Modern day witch trial: Day care owners were falsely imprisoned for 21 years because of satanic abuse hysteria

 AP  Former day care owners who spent 21 years in prison before being freed amid questions over their convictions for child abuse involving satanic rituals are struggling to convince prosecutors that they should be fully exonerated.

Dan and Fran Keller, who divorced in prison, were freed on bond last year when the only physical evidence against them was found to be a mistake. They had been convicted in 1992 after therapists testified that they helped three children recover memories of satanic rituals and sexual abuse at an Austin preschool the Kellers operated.

The Kellers, who always denied the charges, want the courts to throw out their convictions. But a year after they were freed from prison, Travis County prosecutors remain unwilling to proclaim them innocent, the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/129h789) reported Sunday.[...]

"It's so hard to prove you're innocent when there was never a crime," she said.

The Kellers had been sentenced to 48 years in prison.

During their trial, the only physical evidence came from an emergency room doctor who testified that internal lacerations on one child were evidence of abuse. But in court documents filed in 2013, Dr. Michael Mouw says what he thought were lacerations were actually normal physiology.[...]

Psychologists were behind the accusations

KXAN

That summer, a three-year-old girl at Fran’s Day Care in Oak Hill accused Dan of sexual abuse. Within weeks, more children, all patients of the same child psychologist, made similar claims against both of the Kellers. They were ultimately accused of the satanic, ritual abuse of the children in their care.

“I think they were coerced into making allegations,” said Fran. “Their parents, they were taking them to psychologists. I think the psychologists coerced them into thinking and saying things because the child is not going to say something that didn’t happen. The child is going to listen to who is talking and the seed is planted.”

During their six-day trial, an emergency room medical doctor testified as the prosecution’s expert and provided the only physical evidence in the case. Dr. Michael Mouw, who examined the three-year-old accuser, said she had internal injuries that could only be caused by physical abuse. [...]