Dayton Daily News
Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996
Page B1
Expert:  Sex case tactics outrageous
Says stories changed
By Janice Haidet Morse
The tactics used to get three boys to testify in a sex-abuse case,
which led to life prison sentences for a Huber Heights couple, were
coercive and outrageous, an expert on police interrogations testified
Wednesday.
"I could put this (case) in its own category," said Dr. Richard Ofshe,
a professor at the University of California at Berkeley.  "It's very
surprising to me that a police interrogator would make the statement
that (the children ought) to be more afraid of her than they were of
the perpetrator."
Ofshe said police, prosecutors and other officials used a system of
rewards, punishment and threats to get the three brothers to change
their stories and "comply" with the case against Robert Aldridge and
Jennifer Wilcox.  The couple was sentenced to life in prison for
multiple rapes and child-molestation convictions in 1985.
Jennifer Bazell, the former Huber Heights police officer who
interrogated the youngsters, could be called as a witness in the
hearing and declined to comment Wednesday.
The boys she questioned - John, Jason and Justin Chronopoulos - were
about 11, 10 and 7 years old at the time.  Now adults, the three this
week gave testimony recanting their earlier statements.  The brothers
had never even seen Aldridge and Wilcox until the trial occurred, they
testified, and only pointed out the couple because officials had shown
them where the defendants would be seated in the courtroom.
Under cross-examination, Ofshe said he concluded the brothers were
coerced after he reviewed case records, including a tape-recorded
interview of Bazell.  Ofshe agreed better information could be
obtained if he had spoken directly with officials involved in the
case.
But he said that wasn't necessary for him to reach a conclusion,
"Sometimes you can smell a skunk from a distance - you don't have to
get up close."
Ofshe's testimony came in a hearing in which Aldridge and Wilcox are
seeking to have their convictions voided.  The hearing, which could
conclude Friday, begins its third day today in Montgomery County
Common Pleas Court.  The couple's lawyers are offering previously
undisclosed evidence to try to prove the couple didn't get a fair
trial 11 years ago.
The lawyer who represented Aldridge at trial, Thomas Hanna of Dayton,
testified  Wednesday the prosecution's current packet of information
contains several documents he doesn't remember seeing before:  medical
records, handwritten statements of parents, and a lengthy police
report. "I'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not have remembered
(these documents)," Hanna said, adding he felt having knowledge of the
records could have significantly changed the course of the trial.
Current defense lawyer Harry Reinhart has asserted some evidence
favorable to his clients was "intentionally suppressed."
Linda Howland an assistant Montgomery County prosecutor, said that
accusation is "absurd."
Regardless, Richard Dodge, a retired common pleas judge, testified
even the accidental omission of such documents might be enough to
throw out a conviction.
With no medical or other evidence presented at the trial, the
convictions of Aldridge and Wilcox relied upon testimony of six
children, including the three Chronopoulos brothers.
Given all six youths testified in 1985 they witnessed sex acts
involving each other, Ofshe said the Chronopouloses' recantations
"must raise a fundamental question about the reliability of witnesses
who have not recanted."
Dr. John J. Peterangelo of Fairborn, the physician for one of those
remaining witnesses, a girl who was about 5 years old at the time of
the alleged abuse, testified about an examination he performed on the
girl. His records show on Aug. 30, 1984 - the same day Aldridge and
Wilcox were arrested - the girl and her mother came into his office,
and the mother told him the girl had been sexually assaulted by five
adults.  The woman also said the girl was "penetrated" both anally and
vaginally "and that it happened four to five times."
Despite this allegation, "the physical did not reveal any bruising,
did not reveal any torn or traumatized tissue... no scars,"
Peterangelo said.
He also said the child didn't appear to be emotionally traumatized.
"The whole situation didn't add up to me at the time," he said.
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