        had jurisdiction.  After paying the expenses, the
        property of the witch was confiscated.  With such an
        easy source of funds, it is not strange that the
        leaders of Germany and France were for a long time
        content to let witch persecutions continue."

                --Rossell Hope Robbins
                The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft
                Bonanza Books, 1959


Almost immediately the attorneys  asked each  of them  to testify
against the other.  Each quickly refused.  They were  not guilty,
they told the attorneys.

The  prosecutor  offered  a  plea bargain.   If they  would plead
guilty to abusing Beth  Anne, the  state would  drop the  charges
involving Rachel and agree  to a  sentence of  no more  than nine
months.  They immediately refused.   They were  not guilty,  they
told the prosecutors.

In trial, the children were called before Judge  Ellington for  a
"competency hearing" to determine whether they were competent  to
testify.  Beth Anne refused to speak  at all,  except to  ask for
her mommy.  Rachel babbled freely. Asked by the judge whether she
had ever been in court before, she replied,  "Yes, forty  times."
Asked the color of her dress, she said it was  blue.  Asked  what
she would say if told it was pink, she agreed it was pink.  Judge
Ellington judged both children incompetent to testify.

Incredibly, however,  although Judge  Ellington decided  that the
children were not competent  to have  their statements  heard and
evaluated by the jury, she determined that Lisa Conradi and Cindi
Bratvold would be allowed to present their accounts of what  they
said  the  children  had  told  them.   The children,  then, were
incompetent to talk before  the jury,  but were  judged competent
enough to have their words interpreted  and reported  second hand
(hearsay) by two day  care workers  with no  special training  or
experience with such things and who  had clearly  already decided
that  the  Swans were  guilty--and would  thus interpret  all the
children's words in light of that belief.

By the time the case went to trial,  Rachel's mother  had decided
that she was wrong  about the  Swan's guilt.   She told  Kathy so
during the  trial.  Rachel  Thiel's free-flowing  remarks to  the
daycare  workers,  however,  remained  one of  the most  damaging
elements  of  the  case,  despite  her   obvious  propensity   to
fantasize.  For instance, when  asked by  a policeman,  "Who else
plays these  birthday games  with you,"  Rachel answered,  "Jerry
does." Jerry was Rachel's father, yet no one bothered to question
Jerry. Bill and Kathy Swan were the suspects, and the prosecution
needed evidence to convict them.  Anything  that might  exonerate
them or shift the blame elsewhere was unwelcome.

                    -------------------------
Before the trial, Bill  and Kathy  decided that  someone must  be
abusing the children, as otherwise how could they be making  such
charges?  So they hired a detective  to try  to learn  more.  The
detective tried to identify "Josh," but  got nowhere.   When they
tried to see the  rolls of  the day  school to  learn of  perhaps
another child in the school was named "Josh," the state  obtained
a "privacy order" blocking their access to those records.

The  detective,  Linda Montgomery,  started with  the presumption
that the Swans were guilty.  Her job was  to gather  information,
not to assess their guilt or innocence.  She  was soon  forced to
the conclusion, however, that Bill and Kathy Swan were not guilty
at all.  She become so thoroughly  convinced that  for more  than
five years she has  devoted her  professional efforts  to helping
prove their innocence.  Despite two children in college and other
family obligations, Mrs. Montgomery refuses to accept payment for
her work.

CPS records  reveal that  Lisa Conradi  had filed  at least  nine
complaints prior to the Swan complaint, none of which were  acted
upon.   This  information,  which  would  have  helped  discredit
Conradi at trial, was withheld from the defense, possibly also in
violation of rules of "discovery" which apply to such cases.  (In
an interview after the conviction, Conradi claimed to  have filed
22 complaints, some of which she says were prosecuted.)

During the trial, Dr. Ralph Underwager was called by the  defense
to help explain why children can make reports which are not true.
Dr.  Underwager has testified in over 200 trials  and may  be the
leading expert on this subject, yet his testimony was blocked  by
the trial judge on the basis that he lacks adequate expertise and
is  not  adequately regarded  by his  peers (known  as "The  Frye
Rule").  Others, with far less experience,  however, such  as Dr.
Carol Jenny who worked  for the  sexual assault  unit at  a local
hospital, was accepted as an expert and gave testimony (now known
to have been faulty) which was severely damaging to the Swans.

Conradi and Bratvold testified  to their  interpretation of  what
the girls had said under questioning.  Lisa Conradi was presented
as a concerned and conscientious child  care worker.   Because of
the  prosecution's  actions  blocking  questions  about  her back
ground, the defense was unable to discredit her.

The nurse, Ted Ritter, supported the hearsay with  his report  of
physical evidence.  He described Beth Anne's vaginal walls as red
and  roughened  in  a  manner  consistent   with  abuse.    Under
questioning, he estimated that her vaginal opening was  stretched
to triple its normal size.  He described a mucous discharge.

He  also  reported  that  Beth  Anne  seemed  fearful,  which  he
attributed to probable sexual abuse, and that she drew her  knees
to her chest during the examination, thus exposing  her genitals.
Nurse Ritter reported that he had  never seen  a child  behave in
this manner.  Most parents, however, recall exactly such behavior
in children accustomed to diaper changing--and Beth Anne had been
out of  diapers for  barely a  month when  this examination  took
place.

In  highly  damaging  testimony,  Dr.  Carol  Jenny, who  did not
examine the child, told  the court  that the  nurse's ability  to
examine the vaginal walls indicated that  her hymen  was missing.
That, and the extreme stretching of the opening, indicated a high
probability  of  sexual abuse,  she told  the court.   The mucous
discharge  noted  by  Nurse  Ritter was  also said  to be  highly
unusual in a child and could be a result of venereal disease.

The family doctor, Lawrence  Parris, reported  that he,  too, had
examined  Beth  Anne.  He  noted a  slight redness  and a  slight
discharge, but noted nothing unusual and saw no evidence of abuse
or injury.  Nor did he notice any unusual behavior by  Beth Anne.
His report was overcome by the more damaging earlier reports.

                    -------------------------
Dr.  Parris recommended that Beth Anne be examined  at Harborview
Medical Center which specializes in post-rape  examinations.  CPS
argued that no further examination was necessary, and that in any
case Beth Anne was  so uncooperative  that she  would need  to be
totally anesthetized.  To avoid further trauma to Beth Anne, they
agreed.  Yet  during trial  their "failure"  to assure  that Beth
Anne was examined by appropriate experts at Harborview  was cited
as evidence  of their  guilt--for, it  was argued,  if they  were
truly innocent they would  have insisted  (even though  the child
was out of their hands and  they had  no way  to insist  upon any
thing).

When  the  prosecution  presented  testimony that  Beth Anne  was
forced to perform fellatio upon her father, the defense attempted
to show that Bill Swan routinely administered antibiotics with a
large medicine dropper due  to recurrent  ear infections.   This,
said the  defense, might  have been  misinterpreted by  the child
care  workers.    The  court,   however,  ruled   that  testimony
inadmissible.

Many other examples can be found in the trial record of testimony
or actions important for the defense which were withheld, blocked
or prevented by the court and prosecutor.  Individually,  many of
the decisions seem reasonable; together they present a consistent
pattern of unfavorable decisions which made it almost  impossible
for the Swans to defend themselves.

Predictably,  considering  the  evidence  presented in  court and
their crippled ability to defend themselves, Bill and  Kathy Swan
were  convicted  of  two  charges  of  first degree  rape of  two
children and were sentenced to 50 months confinement.

"Risk to the community"  evaluated: In  order to  remain free  on
bail during  the appeal,  the Swans  were required  to submit  to
psychological examinations to determine  whether their  continued
freedom constituted "a risk to the community."

The examinations, at $600 each, were conducted by Frederick Wise,
Ph.D.,  of  Seattle,  a  clinical  psychologist   who  previously
directed  a  child  abuse  prevention  program  for the  State of
Alaska.

This  experienced  psychologist  was  clearly  perplexed  by  the
contrast between what he saw of the Swans and the fact that  they
stood convicted of this crime. His report went far beyond  merely
assessing the risk they presented to  the community  and in  fact
stopped just short of  saying that  these people  could not  have
committed this crime.

"Neither Bill nor Kathleen Swan", he wrote, "pose a threat to the
community in  regards to  their sexual  abuse allegations  or for
that  matter,  any  other  type  of  threat.  [Testing  suggests]
individuals who are morally rigid and conservative in their value
systems.   Neither   has  a   history  of   acting-out  behavior,
difficulties  with  the  law,  drugs/alcohol abuse  or any  other
activities which could be considered sociopathic in nature.

"Although  I  am  unwilling,"  Dr. Wise  concludes, "to  offer an
opinion  regarding  the  veracity  of  the  charges based  on the
information made available to me, it is my clinical judgment that
the  allegations  would  be  very  inconsistent  with individuals
representing the psychological makeup of Mr.  and Mrs.  Swan.  In
addition, the nature of  the activities  alleged involving  group
sex and female to female contact  are uncommon  and raise  doubts
even further given my clinical impressions of Mr. and Mrs. Swan."

Confess, Witch, or burn:  Soon the  Swans were  presented with  a
dilemma.   If  they confessed  to the  crime, they  could receive
"treatment" for their "disorder," and probably be free and regain
custody  of  Beth Anne  in a  matter of  a few  months.  If  they
persisted in asserting their innocence, they would be  considered
unremorseful  and  would  serve  their full  sentences, less  any
reductions for good behavior.  In that case they would be  barred
forever from seeing their child.

                    -------------------------

        "A prisoner may be promised immunity or reduced
        punishment if he accuses his accomplices."

                --Jean Bodin
                Esteemed French Lawyer, judge and witchhunter
                The Demonomanie published circa 1580


"Treatment"  consists  largely  of  watching pornographic  films,
including bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia, sadism, and  other
degrading sights while hooked up to an untested  device called  a
"penile plethysmograph" which purports to measure sexual arousal.
Appropriate  responses  are  encouraged;  inappropriate responses
bring various degrees of  electric shock,  ala Clockwork  Orange.
Feeling no need for  "treatment" and  regarding the  procedure as
demeaning as  well as  insulting and  emotionally damaging,  they
refused to participate.  Their refusal guaranteed that they would
serve  their  full  sentences  unless  the  conviction  could  be
reversed.

Following  the  Swan's conviction,  the defense  suddenly learned
much more about their primary accuser, Lisa Conradi.  Dean Huber,
an  award-winning  reporter  with  35  year  experience with  the
Sacramento Bee in California, conducted a recorded interview with
Lisa Conradi.  Mrs. Huber, who was conducting research for a book
on  child   abuse,  also   happens  to   be  investigator   Linda
Montgomery's  mother.   In  the  interview, Mrs.  Conradi readily
answered  questions  the  prosecutor   had  prevented   her  from
answering before the trial, and revealed herself as  a strikingly
unstable person.

During the recorded interview, Mrs. Conradi claimed that  she had
previously reported at least 20 other cases of child abuse.  That
she had personally been abused on an almost  daily basis  by from
300 to 400 men, women and boys for 17 years starting at age five.
That she has knocked  on almost  every door  in her  neighborhood
"for miles in every direction" accusing the occupants  of abusing
their children.  She says she follows children into the bushes in
local parks to scold them for  what she  is sure  they are  doing
there.  She admits to heavy use of drugs  from the  age of  eight
and  to  having twice  undergone treatment  for drug  abuse.  She
admits to having been  treated for  emotional problems  until she
could  no  longer afford  the cost.   All of  this, however,  was
withheld from the defense before the trial.

The Swans  presented evidence  that Lisa  Conradi had  been fired
from a number of child care jobs for seeming to  see child  abuse
everywhere and was therefore  an unreliable  person to  interpret
Beth  Anne's  words.   The  court  rejected  the appeal,  calling
Conradi's remarks "mere puffery for the press."

In 1991, when an independent physician was able  to examine  Beth
Anne, he determined that  the nurse's  testimony was  wrong: Beth
Anne's   hymen   was   fully   intact,  unstretched,   unscarred,
unherniated, and undamaged in any way.  Trial testimony  was that
Bill had actually inserted his penis into the  children's vaginas
on several  occasions to  the point  of pain,  and that  Bill and
Kathy together had inserted marbles, candles  and scissors.   The
physician  testified  in  an  appeal  for  retrial that  any such
activities  would  certainly  have  left marks,  or at  the least
destroyed, stretched or scarred the hymen,  and that  those marks
would be seen today. The offense, he testified  for the  Court of
Appeals, could not have occurred.

The  prosecutor  argued  in  rebuttal  that  the  "testimony  and
behaviors of the two children" were sufficient proof  without the
physical evidence.  The appeals court agreed.  This leaves intact
the charge that Bill raped both girls vaginally  to the  point of
pain and to the point of having stretched  Beth Anne's  vagina to
triple its normal size,  but without  damaging her  hymen in  any
way.  The logic behind such conclusions seems quite impossible to
comprehend.  The  prosecutor also  makes the  astounding argument
that the presence of unscarred hymens in 3-year-old rape  victims
is no evidence that rape did not occur  because hymens  routinely
regenerate within seven to ten days!

                    -------------------------
Further insults:  While in  prison awaiting  the decision  of the
Court of Appeals, the Swans were hit with  still more  attacks by
the state.   First, the  State asked  them to  pay $25  per month
toward Beth Anne's support.  They replied that they had no income
and  could  not pay.   The State  responded by  filing an  action
against them to collect $800 per month, possibly retroactively to
1985.  This action could  cost them  their only  remaining asset,
the  heavily  mortgaged smaller  home they  bought after  selling
their previous home to pay legal expenses.  That action is  still
in the courts. Bill feels it  is really  intended to  assure that
they are too impoverished to appeal the case any further.

Next,  the  state  filed  an action  in court  to make  Beth Anne
available for adoption, thus barring any hope of  return even  if
they  are  eventually  vindicated.   That  action  is  now  being
appealed. Family members are not eligible, apparently because  no
family member regards the parents as guilty. (People who fail  to
believe in witches cannot be expected to participate  properly in
exorcisms.)  A hearing is now scheduled for July 15 in  which the
judge will make his final ruling on whether  Beth may  be adopted
by any of the several family members seeking custody, or  must be
adopted by strangers.

Just this month the Guardian Ad  Litum assigned  by the  state to
"represent" Beth Anne's interest  has filed  suit in  Beth's name
against  her  parents seeking  monetary damages  for the  "abuse"
supposedly suffered at their hands.

At this point there have been at least four appeals  and numerous
rebuttals,  counterrebuttals  and decisions.   The Swans  won the
first and have lost ever since.   Now they  are appealing  to the
Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco.

Following the recent report on their case by the CBS NEWS show 60
MINUTES, Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson reviewed the
records  in  the  case  expecting  to  find that  60 MINUTES  had
overlooked  important  evidence  against  the Swans.  Instead, he
found what he describes as "the most extreme  example of  erosion
of the  confrontation clause  of which  I am  aware."  He  was so
moved  by   the  injustices   and  improper   interpretation  and
application of law in the case that he has come forward to file a
"friend of the court" brief before the Ninth Circuit Court in San
Francisco in  which he  finds at  least six  serious errors  in a
single  ruling  of  the  next lower  court, and  argues that  the
previous decisions if allowed to stand  "completely reverses  the
thrust of [Idaho vs Wright] . . . [and] allows a defendant  to be
convicted of a  crime totally  on the  basis of  uncross-examined
hearsay,  uncorroborated,  and shown  to be  unreliable by  other
evidence, a result which diminishes the constitutional protection
of the Confrontation Clause to the vanishing point."

Unfortunately, it may be  up to  two years  before a  decision is
handed down.

More information  on the  case, including  videos and  a complete
media packet,  can be  obtained by  writing to  the Swan  Defense
Fund, 621  NE 155th,  Seattle, Washington  98155, phone  206 364-
2826.

Swan Defense Fund
P.O. Box 25026
Seattle, WA  98125-1926

Include Check for $25 donation to Fund & request Video.


-----
Randy Whittle    whittle@scf.usc.edu
University of Southern California School of Business (Fight on, 'SC Trojans!)
 - Motorcycle nut, HP 48GX & 100LX user, & lover of fine chocolate...
 "It's not denial, I'm just very selective about the reality I accept!" -Calvin
 "Consensus is the negation of leadership." - Margaret Thatcher
Source: geocities.com/jgharris7/witchhunt

( geocities.com/jgharris7)