The following identifies more than 40 eye-witnesses to the Friedman computer classes, including 7 of the original 14 complainants, who’s various statements shed doubt on the credibility of the police accusations. (Some names remain anonymous as a courtesy.)
RECANTING COMPLAINANTS
“I can tell you, as God is my witness, and on my two children’s lives, I was never raped or sodomized. I never saw a kid get sodomized or molested. I was never sodomized or molested. And if I said it, it was not because it happened. It was because someone else put those words in my mouth.”
“None of the events allegedly described by or attributed to Kenneth Doe ever took place. During the time that I was present in computer classes, I did not observe Arnold or Jesse Friedman engage in anything even remotely akin to sexual conduct, and I have no reason to believe such events occurred. The police repeatedly told me that they knew something had happened, and they would not leave until I told them. As a result, I guess I just folded so they would leave me alone. I recall being taken somewhere and being videotaped while I repeated these untruthful statements.”
- DENNIS DOE (recorded interview appearing in Capturing the Friedmans)
“What I do remember is the detectives putting on me a lot of pressure to speak up. And at some point, I kind of broke down, I started crying. And when I started to tell them things, I was telling myself that it’s not true. Like I was telling myself just say this to them in order to get them off your back.”
“I remember the police questioning me on two occasions. On each occasion, I told them I had never been abused by Arnold or Jesse Friedman or anyone else, and that I did not witness anything inappropriate in the computer classes at any time. I remember that they made specific suggestions to me about things that they believed happened in the computer classes, and that they told me repeatedly that other students in my class had already told them that they had been abused, and that they were certain that in fact I had also been abused and that I should tell them so. I remember finally telling the police officers that I had seen Jesse chase after a kid and hit him. I remember saying that not because it was true, but instead because I thought it would get them off my back.”
- KEITH DOE (recorded interview)
Q: “Jesse Friedman subjected Keith Doe, a person less than 11 years old, to sexual contact. The defendant did touch his penis to the victim’s back.”
Keith: I think what they asked me was did he ever come into close contact with me. And I think I probably told them that he did. Because he needs to lean over you to type on the keyboard. So that’s probably what I told them.
Q: Do you remember ever seeing anybody else being abused?
Keith: I don’t think so.
- JAMES DOE (statement to the conviction integrity review)
When speaking with the Nassau County district attorney’s office conviction review team James Doe retracted 33 charges of sodomy and sexual abuse which are attributed to him in the 1988 grand jury indictment — claiming that one of the three people he accused of sexually abusing him, had in-fact, not been an attacker.
- GREGORY DOE (video interview)
After speaking with the Nassau County district attorney’s conviction integrity review team, Gregory Doe was deemed unreliable stating that, “due to the inconsistencies underlying [Gregory Doe’s] statements, it would be perilous to rely on him to establish any concrete fact”.
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NON-COMPLAINANT WITNESSES WHO ATTENDED COMPUTER CLASSES
“I don’t know of anything that happened. Nothing certainly happened while I was around. The experience of talking to the police is probably, you know, made as big an impression to me as any one thing in the class did. You know, they’re asking me questions about, you know, what went on there and I’m not sure what, you know, what could have gone on there that I should have known about… They were operating as if everyone had been molested, abused.”
“My memories of the computer classes themselves are overwhelmingly positive. Classes typically began with playing computer games for fun. I can state without reservation that I did not experience any form of abuse, sexual or otherwise, during the Friedmans’ computer classes, nor did I witness any other children being abused.”
- JON KUSHNER (recorded interview)
“I might have been in the first class. Possible I was probably around 12 or 13. I’m a classmate of Jesse’s we were school chums, buddies in elementary and junior high. I remember being in the class. What I remember is enjoying the classes. Jesse was there as well, I guess, helping out and so forth. I remember using the Commodore computers and I don’t have any recollection whatsoever of anything weird going on. My memory of the class is pretty positive. We were really the first generation, the first kids to really get into that stuff on a home computer level. At that time it was still even a little luxurious to have a home computer but we all started getting them. My mom even took a class with Arnie at some point.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT WITNESS #9 (recorded interview)
“I was very insistent that nothing ever happened to me. And that never seemed to be good enough as a response. Nothing ever happened to me and I don’t have any memories of any of that stuff. To tell you the truth, if you take all the stuff that happened afterwards out of it, I remember the class fondly. I know that there were a group of parents that were kind of leading what I would consider to be a witch-hunt. I wouldn’t say considered to be a witch-hunt, but I guess I would use that term now. And my parents wanted no part of it because I was so insistent that nothing had happened to me.”
“I never noticed anything inappropriate happening in any of the classes. I did not witness any harm being done to any of the other children in the classes. More specifically, I never saw Jesse or Arnold Friedman engage in any of the acts of sexual abuse they were later prosecuted for. I was surprised when I learned of the allegations against Arnold and Jesse Friedman as I had never observed anything out of the ordinary in any of the classes I attended.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #11 (recorded interview)
“I took years of classes with them. I was always enthusiastic about going back. And I would, if, hey… you know, I was doing this class and that class and I wanted to do this. It was always something I wanted to do. It was never something that was uncomfortable at all or awkward. And I always assumed that if something was going on in the classes, that I would have had some sense of it and I didn’t.”
“I talked to the police. And you know they were asking if anything inappropriate or sexual happened at the Friedmans, and I was shocked that they were suggesting that because, because nothing ever happened. Because there was nothing inappropriate. There was nothing suggestive. There was nothing sexual about it. I think my mom was, was totally convinced that I had been abused, in part because I had friends and there were other people who had allegedly named me as a victim. And I say ‘allegedly’ because I don’t know if they actually did, or if they, the police just sort of said they did.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #13 (recorded interview)
“From what I remember, there was nothing odd going on at all in the classes. The first I heard about it was, I don’t even remember if it was right at the time when Arnold and his son were arrested, but it was right around that time. And it was very surprising. I had no idea. I remember asking my mother like were any of my friends involved with it or anything, ‘cause I know I wasn’t, and I didn’t think anyone in my class was.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #14 (recorded interview)
“I remember being in the class. I can definitely tell you, I would remember if there were some… some naked games going on. I find that like nearly unplausible if they’re saying that was during the class that I was participating in. I’m a loud kid. I’m pretty sure that there’s nothing they would have said… I don’t remember any fear. You know, like… The only way they could stop kids from talking I imagine would be some kind of intimidation and that’s definitely not a memory I have.”
“I recall with absolute certainty that, (1) I had a great time in those classes; and (2) Jesse and Mr. Friedman never did anything inappropriate to me or my brother. During the investigation of Jesse and Mr. Friedman, the Nassau County Police visited our house, unannounced, and questioned me and my brother regarding the classes and regarding the Friedmans. We told them that nothing inappropriate happened. I remember other parents of students who were allegedly abused telling my parents that my brother and I were in denial and pressuring them to give us therapy or hypnosis. I can state without reservation that nothing untoward ever happened to me or anyone else in the classes I attended.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #16 (recorded interview)
“I honestly believe that if something happened, you know, if it really stood out as something that I didn’t think was right, I would remember it. I’d like to believe that. But you know, I can’t think of anything like that.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #17(recorded interview)
“I never saw anything improper happen. I was certainly not aware of anything. Nothing ever happened to me.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT (interview)
“I took two classes taught by Arnold Friedman. I recall nothing happened. Police came to my house two to four times. I told them I saw nothing and they kept coming back. I took two private one on one classes with Arnold Friedman. Nothing happened.”
- JEFF LEFF (affidavit)
“I was not sexually abused, molested, or sodomized during the computer classes. I am fully aware that there is no way that any sexual abuse or anything else other than computer lessons could have happened in those classes. Nothing inappropriate ever happened during any of the classes I attended, and I attended many of Arnold Friedman’s classes. I do not recall any grownups other than Arnold Friedman and his son Jesse Friedman being present during the computer classes.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #20 (per phone call)
Attended many classes over many years. Has no recollection of any abuse during any classes. Remembers the police being aggressive and scary, and that she was enrolled in group therapy at North Shore University Hospital.
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #21 (per phone call)
“Never saw anything. Took years of classes.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #22 (per phone call)
“Everything evil they say happened, happened, but I never saw anything”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #23 (per phone call)
Remembers two years of classes. Never witnessed any sexual abuse.
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #24 (per phone call)
The cops came to his house and were aggressive. They did not ask open-ended questions. They came to him and said, ‘We know Jesse is bad. We know he did bad things. Tell us what Jesse did to you.” He told them he never saw anything bad and nothing bad happened to him.
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #25 (per phone call)
“Nothing happened that I remember. When the news came out I was shocked.”
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #26 (per phone call)
“I hope the truth comes out. I remember nothing happened to me. Arnold would put his hand on people’s shoulder for too long, but maybe [I am remembering that] because of the news.” Remembers taking home computer disks, but that none of the games were weird.
- FORMER COMPUTER STUDENT #27 (per phone call)
“Nothing happened in any of the classes I attended.”
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PARENTS OF FORMER COMPUTER STUDENTS
“My son Mike took multiple computer classes at the Friedman home over a period of one year. I first went to the classroom to sign him up, then regularly picked him and two classmates up after class. The boys were always laughing and joking during the ride home, and I remember feeling pleased that my son was obviously enjoying his classes. When the community hysteria exploded surrounding this case, police, therapists, other parents, and Chief Detective Galasso herself put ever-intensifying pressure on our family for Mike to ‘remember’ and ‘come forward’ and ‘confirm’ charges regarding crimes the police stated they already knew had happened.
- ESTHER FORREST (email)
“Both my sons were students of Arnold Friedman, as was I. I truly believe that Arnold and Jesse are totally innocent of any misconduct or crime. There was never any evidence. I firmly believe that I, or my sons, would have known or sensed it in the many months we were enrolled in computer classes.”
- JOAN BLAHA (recorded interview)
“I can’t remember if it was religion or hockey. But whatever it was, I had to pick him up a little early from class, at least one of the classes. And take him to wherever the next event was. So I would go into Friedman’s house and pick him up. I just saw the kids and the computers and, you know, kids milling around. I let them ask Chrissy all these questions. And they kept at it and at it and at it. And they kept rephrasing the questions and asking the same questions over and over again, in different ways. And he kept answering, and he really held his ground. And he said, ‘Look’, you know. He was a little kid. But he said, ‘No, nothing happened.’”
“I was present with my wife, when Det. Galasso returned some months later for a second questioning of Ron. In both instances Ron was questioned in a separate room, outside the hearing of our family. At this time Det. Galasso stated to my wife and me that [Arnold] Friedman had been interviewed in prison, and Galasso quoted him as saying, ‘Ron was my favorite.'”
“I was always walking into the house at the beginning or end of the class. Never did I see anything other than children sitting in front of computers, and Arnold and Jesse walking around and answering questions.”
“I felt the charges against the Friedmans were implausible because I was in charge of the car-pool to drop off and pick up my son and his friends from the computer classes, including one of the boys who became a major complainant in the case. I never even once noticed my son or any of the other children disturbed or distressed in any way. If these boys had been violently abused during each computer class, I would have seen some evidence of their behavior on any of the many occasions on which I pick my son and his friends up at the classes.”
- ANNE MEYERS (recorded interview)
“The police did not allow me to sit with my child … in fact when I went into the room with cookies, they asked me to leave and not to come back.”
- MOTHER OF COMPUTER STUDENT #9 (per phone call)
She never met anyone who confirmed they were abused and would sit in on classes all the time.
- MOTHER OF COMPUTER STUDENT #23 (per phone call)
No recollection of anything bad happening during computer classes.
- MOTHER OF COMPUTER STUDENT #24 (per phone call)
Speaks poor English, but had nothing condemning to recall about computer classes.
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Jesse Friedman Affidavit: Eighteen page affidavit which outlines the general chronology of events as well as addressing many important legal issues and questions.
Judd Maltin affidavit (Jesse’s best friend from high school)
“I was often at the Friedman home. I spent a great deal of time at their house after school and on the weekends. I never experienced anything untoward. I never witnessed anything resembling pedophilia at their house. I saw no pornography in any form.”
Andrew Jarecki affidavit (Director of Capturing the Friedmans)
“During a three-year investigation, I sought to interview as many of the children involved in the case as possible, including the alleged child victims. I was able to obtain verbal or filmed interviews with approximately twenty-five of the students, now in their mid to late twenties, who had attended the computer classes. These included approximately five who had become complainants in the indictments, and about twenty non-complainants, many of whom had attended classes alongside those who had claimed to have been violently abused.”
David Kuhn affidavit: Attorney who worked on the film details his conversation with Detective Wallene Jones, who returned for 15 visits to one child before he signed a statement regarding being abused.
Peter Panaro affidavit (Jesse Friedman’s former attorney)