Frank had been convicted for the 1969 manslaughter of Jack (or Jacob) Isenbek, and in 1980 was shot in the head which family members said led to personality changes.
[16] In the 1981 sex abuse case he maintained his innocence and refused a plea bargain of 6 months probation.
[28] The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected arguments about allegedly coercive questioning methods being relevant to the case.
[2] The court ruled the issue had been fully litigated in the original trial, with defense council cross-examining the Bragas and also presenting an expert witness, Dr. Lee Coleman, who outlined possible problems with interviewing children.
[2] On the basis of Illian's allegation that Frank has abused his six-year-old son Noel, the boy was administered a throat culture which found evidence of gonorrhea.
The court furthermore noted the gonorrhea test "merely corroborated other evidence that Fuster had sexually abused his son.
[26] Attorney Michael Von Zamft had been representing both Fusters but dropped Francisco and critics allege he tried to help Ileana recover memories of abuse.
"[30] Von Zamft and the prosecution brought in contractors called the "Behavior Changers" to extract a confession from Ileana.
[32] Sociologist Richard Ofshe studied the case and in his deposition stated: Ileana Fuster was hypnotized repeatedly prior to trial; that Ileana has personality characteristics ... that indicate a high level of suggestibility coupled with a great desire to please; that the testimony she eventually gave against her husband is likely to have included a great many elements that were suggested to her by therapists in the weeks leading up to trial; and that, as a result, her trial testimony cannot be considered reliable, factual or as historical truth.
[26][35] Because Noel denied being abused, he did not share in the settlements, of over five-million dollars, paid to the families of the alleged victims in this case by the Disney-owned Arvida Corporation, developers of Country Walk.
[37] She later recanted her court testimony, claiming that she had been kept naked in solitary confinement and subjected to other forms of physical and psychological duress until she had agreed to testify against her husband.
"[21] At his deposition, Dinerstein complained that Fuster's defense lawyers were not interested and refused to meet him when he discovered exculpatory information.
[43] In 1995 in Honduras, Ileana gave a deposition to Arthur Cohen, an appeal lawyer representing Fuster, that she could not remember any child abuse "because nothing really happened.
"[4][44] A judge ruled that this was sufficient to call for a hearing regarding a new trial for Fuster, and arranged for Ileana to testify remotely from Honduras.
Tommy Watson, the minister of her new church that was paying for her education and who had helped to negotiate her early release and deportation, flew to Honduras to meet with Ileana.
[55][56] A psychologist told one child, who was denying abuse, that if she made an accusation, "you won't have to keep answering my questions".
She made an accusation,[57] while interrogated diabetic Fijnje was deprived of food and confessed to touching a child, only to retract it as soon as he was released.
The prosecution dropped one of the child accusers before the trial, "so that a jury would not hear her story about digging up graves and a woman turned into a witch.
"[56] In 1997, Fijnje and the Fusters' son Noel attended a "Day of Contrition" conference in Salem, Massachusetts, along with experts and others who had been freed in similar cases.
Circuit Court of Appeals concluded "that allowing expert testimony to boost the credibility of the main witness against Snowden — considering the lack of other evidence of guilt — violated his right to due process by making his criminal trial fundamentally unfair.
[15] Assistant Attorney General Michael Neimand argued against releasing Snowden on bail, and letting him speak to the press while they considered retrying him, but the court denied these requests.
[74] Some attempted to raise questions about these cases when Reno was nominated for U.S. Attorney General:[30][56] An article by journalist Debbie Nathan in a non-peer reviewed journal edited by Ralph Underwager[5] was faxed to the White House, and Fijnje's father (a Dutch diplomat) "sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee".
[38][62] Raskin argued that the Fijnje case in particular should be raised at Reno's confirmation hearings, but Black was more forgiving and opposed this.
[34][77] The book and early reviews accepted the prosecution's account,[20][39][78] but Debbie Nathan criticized author Jan Hollingsworth for leaving out important facts and not disclosing her relationship to the prosecutors: Hollingsworth had left her position as a TV-reporter to become a paid consultant to the Bragas.
[6] The movie starred Jill Clayburgh and Brad Davis as Laurie and Joseph Braga, and Gregory Sierra and Bess Meyer as Frank and Ileana Fuster.
At the end of the movie, star Clayburgh spoke (out of character) about detecting signs of sexual abuse in children.