Ogletree Takes Fells Acres Case

For the past 12 years, Cheryl Amirault LeFave has searched for someone who can convince the state's courts that she was convicted and imprisoned for a crime she maintains she did not commit.

Earlier this week, LeFave found a new and powerful ally--Climenko Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree.

Ogletree has committed himself to the case of LeFave--who, along with her mother, Violet Amirault, was convicted in 1987 of raping and assaulting children enrolled in their family-owned Fells Acres Day Care Center in Malden. LeFave's brother, Gerald Amirault, was also convicted of similar charges in a separate trial in 1986.

The case has fueled an ongoing national debate over the credibility of children's testimony.

Ogletree said he was persuaded to join LeFave's defense team earlier this week when he met with her and her lawyer.

"I feel strongly as a parent that we should punish those who are in fact guilty of injuring or harming children," Ogletree said. "But by the same token, I feel very strongly that no person should be unjustly convicted of something when there are serious questions about the coercive nature of the testimony from children."

The trials of both LeFave and the Amiraults featured testimony of children who claimed that they had been sexually abused while at the day care center.

LeFave and her mother, convicted of three counts of child rape and four counts of indecent assault and battery, were released in 1995 by Middlesex Superior Court judge Robert Barton.

He claimed that their rights during the trial were violated because they were denied the opportunity to face their accusers in the courtroom. LeFave had been sentenced to serve eight to 20 years in prison.

In March 1997, the Supreme Judicial Court overruled Barton's decision and ordered that the two women return to prison. In September of that year, Violet Amirault died of cancer and LeFave continued on alone in her quest for a new trial. She was not taken back to prison.

Last year, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein reversed her conviction and ordered a new trial, saying that there was new evidence to suggest that the children's testimony in the original trial might have been tainted.

However, on August 18, the Supreme Judicial Court overturned Borenstein's decision and denied LeFave's motion for a new trial.

She now faces the possibility of returning to prison once again in order to resume her sentence.

Gerald Amirault, who has also tried to request a new trial, has been denied, and he remains in prison.

Ogletree said he has been following LeFave's case since its beginning. He said he also follows other cases involving allegations of abuse against children.

Not speaking specifically about the LeFave case, he said that in many of these instances, there is evidence that children have been coached to provide false testimony.

"This case, like any others in past two decades, needs to be closely examined in order to ensure that even those with strongly held beliefs were not mistaken," he said.

Ogletree and other members of LeFave's defense team plan to meet with prosecutors later this week in order to explore LeFave's options, according to Ogletree.

Prosecutors have the authority to decide whether or not LeFave must return to prison immediately or if the legal team should be given time to come up with alternative solutions.

They could also decide that LeFave has already paid her debt to society since she served eight years in prison and has lived peacefully in the community for the past four years, Ogletree said.

He said he expects hearings to commence over the next few days and weeks and hopes that LeFave's case will be brought to a final resolution in early October.