Gerald Miller (missionary)

Gerald L. Miller is an American Mennonite medical missionary who worked with the Eastern Mennonite Missions board to save hundreds of lives in Somalia in the years 1971-1972. Miller also found himself convicted and later acquitted of the murder of a government official in a high-profile case during his time in Somalia. Background: Miller's background in the Mennonite church influenced his service and played a major role in the murder trial. Miller grew up in Shipshewana, Indiana, United States. There, he learned about his Mennonite faith at his church where they shared some of his relatives' missionary experiences. Miller continued his schooling at Goshen College and later received his doctorate from Indiana School of Medicine. Miller opened his own medical practice in Markle, Indiana, and started a family with wife Mary. Miller and his family moved to Somalia in 1971. Miller served as a doctor at the Jamama Mennonite Hospital from 1971 to 1972 and lived with his family in Mogadishu, Somalia. While he was there, Miller was the only American doctor in Somalia, and was one of a few non-Somali doctors. During this time, Miller was charged with the murder of Hussein Sadad Hassan. Miller plead "not guilty" on August 25, 1971, and was cleared of all charges before he and his family returned to the United States. Miller also worked with his daughter, Shari Miller Wagner, and wrote A Hundred Camels, published by Cascadia Publishing House in 2009. The book details the time Miller and his family served in Somalia before and during the trial. In 2015, Miller again worked with his daughter, Shari Miller Wagner, and wrote Making the Rounds, published by BookLocker.com. This book details the experiences Miller had while being the doctor for the small town of Markle, Indiana. Miller now lives in Westfield, Indiana, with his family and has retired from the medical profession. Life in Indiana: Early on, missionary-minded relatives began to influence Miller and planted ideas of a greater goal in his mind. These relatives, including Orie O. Miller, Jay Hostetler, and Ernest E. Miller watched Miller as he grew in his faith at Forks Mennonite Church in Lagrange County, Indiana where he attended with his family. After receiving his high school degree in 1955, Miller studied for four years at Goshen College, a Mennonite school in Indiana. This continuation of his general education and Mennonite education would aid him in his future trip. During the four years spent focusing on a Pre-Med education, Miller met his wife Mary. Miller married Mary in 1956, just after their first year of college, creating a partnership that would allow Miller to have a greater impact on those he worked with. The wedding was a traditional Mennonite wedding where rings were absent, but the service vows proved untraditional. Mary omitted the word "obey" from her vows, possibly accidentally. During their last three years of college, the young couple planted a church in California, Michigan, starting their focus on evangelism early on. The Miller family welcomed their first child, Shari, 18 months after the wedding. Miller began part-time jobs in order to support the family. Miller pursued his medical degree, relocating the family and attending the Indiana University School of Medicine. He graduated from medical school in 1964 and followed with his residency in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After his residency, Miller began a family practice in Markle, Indiana. He was joined by two other physicians: Dr. Lee Kinzer and Dr. Vic Binkley. Miller is also credited with creating the first EMS service in Bluffton, IN at Wells Community Hospital in 1969. Miller and his family received a greater call one day. After much prayer and reflection, the Miller family felt the pull to go to Africa, where they would have the opportunity to spread their faith and help others through the medical knowledge Miller had. Trip to Somalia[: The Eastern Mennonite Mission contacted Miller after a doctor left the Mennonite Sharati Hospital in Tanzania. Although Miller and his family knew nothing about Tanzania or the mission there, they felt as though they could help. Miller would be filling in for one year while the Board searched for a full-time replacement. Miller's extensive training obstetrics, pediatrics, surgeries, and general medicine would serve him well, but he was still unprepared for the variety of tropical diseases that he would encounter. Six weeks after the Millers signed on, the Board changed Miller's assignment to Jamama Hospital in Somalia, a country whose government was not recognized by the United States. Typically, the missionaries received language training before or during their stay, but the short notice for the Miller family did not allow time for instruction. The Millers were to arrive with no knowledge of the native language. Somalia and the Mennonites: Miller arrived in 1961, in 1963, the government outlawed the teaching of any religion other than Islam. This led to the exodus of almost all missions in Somalia, save the Mennonites. For this reason, Somalia was underserviced and the need for medical missionaries was great. Only the Mennonites helped to fulfill this need. Mennonite missions would be required to teach the Qur'an in order to maintain their status in Somalia. The Mennonites worked to maintain their place in Somalia by remaining cooperative. They began teaching English in the missions' schools beginning in the 1960s. Somalia did not have its own written language and did not create one until October 1972. On October 21, 1969, Major General Mohamed Siad Barre overtook the existing government. The Mennonite presence in Somalia began in the 1950s and has continued through the Eastern Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Central Committee. When Miller and his family arrived in 1969, there were five stable Mennonite missions in Somalia, and few other missions; Miller was the only American doctor there. These locations included hospitals, boarding schools, and bookstores. Serving in the mission field, however, was sometimes dangerous. Merlin Grove, a white Mennonite missionary in Somalia during the 1960s, was stabbed to death while on duty in Somalia. This frightened some missionaries into leaving, but Miller and his family chose to continue their path. Life in Somalia: Before arriving in Mogadishu, the Millers left their daughters, Shari and Marlis, and Miller's parents at Rosslyn Academy, a boarding school operated by the Mennonites outside of Nairobi. Miller's parents agreed to teach there for three years. In doing this, the elder Millers allowed Miller to continue on his journey and focus on the road ahead rather than spending his time raising a family. Miller, Mary, and their son, Stephen continued on to Mogadishu, Somalia. Once the Miller family arrived on August 26, 1971, they met with other missionaries in the city of Mogadishu. Harold Reed, in charge of the Somalia Mennonite Mission at the time, greeted Miller, Mary, and Stephen at the Mogadishu airport. This was not their final destination, however. They traveled on to Jamama, where Chester Kurtz, the Jamama administrator met them to explain their duties. Mary and Stephen often faced xenophobic sentiments when Miller was away at work. While on their way to the store, little children would sometimes throw stones at the four-year-old and his mom, calling them "infidels." Mary had no defined work responsibilities but focused on raising Stephen and providing an orderly home life for her family. Miller's primary job responsibility was to manage the Jamama Hospital along with hospital administrator Hassan Nur. Nur worked closely with Miller and the two became good friends. Miller and Nur were not alone, however. They were joined by a team of American and Canadian nurses who worked tirelessly to run the hospital and care for patients. The hospital had 30 beds for patients from around the country. Miller studied tropical diseases, cataract surgery, and leprosy among other things in order to adapt to the needs of the Somalis. He spent his days at the hospital, consulting with patients, performing surgeries, and diagnosing new cases. The Case of Hussein Sadad Hassan: The night before Miller and his family arrived in Africa, there was a car wreck on the road between Kismayu and Jamama. Four people were in a Toyota that toppled over—two men and two women. The driver, under the influence of alcohol, was unharmed. His passengers suffered from severe, as well as some minor injuries. Hussein Sadad Hassan, a 46-year-old Somali in a front seat of the car, was the most severely injured passenger. Miller understood immediately after Hassan was admitted to the hospital, that the case would be difficult. Had they been in the United States, it is likely that Miller could have saved Hassan; but under the conditions, his chance of survival was slim. After a few months, Hassan's improvement was minimal. Because Hassan was a government employee, the government took an active interest in his condition and mandated that Miller operate on Hassan's injured femur. Miller performed this surgery on December 14, but due to his weakened state, Hassan's recovery was uncertain. Miller himself had to donate two units of blood because a suitable donor could not be found among Hassan's children. Hassan died a day and a half after the surgery and his children held a traditional funeral service for him. The Murder Trial: Only a few weeks after Hassan's death, Miller was greeted at the hospital by a Russian doctor asking for Hassan's hospital records. This visit was followed by one from the prosecutor from Kismayu seeking Miller's license and credentials as a doctor. While these visits seemed to dissolve into nothing, Miller received a telegram from Kismayu's District Court on March 5. This note provided eight days notice before Miller was to appear in court, but it failed to mention the content of the trial. When Miller and his hospital administrator went to inquire, the judge informed them that Miller was being tried for the murder of Hussein Sadad Hassan. Because the United States government did not officially recognize Somalia, Miller could not turn to an embassy.[11] Instead, he looked to Harold Reed, the Mogadishu mission's administrator. The trial took place on March 23, 1972 at the District Court in Kismayu. There were three defendants in the trial: Miller, the driver of the car Hassan was in, and Dr. Urquhart (the surgeon who first performed on Hassan). Urquhart and the driver were both represented by the same attorney, while Miller was represented by Hassen Scek Ibraham. The trial lasted only one day but was hindered by the language barrier. One witness spoke Russian, Miller spoke English, the judge spoke Somali, the legal reference books were in Italian, and the court records were in Arabic. The translations delayed the process and were difficult for Miller to follow as he spoke only one of the five languages. Ten days after the formal trial, the three defendants returned to hear the judgment. Urquhart and the driver were pronounced innocent of Hassan's murder and Miller was declared guilty. This guilty finding was accompanied by a compensation payment (to Hassan's family) of 100 camels, the typical amount paid for a death, and a three-month stay in jail in Somalia. However, the judge stipulated that if Miller were to continue his work at Jamama and avoid any additional charges, he would not serve the time in jail. After discussing this with Harold Reed and the Mennonite Board in the United States, Miller consented to accepting the charge. The board would pay the family compensation and he would transfer to a hospital in Uganda for the final part of his yearlong service. The Mennonites, traditionally a peaceful people, would respond in accordance with their desire to be cooperative and maintain good relations with the government. When Miller visited Hassan's family to pay amount awarded them, however, they refused to accept the court-ordered compensation and instead asked Miller to appeal the court decision. Miller traveled to the court for a third time. A new judge reviewed the case and interviewed Miller. Two weeks later, Miller received a telegram exonerating him from all charges previously brought against him and pronouncing him innocent. Miller later discovered that the first trial's proceedings were corrupt. Both the judge and the prosecutor were friends of the drunken driver and hoped to place the blame on Miller in order to free their friend. Miller's lawyer Ibraham also revealed to Miller that current Somalia President Siad Barre had asked Ibraham to appeal the case so that Miller could be declared innocent. Six weeks later, Miller and his family returned to the United States. Return to America: Miller and his family arrived back in Indiana in 1972, where he returned to his practice. Miller worked to create a long-standing EMT program in Bluffton through the Wells Community Hospital. Miller and Mary are now retired and have traveled to many other Mennonite missions around the world since their time in Somalia. Shari aided Miller in the editing and writing of his book A Hundred Camels: A Mission Doctor's Sojourn and Murder Trial in Somalia. This book details Miller's time in Africa and his trial. Daughter Shari is now married and works as a poet and editor. Marlis and Stephen continue to be involved in Mennonite missions. The Jamama Hospital has now been converted into a donkey stable after civil war battles ravaged the country. Although the hospital no longer exists, Miller's contributions to the Somali people are still remembered and the unwarranted 1972 trial will actually provide history with a record of Miller and his positive impact on the country. Significance: Miller's service in Somalia lead to thousands of saved lives and even drew the attention of President Siad Barre. His book has sold around the country and his story is told around the world. His struggles with the murder trial helped to expose corruption in a young government that created a new constitution only a few years later. The Mennonite Mission in Jamama, although no longer present, continued to thrive after Miller's departure and the Mennonites were accepted by the Somali government due to their cooperative nature, as seen in the Miller's murder trial. Miller is remembered by the Eastern Mennonite Missions for his service in Somalia. Miller also spearheaded the creation of the EMS in Wells County, Indiana that continues to serve the citizens of Wells County.

Trial of Michael Jackson

People v. Jackson (full title: 1133603: The People of the State of California v. Michael Joseph Jackson) was a 2005 criminal trial held in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California, in which American singer Michael Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, a cancer patient in remission who was thirteen years old at the time of the alleged abuse. Jackson was indicted on four counts of molesting a minor, four counts of intoxicating a minor to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation, one count of conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive, and conspiring to commit extortion and child abduction. The trial spanned approximately four months, beginning with jury selection that began on January 31, 2005. The jury returned a not guilty verdict on June 13, 2005. Jackson had previously been accused of child sexual abuse in 1993. He denied the allegations and settled with the accuser's family out of court, which ended the lawsuit. Prosecutors dropped the criminal investigation after the accuser refused to cooperate and out of a lack of convincing evidence. In the 2005 case, Jackson was accused of abusing Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos, California. The investigation was triggered by a 2003 documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, that showed Jackson holding hands with Arvizo and defending his practice of giving his bed to children. The trial drew international media attention which included testimony from celebrities including former child film star Macaulay Culkin and actor Chris Tucker, among others. Years after Jackson died, in 2013, one of the defense witnesses, Wade Robson, changed his position from saying he had never been molested, to saying that he had a mental breakdown from abuse by Jackson. Background: In 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler. The abuse allegedly took place at Jackson's Neverland Ranch home in Santa Barbara, California. In January 1994, Jackson settled the lawsuit made against him for $23 million, with $5 million going to the family's lawyers. Prosecutors pursued the criminal case and presented the evidence to two separate grand juries, neither of which indicted. Gavin Arvizo was introduced to Jackson by Jamie Masada in 2000, when Arvizo was diagnosed with cancer. Arvizo's father, David Arvizo, separated from Arvizo's mother, often asked celebrities for money to support his son's cancer treatments. Arvizo was receiving chemotherapy and required the removal of his spleen and left kidney. Jackson and Arvizo became friends, and Jackson invited Arvizo and his family to Neverland Ranch. Arvizo thanked Jackson for "helping him be happy and beat cancer". After a few visits at Neverland, Arvizo claimed Jackson suddenly stopped calling him and felt abandoned. In 2002, Jackson invited Arvizo, now 12 years old, to be a part of an ITV documentary, Living with Michael Jackson. Presenter Martin Bashir interviewed Jackson over eight months for the film. Jackson and Arvizo were seen holding hands, and Bashir asked Jackson about the appropriateness of a grown man having sleepovers and sharing a bed with a young person. Jackson insisted that it was not sexual. The controversial conversation went: Bashir: But is it really appropriate for a 44-year-old man to share a bedroom with a child that is not related to him at all? Jackson: That's a beautiful thing. Bashir: That's not a worrying thing? Jackson: Why should that be worrying? Who's the criminal? Who's Jack the Ripper in the room? There's some guy trying to heal a healing child.... I'm in a sleeping bag on the floor. I gave him the bed because he has a brother named Star. So, him and Star took the bed and I'm on the floor on sleeping bag. Bashir: Did you ever sleep in the bed with them (Gavin and Star)? Jackson: No. But I have slept in a bed with many children. I slept in a bed with all of them when Macaulay Culkin was little: Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macaulay Culkin was on this side, his sisters in there.... We all would just jam in the bed, you know. We would wake up like dawn and go in the hot air balloon, you know, we had the footage. I have all that footage. The film drew controversy and calls for Jackson's children to be removed from his custody. Jackson called the documentary deceptive and a "gross distortion of the truth". Bashir defended his interview and dismissed accusations of distortion: "Here's an individual who is 44 years old, sleeping in the bed of children who have no biological relationship with him. I did not set out to ensnare him with a child." A two-hour special, The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See, recorded by Jackson's production team, was screened by Fox Television in attempt to vindicate him. Jackson decided to release the tape after feeling betrayed by Bashir. Macaulay Culkin went on Larry King Live to defend Jackson and said, "Everything that's going on is unfortunate.... Nothing happened at the Ranch. We played video games... I don't think they understand. Michael Jackson's bedroom is two stories and has three bathrooms. When I slept in his bedroom, you have to understand the whole scenario. The thing is that, with Michael, he isn't very good at explaining himself." Santa Barbara district attorney Tom Sneddon initially said, under Californian law, merely sleeping with a child without "affirmative, offensive conduct" was not a criminal offense, and "sleeping in bed with a kid is not a crime that I know of". Gloria Gruber, president of Prevent Child Abuse California, wanted state authorities to interview the children with whom Jackson shared a bed. "The fact that he sleeps with children who are unrelated to him is definitely a red flag and concern," she said. Arvizo's mother, Janet Arvizo, criticized Bashir's documentary as a "gross distortion of the truth", and instructed Theodore Goddard, the London law firm, to file complaints against the Independent Television Commission, which oversees ITV. She later accused Jackson of holding her captive at Neverland Ranch. Investigation and arrest: From February 14 to February 27, 2003, a few weeks after the broadcast of the documentary, the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services conducted a preliminary investigation of Jackson and Arvizo. In a confidential report based on interviews with the Arvizos, which leaked to the media, child welfare officials stated that they believed that accusations of illicit conduct were "unfounded." In June 2003, Sneddon reopened the investigation and in July and August interviewed Arvizo along with his father, mother and brother Star Arvizo. In November 2003, Arvizo claimed to police that Jackson had molested him several times between February 7 and March 10, 2003, when, according to Janet Arvizo, Jackson held the family captive at Neverland. On November 18, 2003, police searched Neverland Ranch with a search warrant. Jackson and his three children were not home but in Las Vegas where Jackson was shooting a music video for "One More Chance." Jackson was arrested on November 20. He was released an hour later after posting a $3 million bond. Shortly after the arrest, Jackson issued a statement saying the claims were "predicated on a big lie". In an interview with the news program 60 Minutes, Jackson also claimed that the police had mistreated him and complained of a dislocated shoulder. He reaffirmed his innocence and said that he was determined not to settle out of court as he had done in 1993. In August 2004, the California attorney general's office concluded, after an independent investigation, that Jackson was neither "manhandled" nor mistreated when he was taken into custody. On December 18, 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent for the purpose of committing a felony. On January 16, 2004, the day of his arraignment, Jackson climbed on top of his car to dance and wave to fans. On April 21, 2004, a grand jury indicted Jackson on several additional related charges, including conspiracy involving child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion. On April 30, Jackson pleaded not guilty. He faced a sentence of up to twenty years in prison if convicted at trial. On December 4, 2004, the police raided Jackson's home for a second time. Trial: The trial began on February 28, 2005 in the courthouse of Santa Maria, Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara County Judge Rodney Melville presided over the trial. Melville, who had a contentious relationship with the news media, banned cameras from the courtroom and put a gag order on both sides. He delayed the three-day jury selection process for a week while Jackson was hospitalized, reportedly with flu. Melville allowed prosecutors to introduce testimony about past allegations against Jackson, including the 1993 case, to establish whether the entertainer had a propensity to commit such crimes. The prosecution hoped to show that Jackson had engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse with boys. They called on witnesses to describe earlier incidents, including Jackson's alleged 1993 abuse of Jordan Chandler. The prosecution argued that Jackson used Neverland, his "fantasy hideaway" with candy and theme park attractions, to lure boys and groom them into sex, and flattered their parents with gifts. The prosecution also said that, after Living With Michael Jackson aired, Jackson and his entourage had attempted to hold the Arvizo family virtually captive at Neverland and force them to participate in a rebuttal film. On March 10, as Gavin Arvizo was about to testify, Jackson was absent from court. Judge Melville issued a warrant for his arrest and said Jackson's $3 million bond would be forfeited if he did not arrive within an hour. Jackson arrived an hour and ten minutes late dressed in pajamas and appeared to weep in court. In an interview shortly afterwards, he claimed he had slipped in the shower and bruised his lung "very badly". He said the ongoing trial had been the lowest period in his life, and denied rumors about his financial problems, saying they had been part of a smear campaign. Witnesses for the prosecution- Martin Bashir: On March 1, Martin Bashir, who had interviewed Jackson for Living with Michael Jackson, took to the witness stand while prosecutors showed the documentary to jurors. Bashir refused to answer questions from defense attorneys. Jason Francia: On April 4, Jason Francia, whose mother worked as a maid at Neverland Ranch, testified that Jackson had abused him on several occasions when he was seven to ten years old. Francia said that "every time I was being tickled there was some sort of exchange of money," done with the understanding that he would not tell his mother. His mother said she had reached an out-of-court settlement with Jackson, reportedly for $2 million only after first selling her stories to the Enquirer, as well as to the now-defunct TV show "Hard Copy.” Under cross-examination, Francia admitted that in his first 1993 interview he told detectives Jackson had not molested him. He said he had denied being improperly touched by Jackson because he did not want to be embarrassed at school. He said he went into counseling until he was eighteen years old. Mesereau sought to establish that the Francias were goaded into their accusations by over-zealous prosecutors and tempted by money offered for media interviews. Neverland Ranch staff: In April 2005, Ralph Chacon, a former security guard at Neverland Ranch, testified that he had seen Jackson performing oral sex on Chandler in the early 1990s. He also described seeing Jackson passionately kiss Chandler and place his hand on the boy's crotch. He said he did not report the incident to police because he thought he would not be believed. A former maid at the ranch, Adrian McManus, testified that she had seen Jackson kissing boys including the child star Macaulay Culkin, and described Jackson touching Culkin's leg and "rear end". She told the court that she had seen Jackson touching Chandler's genitals. Culkin denied being molested by Jackson. The defense sought to portray Chacon and McManus as unreliable. According to The Guardian, each witness had a "horrific story. Yet, rather than calling the police, each appears to have sold that story to a supermarket tabloid." McManus had previously denied witnessing misconduct from Jackson in a 1993 court deposition while under oath. In the 2005 trial, she said she had lied during the deposition because she feared Jackson would report her to her superiors if she told police about the incident. In the 1990s, both Chacon and McManus had been part of a lawsuit filed against Jackson for wrongful dismissal. After Jackson counter-sued, their lawsuit was thrown out as fraudulent and malicious. According to testimony, Chacon and McManus had been found guilty of stealing items from Jackson's house amounting to more than $50,000, and ordered to pay more than $1 million in legal fees. Under cross-examination from Mesereau, the pair admitted that they had been paid thousands of dollars to give a tabloid interview. McManus admitted that she and her husband were found to have defrauded a relative's children of money from their estate and that she had stolen a sketch by Jackson worth $35,000. Mesereau accused the pair of attempting to "get even" with Jackson for the failed suit and characterized them as money-seekers. Housekeeper Kiki Fournier testified that the Arvizo children became unruly at Neverland Ranch without authority figures. She said the Arvizo boys "trashed" their guest rooms, and that at one point Star had pointed a knife at her in Jackson's kitchen. She said that although the boys had guest rooms they would often stay with Jackson. However, she said she never saw Jackson giving the boys alcohol and never saw them drunk. Cynthia Bell, a flight attendant who had served Jackson, testified that she never saw him share his drink with Arvizo. She said she had devised the custom of serving Jackson wine in soda cans because Jackson did not like to drink alcohol in front of his children. Bell said she had not seen Jackson "cuddling" with Arvizo during the flight, but testified that she had seen Jackson put his arm around him while he was listening to music. She said that Arvizo was demanding, complained about the food, and was unruly during the flight. Phillip LeMarque, Jackson's cook, said he entered Jackson's room and saw Jackson with his hand in Culkin's underpants. During cross-examination, the defense pointed out that LeMarque had tried to sell the story to a tabloid before deciding against it. “We were tempted by the money, for sure,” the chef responded. “Everybody would be tempted. But it was against our principles.” LeMarque and his wife, also a Jackson employee, considered selling the story for $500,000 but backed out after realizing the intermediary was "sleazy." Jesús Salas, a former house manager at the Neverland Ranch, testified that he often saw Jackson drunk or affected by prescription drugs, and on one occasion saw three boys aged around 15 to 16 emerging drunk from the wine cellar after having spent time with Jackson. When the prosecution attempted to confirm Jackson had served wine to minors, Salas added that although he brought a bottle of wine to Jackson's bedroom, sodas were also ordered for the children. The judge ruled out testimony from a former security guard who alleged that he saw Jackson in his bedroom with a boy. June Chandler: Jordan Chandler, the alleged victim in the 1993 child abuse allegations, left the country rather than appear as a witness. He had been legally emancipated from his parents. Chandler's mother, June Chandler, testified that Jackson had become angry and upset when she would not allow Jordan to share his bedroom. She said Jackson told her: "We're a family. Why don't you allow Jordie to be with me..? Jordie is having fun. Why can't he sleep in my bed? There's nothing going on. Why don't you trust me?" She relented, and in return received a gold Cartier bracelet from Jackson. When she spoke about her son’s friendship with Jackson, Chandler testified that she never suspected anything inappropriate was going on between Michael and her son. She never testified that Jackson molested her son. She told the court that she had not spoken to her son in eleven years. Debbie Rowe: On April 28, Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe was called on the witness stand by the prosecution who claimed that Rowe was forced into a scripted videotaped statement made in early 2003 in support of Jackson. The prosecution had hoped Rowe's testimony would support Janet Arvizo's claim that they were held captive and forced to make supportive statements about Jackson. In her second day of testimony, Rowe said she had refused to look at the questions before the taping and was eager to support Jackson. The defense initially wanted Rowe dismissed, saying she was not providing the testimony the prosecution wanted. The judge allowed her testimony, and the defense withdrew their motion since she spoke in favor of the defense. Rowe called Jackson's business associates and public relations aides, Marc Schaffel, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer, "opportunistic vultures" who wanted to exploit him. Gavin Arvizo: Gavin Arvizo was fifteen years old when he testified, telling the court that after Living with Michael Jackson aired, Jackson had begun serving him and his younger brother wine, sometimes concealed in soda cans, showing them pornography and making sexual advances. He said that Jackson had masturbated him to ejaculation after they drank alcohol, and then told him that if men do not masturbate, they "might rape a girl." Challenged by Mesereau, who said that Gavin had told sheriffs that his grandmother had said this, Gavin said "I'm not exactly sure what my grandmother told me." Gavin admitted that he had told his school administrator that Jackson had not molested him. Star Arvizo: Gavin's younger brother, Star, told the court that he had twice seen Jackson molest Gavin. He also said that Jackson had displayed his erection and masturbated in front of them, telling them that "everyone did it" and encouraged them to try it. Star testified that Jackson had given the boys alcohol, sometimes in soda cans, and which Jackson called "Jesus juice." Star also said Jackson had showed the brothers internet pornography on his computer. Under cross-examination, Mesereau questioned Star about a 1998 case in which his family sued J. C. Penny. The family alleged that Star, his brother and their mother were beaten in a parking lot by security guards after leaving with clothes they had not paid for. Janet Arvizo also claimed to have been sexually assaulted and falsely imprisoned. The family received a settlement of £75,000. In a 2000 sworn statement for the case, Star had said his "mother and father never fought." Janet and her children claimed that David Arvizo physically abused them for seventeen years. Star admitted he lied in the statement. The admission was a major victory to the defense. Also, it was stated that the Arvizos had not visited Neverland since March 2003. However, when shown a pornographic magazine dated August of 2003, 5 months after the family stopped visiting Neverland, Star claimed that was one of the magazines Jackson had shown them. Star would later attempt to recant this testimony too. Janet Arvizo: The defense sought to portray Janet Arvizo as untrustworthy, with a history of perjury and fraud. She admitted to having lied under oath in an earlier lawsuit. The prosecution planned to have an expert on domestic violence testify that she may have lied because she had been beaten by her ex-husband, but the judge did not allow it, saying it would be irrelevant. The defense also presented evidence of Janet having committed welfare fraud, for which she was later convicted. In regards to the J.C. Penny case, which eventually settled for $152,000, the defense brought in a welfare worker who stated that Janet had failed to disclose her receipt of the settlement that her family had received days before filling out a welfare application. A paralegal testified that Janet had lied to win that lawsuit, claiming that bruises caused by her then-husband had been caused by J.C. Penney security guards. Editor of the Mid Valley News, Connie Keenan said she was "duped" by Janet into writing a story about Arvizo's sickness because Janet wanted to make additional money when the original story didn't make enough. Other witnesses for the defense showed Janet had spent $7,000 shopping and dining out at the same time she alleged Jackson kept her and her family captive. Janet's sister-in-law offered to help Arvizo's treatment by holding blood donation campaigns. She said Janet swore at her and rejected the offer. Jurors described Janet's testimony as weak and could not be believed. They also found it strange that she snapped her fingers and addressed them directly. The New York Times described her testimony as "rambling, incoherent and at times combative." One juror questioned Janet's values as a mother, believing she had taught her children to lie to gain money and favors from celebrities. Witnesses for the defense: According to Michael Jackson's defense attorney Susan Yu, over five hundred witnesses were prepared in the case. Macaulay Culkin: Former child star Macaulay Culkin testified that he had shared a bed with Jackson on a dozen or more times between the ages of nine and fourteen, but had never been molested and had never seen Jackson act improperly, contrary to many of the prosecution's witness testimonies. He said that his parents had known he was in Jackson's bedroom and "never saw it as an issue". He described shock at hearing the allegations that Jackson had molested him, and dismissed them as "absolutely ridiculous". Culkin said they had bonded over their shared experience of child stardom. Wade Robson: Wade Robson testified as Jackson's first defense witness that he had slept in Jackson's bedroom several times but had never been molested. Robson recalled his first visit at Neverland Ranch in 1989 and had slept in Jackson's bedroom on all but three or four of his twenty or so visits. He said they played video games, watched movies, talked and sometimes had pillow fights. Brett Barnes: Barnes first met Jackson at the age of five when Jackson went to Australia during one of his tours. He shared a bedroom with Jackson at least ten times but denied any impropriety. Barnes was aware of the prosecutor's witness testimonies claiming they had seen Jackson touch him inappropriately. In response, Barnes said, "I'm very mad about it. It's not true and they put my name through the dirt. I'm really not happy about it." Barnes continues to deny any molestation. George Lopez: Comedian George Lopez testified that he had given the Arvizo family money when Gavin was fighting cancer but came to believe that Gavin's father was more interested in money than helping his son. Lopez cut ties with the family after the father became more demanding. Lopez also said that the father had accused him of stealing $300 from Gavin's wallet. When the father asked what he was supposed to tell his son, Lopez testified that he responded: "Tell him his father’s an extortionist." Jay Leno: The host of NBC's The Tonight Show Jay Leno was called in to testify for the defense in regards to his relationship with the Arvizos. Leno made approximately twenty phone calls to sick children each week and began receiving voicemail messages from Gavin, then a ten-year-old cancer patient, in 2000. Gavin referred to Leno as his hero. Leno said, "It seemed a little unusual." The comedian was contacted by the Santa Barbara police and questioned about Gavin. Leno admitted his misgivings, saying, "It sounded suspicious when a young person got overly effusive. It just didn't click with me." During a phone call from Gavin once, Leno said he heard a voice in the background but was unsure who it was. The defense argued that it was Janet Arvizo telling her son what to say. Leno said the boy never asked him for money; the defense argued that Jackson was merely one of many celebrities that the Arvizos sought to profit from. Chris Tucker: Comedian Chris Tucker claimed he had felt sorry for the Arvizos and bought them gifts and given them money. He felt the Arvizos expected too much, calling him their "brother" and taking advantage of him. He testified that he had warned Jackson about the family, whom he called "cunning". 1994 settlement: The judge allowed investigation evidence from Jackson's previous allegations to be used in the trial, but the 1994 settlement initiated by the Chandlers was deemed "irrelevant and inflammatory." The prosecution attempted to subpoena evidence from the settlement as an indication of guilt. Mesereau argued that Jackson was not liable for any of the claims compromised by the arrangement, because Jackson's insurance company, Transamerica Insurance Group, was responsible for it. The insurance company negotiated the settlement over protests from Jackson and his legal counsel. The settlement included no admission of wrongdoing or guilt, otherwise, it would violate the California Insurance Code. The insurance company had "the right to settle claims covered by insurance where it decides settlement is expedient and the insured may not interfere with nor prevent such settlements," a practice established by several precedents in California. Evidence of insurance settlements would deprive Jackson of due process of law, proper cross-examination and violate Evidence Code 352 as he would not be able to verify the agreements made in the settlement. The settlement cannot be used as evidence of guilt in future civil and criminal cases. The settlement cannot prevent criminal investigation or criminal proceeding, neither can non-disclosure agreements. Bribery to not testify in a trial is felony, and accepting such bribes is also a felony. Verdict: The jury deliberated for about thirty-two hours over seven days. On the initial vote, nine jurors voted to acquit Jackson, while three voted guilty. On June 13, 2005, they returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges. Even with Wade Robson reversing his stance on Jackson’s conduct as part of the defense since his 2009 death, if given the chance to revote today, the 4 jurors that appeared on The Jury Speaks would still vote to acquit Jackson. Jurors found the prosecuting case weak and the timeline of accusations problematic because they had claimed the molesting happened after the broadcast of the documentary when the world's attention was on Jackson and Gavin. One juror believed the mother was a scam artist. In a news conference held after the trial a juror said, "We expected better evidence, something that was a little more convincing. It just wasn't there" FBI files released after Jackson's death also noted that there are no outstanding leads or evidence items. Sneddon suggested that Jackson's celebrity status and the media may have influenced the verdict, but jurors said they often forgot Jackson was in the courtroom. The jury foreman, a retired high school counselor, said, "We looked at all the evidence and we looked at Michael Jackson, and one of the first things we decided was we had to look at him just as another person and not a celebrity." Media coverage: The trial attracted international media attention, and several commentators described it as a media circus. When news of the raid on Jackson's home broke, many channels switched to 24-hour rolling coverage; CBS, NBC, ABC and VH1 produced television specials. The media covered Jackson's poor health, dress and behavior, such as when he hopped on top of a car and waved to fans. The networks E! and Sky TV collaborated to produce re-enactments of highlights from the trial, which were broadcast daily. The re-enactment used look-alike actors, with impersonator Edward Moss portraying Jackson. In 2010, the British journalist Charles Thomson wrote an article for The Huffington Post in which he described the trial as "one of the most shameful episodes in journalistic history". He described the media coverage as "out of control the sheer amount of propaganda, bias, distortion, and misinformation is almost beyond comprehension." In the same journal, Luka Neskovic wrote that the trial "displayed media at their worst. Sensationalism, exclusivity, negativity, eccentrics, chaos, and hysteria were some of the features." For example, according to Neskovic, when pornography was found in Jackson's home, many media outlets misreported it as child pornography. Neskovic observed that the media was more interested in reporting the prosecution than the defense, and that, for example, the Hollywood Reporter chose not to report two weeks of the defense case. Aftermath: Following the trial, Mesereau said he had told Jackson to stop having boys sleep in his bed: "He's not going to do that anymore." Jackson moved to the Persian Gulf island country of Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah. According to Jackson's brother Jermaine, unbeknownst to Jackson, the family had intended to send him to Bahrain had he been convicted. Jackson then lived in Ireland. He never returned to Neverland Ranch, saying it had been despoiled by police searches. In June 2009, he died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Further allegations: In 2013, choreographer Wade Robson, who had testified in the trial that Jackson had not molested him, filed a $1.5 billion lawsuit against Jackson's estate, claiming Jackson had molested him over seven years when he was a child. In May 2015, Judge Mitchell Beckloff dismissed the lawsuit, saying Robson's claim was "untimely and should be dismissed." In 2014, another man who had spent time with Jackson as a child, James Safechuck, filed suit with the same lawyer as Robson. Safechuck previously gave sworn testimony during Jackson's 1993 allegations that he had never been molested. He claimed that he realized he had been abused when he heard Robson's allegations. He alleged that he had been sexually abused by Jackson over a hundred times in a four-year period, and had been "brainwashed" into believing the incidents were "acts of love." In 2017, his lawsuit was dismissed by a probate court as time barred.

USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal

The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal reported beginning in September 2016 relates to the sexual abuse of female athletes—primarily minors at the time of the incidents—over two decades in the United States, starting in the late 1990s. More than 368 persons alleged that they were sexually assaulted "by gym owners, coaches, and staff working for gymnastics programs across the country". Particularly, longtime USA Gymnastics (USAG) national team doctor Larry Nassar has been named in hundreds of lawsuits filed by athletes who said that Nassar engaged in sexual abuse for at least 14 years under the pretense of providing medical treatment. Since the scandal was first reported by The Indianapolis Star in September 2016, more than 265 women, including former USAG national team members Jamie Dantzscher, Morgan White, Jeanette Antolin, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Maggie Nichols, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, Jordyn Wieber, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross, Madison Kocian, Amanda Jetter, Tasha Schwikert, Mattie Larson, Bailie Key, Kennedy Baker, and Alyssa Baumann, have accused Nassar of sexually assaulting them. It is one of the largest sexual abuse scandals in sports history. On July 11, 2017, Nassar pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, and was sentenced to 60 years in prison on December 7, 2017. On November 22, 2017, he pleaded guilty in state court to seven charges of first-degree sexual assault and entered another guilty plea a week later to three additional charges of sexual assault. On January 24, 2018, Nassar was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years in prison, set to run after Nassar serves the 60-year federal prison sentence for child pornography. On February 5, 2018, Nassar received another 40 to 125 years. As of 2019, he is incarcerated at United States Penitentiary, Coleman. An investigation by The Indianapolis Star over a period of nine months found that the abuses were widespread because "predatory coaches were allowed to move from gym to gym, undetected by a lax system of oversight, or dangerously passed on by USA Gymnastics-certified gyms". USAG and Michigan State University—where Nassar worked as its osteopathic physician—have been accused of enabling Nassar's abuse and are named as defendants in civil lawsuits that former gymnasts have filed against Nassar. Besides Nassar, other coaches across the country were involved in the scandal, in localities such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Rhode Island, and Indiana. On May 16, 2018, it was announced that the victims would be awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. On December 13 of that year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) awarded Nichols, the first person to have reported Nassar (though not the first to go public with her report), the Inspiration Award for 2019. Background: In 1990, USAG compiled a list of permanently banned coaches, including coaches banned for sexual abuse. In 1992, Robert Dean Head, a USAG coach in Kentucky, pled guilty to raping a 12-year-old. In 2007, USAG made background checks mandatory for all coaches. Don Peters, the national coach for the 1984 Olympic team, was banned from USAG in 2011, after two former gymnasts accused him of sexual abuse. In 2016, Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar was arrested on charges of sex abuse and possession of child pornography. Multiple victims of sexual abuse have filed lawsuits against USAG and other parties. In several incidents, USAG dismissed warnings about coaches. In a 2013 lawsuit, USAG officials admitted under oath that allegations of sexual abuse were routinely dismissed as hearsay unless they came directly from a victim or victim's parent. USAG waited for four years before reporting Marvin Sharp to police. Sharp was named USAG Coach in 2010. In 2015 he was charged with three counts of child molestation and four counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. He was charged and committed suicide in prison. Gymnastic coach Mark Schiefelbein was charged in 2002 for molesting a 10-year-old girl. After prosecutors subpoenaed records, they learned that USAG had received prior complaints against Schiefelbein, who was convicted and is serving a 36-year sentence. A complaint had been filed about James Bell at least five years before he was arrested in 2003 for molesting three young gymnasts. Bell pleaded guilty and is serving eight years in prison. At least four complaints were made against Georgia coach William McCabe, but USAG did not report the allegations to the police. One gym owner had warned that McCabe "should be locked in a cage before someone is raped." McCabe continued coaching for seven years until one gymnast's mother went to the FBI with emails that he had sent to her 11-year-old daughter. McCabe was charged with molesting gymnasts, secretly videotaping girls changing clothes, and posting their nude images on the Internet. He pleaded guilty and is serving a 30-year sentence. A judge released over 5,600 pages of court records in the McCabe case after the Indianapolis Star requested the documents. These documents show how USAG has responded to various sexual misconduct allegations that were made against coaches over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2006. The released documents included a letter which says a USAG regional chairman spoke to the organization's president in support of allowing a convicted sex offender to keep his membership. Other documents include sexual abuse complaints that were filed against 54 coaches. The documents revealed that some of these coaches were not banned from the sport even after being convicted of the crimes. USAG has since said that it has banned 37 of the 54 coaches. In a deposition, USAG President Steve Penny said "To the best of my knowledge, there's no duty to report if you are – if you are a third-party to some allegation. You know, that lies with the person who has first-hand knowledge." Penny resigned in March 2017. Nassar was a licensed osteopathic physician and the national team sports-medicine doctor for USAG. He also ran a clinic and gymnastics club at Michigan State University, where he was a faculty member. USAG fired Nassar in 2015 "after learning of athlete concerns". Sexual abuse allegations: In September 2016, The Indianapolis Star reported that Rachael Denhollander was one of two former gymnasts who had made accusations of sexual abuse against Nassar. Following those criminal complaints, Michigan State University reassigned Nassar from his clinical and teaching duties and fired him later that month. Since then, over 250 women and girls have accused Nassar of sexually abusing them; many of them were minors at the time of the crimes. According to those reports, Nassar committed sexual assaults during medical examinations and purported treatments. The molestations ranged from his inserting a finger into the gymnasts' vaginas and anuses to fondling their breasts and genitalia. These were criminal acts regardless of consent since the victims were minors. Nassar initially denied the charges, claiming that he was performing legitimate medical procedures. In February 2017, three former gymnasts: Jeanette Antolin, Jessica Howard and Jamie Dantzscher, gave an interview with 60 Minutes in which they accused Nassar of sexually abusing them. The gymnasts also alleged that the "emotionally abusive environment" at the national team training camps run by Béla and Márta Károlyi at the Karolyi Ranch near Huntsville, Texas, gave Nassar an opportunity to take advantage of the gymnasts and made them afraid to speak up about the abuse. Rachael Denhollander, one of the first women to publicly accuse Nassar, said in court in May 2017 that Nassar sexually abused her on five doctor's visits in 2000, when she was 15 years of age. Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney, using the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter, stated that Nassar repeatedly molested her, starting in 2008 when she was 13 years old and continuing until she retired from the sport in 2016. Maroney filed a lawsuit against Nassar, Michigan State University, the United States Olympic Committee and USAG. The lawsuit accused USAG of covering up the sexual abuse by paying Maroney $1.25 million settlement that required her to sign a non-disclosure agreement. During a 60 Minutes interview, Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman also accused Nassar of sexually abusing her. Raisman stated that Nassar molested her when she was 15 years of age. Gabby Douglas drew criticism from fellow Olympic teammate Simone Biles and others for sending a tweet that they interpreted as criticizing Raisman and of "victim-shaming", stating that "dressing in a provocative/sexual way incites the wrong crowd". Douglas later apologized for the tweet, and said she was also a victim of Nassar's alleged abuse. Former national team member Maggie Nichols accused Nassar of abusing her, and documented the ways he "groomed" her by connecting with her on Facebook and complimenting her appearance on numerous occasions. It was also reported that it was Nichols' coach, Sarah Jantzi, who first reported Nassar to USAG on June 17, 2015, after overhearing Nichols talk to other gymnasts, later revealed to be Raisman and Alyssa Baumann, about Nassar's behavior. Simone Biles came forward shortly after with firsthand accounts of how she too had been sexually abused by Nassar. Jordyn Wieber made a statement at Nassar's court sentencing in which she also accused Nassar of sexually abusing her during her time at USAG. On May 1, 2018, former national team member Sabrina Vega also accused Nassar of sexual abuse, claiming she was abused hundreds of times, beginning when she was 12. In August 2018, UCLA gymnasts and 2012 and 2016 Olympians Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian came forward as victims of Nassar. The following month, Alabama Crimson Tide gymnasts Bailie Key and Amanda Jetter also came forward with accusations against Nassar. In October Tasha Schwikert, a member of the 2000 US Olympics team, came forward as a victim and claimed that Steve Penny pressed her to publicly support USA Gymnastics at the height of the Nassar scandal. In November, Florida Gators gymnasts Kennedy Baker and Baumann made public allegations against Nassar; Baker said she was abused during the 2012 Olympic Trials. Criminal proceedings- Larry Nassar: In November 2016, Nassar was initially charged with sexual assault of a child. Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette stated that the assaults began when the victim was 6 years old in 1998 and lasted until 2005. He pleaded not guilty to three charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against a minor during his first court appearance. The following month, Nassar was indicted on federal child pornography charges. According to the FBI, over 37,000 images and videos of child pornography were seized from Nassar's home, including a GoPro video of Nassar allegedly molesting girls in a swimming pool. Nassar pleaded guilty to three federal child pornography charges on July 11, 2017, and was given three consecutive 20-year prison sentences by U.S. District Judge Janet T. Neff on December 7, 2017. On November 15, 2017, it was reported that Nassar pleaded guilty to counts of sexual assault in Ingham County (which contains most of East Lansing, the home city for Michigan State) and Eaton County in Michigan. At the time, he faced a total of 22 charges, 15 in Ingham and 7 in Eaton. Among the allegations was that under the guise of providing legitimate treatment, he had molested 7 girls at his home and at a clinic on the MSU campus. It also stated that Nassar would enter a guilty plea in Ingham County on November 22 and would then plead guilty in Eaton County on November 29 and would serve at least 25 years in prison for these crimes. Others who reported assaults by Nassar to the police were permitted to make victim impact statements during his sentencing hearing. During his appearance before Judge Rosemarie Aquilina in Ingham County Circuit Court, and under the terms of his plea agreement, Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct charges with a minimum sentence of 25 to 40 years in prison. Three of the victims were under the age of 13 and three ranged in age from 13 to 15. Nassar issued a short statement in which he apologized and said that he was hopeful the community could move forward: "For all those involved, I'm so horribly sorry that this was like a match that turned into a forest fire out of control. I have no animosity toward anyone. I just want healing. We need to move forward in a sense of growth and healing and I pray for that". More than 150 women made impact statements during Nassar's week-long sentencing hearing before the former doctor was sentenced on January 24, 2018 to state prison for 40 to 175 years. During his federal sentencing, Judge Neff had previously ordered that any state prison term run consecutive with Nassar's federal sentence Judge Aquilina quoted a letter that Nassar had sent her prior to sentencing, in which he blamed his accusers. She described him as a dangerous individual who showed little remorse and said that she "signed his death warrant". During his Eaton County Circuit Court appearance, Nassar pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual misconduct with three children under the age of 16. On February 5, 2018, Judge Janet Cunningham sentenced Nassar to an additional 40 to 125 years in state prison. This sentence will run consecutive to Nassar's federal sentence but concurrent to his previous state sentence from Ingham County. Steve Penny: On October 17, 2018, former USAG CEO Steve Penny was arrested on charge of evidence tampering in the Larry Nassar case. He was accused of removing documents linked to the Nassar sexual abuse case from the Karolyi Ranch gymnastics training facility in Texas. On October 29, 2018, Penny entered a plea of not guilty. Lou Anna Simon: On November 20, 2018, former Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon was charged with two felonies and two misdemeanor counts for lying to police. She is accused of falsely telling investigators she did not know the nature of a Title IX complaint against Nassar in 2014. She could face up to four years in prison on each felony charge. Response and impact- USA Gymnastics: With regard to the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal, in 2016 USAG stated that "Nothing is more important to USA Gymnastics, the Board of Directors and CEO Steve Penny than protecting athletes, which requires sustained vigilance by everyone—coaches, athletes, parents, administrators and officials. We are saddened when any athlete has been harmed in the course of his or her gymnastics career." The USAG also said that it required criminal background checks for all of its coaches. An independent investigation by The Indianapolis Star, however, found that "some coaches are fired at gym after gym without being tracked or flagged by USA Gymnastics, or losing their membership with the organization". Specifically with respect to Nassar, USA Gymnastics (USAG) said that its executives first learned of an athlete's concern regarding him in June 2015. Following an internal investigation, Nassar was fired and reported to the FBI the next month. In March 2017, USAG president Steve Penny resigned amid accusations of negligence and calls for his dismissal. In response to the scandal, USAG adopted reforms based on a June 2017 report by an investigator hired to review the organization's policies and practices. One of the changes is a requirement that all USAG members report any suspected sexual misconduct to appropriate authorities and the US Center for SafeSport. USAG has been criticized for its handling of the sexual abuse allegations against Nassar. According to a 2016 investigation reported by The Indianapolis Star, top executives at USAG routinely dismissed sexual abuse allegations against coaches and failed to alert authorities. United States Senators criticized the organization's leadership for waiting five weeks before reporting Nassar to authorities after first learning of allegations involving Nassar in 2015. Juliet Macur of The New York Times was critical of USAG for not attending the 2017 congressional hearing on protecting young athletes from sexual abuse, and noted that the organization had not apologized for its role in the scandal. Two-time Olympian Aly Raisman criticized USAG's response to the scandal, noting that the reported $1 million severance package given to former president Penny could have been used to create a program to help the affected athletes. Amid the sex abuse scandal, USAG lost several major corporate sponsors, including Procter & Gamble, Kellogg's, Under Armour, The Hershey Company and AT&T. Procter & Gamble was the name sponsor of the National Championships for five seasons, AT&T sponsored the American Cup since 2011, and Kellogg's sponsored a series nationwide tours. Marketing revenues account for approximately 35% of USAG annual revenues, or about $9.4 million. Kellogg's and Procter & Gamble were two of the largest sponsors associated with the organization. In January 2018, USAG officially cut ties with Karolyi Ranch, the former national training center for the national team and a site where Nassar sexually assaulted many gymnasts. Later that month the Karolyi Ranch announced on its website that the facility had permanently closed. On January 22, 2018, three members of the USAG Board of Directors resigned. Following Nassar's sentencing on January 24, 2018, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) published an open letter calling for the resignations of the remaining USAG Board of Directors, saying that failure to comply with the request would result in the USOC taking steps to decertify the governing body. The USOC also announced that it was launching a third-party investigation into the scandal. On January 31, USAG received resignations from every member of its board of directors, complying with USOC's demands. On February 1, it was reported that the USOC had been informed of abuse claims in 2015, prior to when they claim they first learned of it in 2016. Reports surfaced that USAG President Steve Penny had called USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackmun in July 2015 to inform him that an investigation uncovered possible criminal behavior by Nassar against Olympic athletes. Additionally in September 2015, Penny emailed USOC Security Chief detailing the allegations against Nassar. John Geddert, team coach of the 2012 London Olympic team and personal coach of Jordyn Wieber, retired following an announcement by USAG that he had been suspended as a result of his connection to Nassar. Geddert operated two gyms that employed Nassar, including Twistars. Ownership of Twistars has been transferred to Geddert's wife Katherine. Gymnasts have reported being abused by Nassar at Twistars. Gymnasts have also accused Geddert of being abusive and dismissive of their injuries. One gymnast said Geddert had thrown her onto the low bar hard enough to tear the muscles in her stomach and end her career. They have said that Geddert's abuse left them vulnerable to Nassar's manipulation. On February 2, Valeri Liukin resigned as national team coordinator. Later that month, the USOC CEO Scott Blackmun also resigned. On February 28, Raisman filed a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and the USOC, claiming both organizations "knew or should have known" about the ongoing abuse. On May 1, former national team member Sabrina Vega sued USAG, the USOC, and Béla and Márta Károlyi, claiming they ignored signs about Nassar's behavior or should have known he posed a risk to the gymnasts he treated. On September 4, USA Gymnastics CEO and President, Kerry Perry, resigned. This came after USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland called for a change in USAG leadership and the United States Elite Coaches Association called for a vote of no confidence in Perry. On October 12, Mary Bono was appointed interim president and chief executive officer of USA Gymnastics. She resigned four days later after many people, including Raisman and Biles, expressed criticism over choosing Bono as interim president due to her ties with her former law firm, Faegre Baker Daniels, the same firm that helped cover up Nassar's crimes. On November 5, 2018, the USOC announced that it was starting the process to decertify USAG as the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. One month later, USAG filed for bankruptcy. Michigan State University: Michigan State University said that it first received a complaint against Nassar in 2014. A Title IX investigation into the complaint found no violation of policy and Nassar was allowed to continue treating patients under certain agreed upon restrictions, as stipulated by MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine Dean William Strampel. However, no monitoring was instituted. After allegations against Nassar were reported by The Indianapolis Star in September 2016, Nassar was fired by Michigan State for violating the 2014 agreement. The university faces lawsuits from 144 local and MSU athletes who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar. Michigan State University gymnastics coach Kathie Klages was suspended on February 13, 2017, and retired the next day, amidst the sexual abuse investigation of Nassar. Klages has been accused of dismissing sexual abuse complaints by former gymnasts against Nassar and pressuring them to stay silent. According to court documents, Klages was reportedly aware of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar as early as 1997. On December 12, 2017, Strampel resigned as dean and went on medical leave as faculty. After mediation ended in the civil lawsuits, the MSU Board of Trustees voted to establish a $10 million fund to reimburse Nassar's victims for counseling services. MSU President Lou Anna Simon also apologized to the Nassar victims and donated her just-approved raise to the Roy J. and Lou Anna K. Simon Scholarship fund. During Nassar's sentencing in January 2018, eight former MSU athletes, including those from the gymnastics, softball, volleyball, rowing, and track and field programs, gave victim impact statements accusing MSU staff of dismissing their sexual abuse complaints against Nassar. On January 23, 2018, the National Collegiate Athletic Association formally opened an investigation into the university's handling of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar. On January 24, 2018, amid backlash over the university's role in the scandal, the Michigan House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for a non-binding resolution sponsored by Rep. Adam Zemke, that called for the university's Board of Trustees to fire President Lou Anna Simon if she did not resign. Simon resigned later that same day. Two days later, MSU athletic director Mark Hollis retired. Several other investigations by state and federal agencies into Michigan State's involvement are ongoing, including by the Michigan Attorney General's office and the United States Education Department. As a result of the Michigan Attorney General's investigation, in March 2018 William Strampel, who oversaw Nassar's clinic while dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, was arrested and charged with felony misconduct in office and criminal sexual conduct for allegedly groping a student and storing nude photos on his computer. Strampel also possessed a video of the pelvic floor manipulation procedure that Larry Nassar had created as a training video. The video may constitute evidence of an assault, and the investigation is continuing. On June 9, 2018, six current or former Michigan State employees linked to Nassar became the subjects of an investigation by Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. On May 16, 2018, it was reported that the Michigan State University and Nassar victims had reached a $500 million settlement. United States Congress: The United States Congress responded to the sexual abuse claims made against Nassar and also to claims made against personnel who were involved with USA Swimming and USA Taekwondo. United States Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill to require national governing body members overseeing Olympic sports to immediately report sexual assault allegations to law enforcement or designated child-welfare agencies. Former gymnasts Dominique Moceanu, Jamie Dantzscher and Jessica Howard testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on March 28, 2017, concerning the bill. Rick Adams, chief of Paralympic sports for the United States Olympic Committee and head of organizational development for the NGBs, stated at the hearing: "We do take responsibility, and we apologize to any young athlete who has ever faced abuse." USAG was asked to testify at the hearing, but declined. The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-C.A.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) and others, was agreed to in the House of Representatives on January 29, 2018. The bill was agreed to in the Senate on January 30, 2018, and became law on February 14, 2018, when it was signed by President Donald J. Trump. Among other things, the law requires Olympic governing bodies and amateur sports organizations to report sex-abuse allegations immediately to local or federal law enforcement, or a child-welfare agency designated by the United States Department of Justice. It further authorizes the United States Center for Safe Sport to ensure that aspiring U.S. Olympic athletes can report allegations of abuse to an independent and non-conflicted entity for investigation and resolution, and to make sure that all national governing bodies follow the strictest standards for child abuse prevention and detection. The bill amends the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, under the Commerce Committee's jurisdiction, to expand the purposes of USOC to promote a safe environment in sports that is free from abuse.

Boy Scouts of America sex abuse cases

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with 2.7 million youth members and over 1 million adult volunteers. In 1979 there were over 5 million youths in BSA. There were nearly 2,000 reported cases of abuse within the Boy Scouts of America prior to 1994, and at least one abuse incident as recent as 2006. The high risk of volunteer youth organizations has been recognized, and in 1988, the BSA created a sex abuse education and prevention program in the 1980s called the Youth Protection program to help address the problem. In 2010, a jury ordered that the Scouts pay $18.5 million to a Scout who was abused in the 1980s—it was the largest punitive damages award to a single plaintiff in a child abuse case in the US. ing incidents of sexual abuse within the Boy Scouts of America to include incidents of repeat offenders. There have also been several high-profile court cases that resulted in convictions and settlements involving such incidents. In the 1980s, BSA developed its Youth Protection program, a comprehensive program to educate and prevent abuse. A centerpiece of the program is the "two deep" leadership criterion which dictates that no adult can ever be alone with any members. Before joining, a member must discuss with their parents a pamphlet on sexual abuse. The Youth Protection Plan from the organization is linked to a CDC report on such programs. Kenneth Lannings, the FBI agent who helped develop the BSA's Youth Protection Plan, wrote that "A skilled pedophile who can get children into a situation where they must change clothing or stay with him overnight will almost always succeed in seducing them." BSA adopted the following policies to provide additional barriers to child abuse within scouting. These policies are primarily for the protection of its youth members; however, they also serve to protect its adult leaders from false accusations of abuse. -Two-deep leadership. Two registered adult leaders or one registered leader and a parent of a participant, one of whom must be 21 years of age or older, are required on all trips and outings. The "two-deep" policy requires that a minimum of two adults be present during all activities to minimize the potential for clandestine abuse. The chartered organization is responsible for ensuring that sufficient leadership is provided for all activities. -No one-on-one contact. One-on-one contact between adults and youth members is not permitted. In situations that require personal conferences, such as a Scoutmaster's conference, the meeting is to be conducted in view of other adults and youths. -Respect of privacy. Adult leaders must respect the privacy of youth members in situations such as changing clothes and taking showers at camp, and intrude only to the extent that health and safety require. Adults must protect their own privacy in similar situations. -Separate accommodations. When camping, no youth is permitted to sleep in the tent of an adult other than his own parent or guardian. Councils are strongly encouraged to have separate shower and latrine facilities for females. When separate facilities are not available, separate times for male and female use should be scheduled and posted for showers. -Proper preparation for high-adventure activities. Activities with elements of risk should never be undertaken without proper preparation, equipment, clothing, supervision, and safety measures. -No secret organizations. The Boy Scouts of America does not recognize any secret organizations as part of its program. All aspects of the scouting program are open to observation by parents and leaders. Appropriate attire. Proper clothing for activities is required. For example, skinny-dipping is not appropriate as part of scouting. Constructive discipline. Discipline used in scouting should be constructive and reflect the values of the organization. Corporal punishment is never permitted. -Hazing prohibited. Physical hazing and initiations are prohibited and may not be included as part of any scouting activity. -Junior leader training and supervision. Adult leaders must monitor and guide the leadership techniques used by junior leaders and ensure that BSA policies are followed. The plan has been criticized for not making criminal background checks a requirement for all volunteers until 2008, and that failure to require those allowed additional child molesters into the organization. -1991 Washington Times investigation: In May 1991, the Washington Times published a major five-part investigation entitled "Scouts Honor" on sex abuse in the BSA. Staff from the newspaper had worked for two years preparing the series, reviewing internal and personnel records from the Boy Scouts; court records from more than 20 states; and more than 1,000 newspaper articles; as well as interviewing more than 200 people, including molesters, families of victims, Scout leaders, sex abuse experts and lawyers. The newspaper restricted itself to reported cases of male Scout leaders abusing Boy Scouts before the introduction of its Youth Protection program. In summation, they wrote "The Boy Scouts are a magnet for men who want to have sexual relations with children...Pedophiles join the Scouts for a simple reason: it's where the boys are." The series drew on three sources: -Historical "confidential files" (formerly known as the "Ineligible Volunteer Files") within Scout records, with details on 231 Scout leaders banned from Scouting for sexual misconduct from 1975 through 1984. -50 lawsuits against the Scouts by families of molested boys from around the US. -A list from the BSA of more than 350 men banned for sexual misconduct from 1971 to 1986. The newspaper discovered that 1,151 Scouts reported being abused by their leaders during the studied 19-year period, mostly before the implementation of the Youth Protection Plan. They published a detailed list of 416 cases from 1971–1990 where a US Scout leader was arrested or banned from Scouting for sexual abuse of Scouts, adding that experts said the real number of abusers and victims was probably several times higher. The newspaper articles later formed the basis for a book by the main journalist involved, Patrick Boyle: Scout's Honor: Sexual Abuse in America's Most Trusted Institution. The series, written shortly after the inception of BSA's Youth Protection program, concluded that "After decades of shying away from the problem, the Scouts have created what many child abuse experts call one of the best sex abuse education programs in the country. The program teaches boys, leaders and parents about resisting, recognizing and reporting abuse." Legal actions: A number of lawsuits have resulted. A study of 50 lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America showed that from 1986 to 1991 BSA and local councils agreed to pay more than $15 million in damages. According to federal tax returns, BSA payments to one law firm in Miami working on abuse cases were more than one-half million dollars; the BSA insurance reserve, from which the damages are paid, stood at $61.9 million. The actual payment total, said the Washington Times in 1991, is probably far higher because the Scouts sometimes agree to pay damages only if the payments are kept secret. Keeping damage awards confidential is commonly required by insurers. In August 2007, the Washington state Supreme Court ordered BSA to hand over documents concerning sexual abuse by Scout leaders. These documents showed that the organization removes about 180 of its leaders each year, although most of these removals have to do with other issues besides child abuse. 2010 Lewis v. Boys Scouts of America et al.: Lewis v. Boys Scouts of America et al. was a case filed in Multnomah County, Oregon, by Kerry Lewis, a former member of the BSA who alleged having been abused by former scout leader Timur Dykes in the 1980s. In 1983, Timur Dykes had confessed to the local BSA co-ordinator that he had molested 17 Boy Scouts, but was allowed to continue working with the Scouts where, attorneys argued, he subsequently abused Lewis. In 2010, the jury on the case held in favor of the plaintiff and ordered that the Scouts pay $18.5 million as punishment for their actions—the largest punitive damages awarded to a single plaintiff in a child abuse case in the US. Kelly Clark, an attorney representing the abused scout, had alleged the BSA failed to properly handle the abuse, saying "We saw numerous examples of the Scouts writing to law enforcement saying 'it would be best for the good of Scouting if this could avoid being made too public.'" Some observers said the case "could have a snowball effect in much the same way high-profile molestation suits against the Roman Catholic Church had". Patrick Boyle, author of Scout's Honor: Sexual Abuse in America's Most Trusted Institution, was quoted as commenting "Until this case, the Boy Scouts of America had managed to keep these cases largely underwater nationally. All of a sudden, it's gotten blown out of the water and the public knows that the Scouts have had this problem, too -- just like the Catholic Church." The trial provided a rare opportunity for an American jury to view confidential files held by BSA, although BSA had fought to keep the files secret. They showed BSA knowledge of abuse dated back to the 1920s. Reports said that in the US, the Scouts settled about 60 similar historic cases out of court over recent years. In 2010 in Portland, Oregon, attorneys Paul Mones and Kelly Clark won a $19.9 million verdict against the Boy Scouts of America filed by a former scout who had been sexually abused by his Scout leader in the mid- 1980s. This verdict resulted in the release of the Perversion Files that had been maintained by the Boy Scouts for about ninety years. The files, which were released for the period 1965 through 1985, detailed the sexual abuse of scouts by their adult leaders. 2012 release of "ineligible volunteer" files: Since the 1920s, the BSA has maintained a highly confidential set of "ineligible volunteer" files, nicknamed the "perversion files". On October 19, 2012, the Boy Scouts of America were forced by court order to release over 20,000 pages of documentation on 1200 alleged child sexual abuse cases within the organization, covering the time period from 1965 to 1985. It has been alleged that BSA may have helped cover-up the abuse cases, sometimes with the aid of police and other officials, "to protect the good name and good works of Scouting." The reports showed incidents where accused abusers were allowed to continue in the Scouts and, in more than a third of the cases covered in the documents, information about the allegations was not passed on to police. A recently released letter by a Louisiana BSA executive to the BSA's national personnel division revealed: "This subject and Scouts were not prosecuted to save the name of Scouting." The files revealed cases of collusion between the BSA and the Justice System, as in a 1962 Johnston PA case where a BSA leader pleaded guilty to "serious morals" violations involving Scouts. A local Scouting executive learned of the abuse from a member of the local executive board who served as both mayor and police chief. Newspapers failed to report the connection to the Scouts because, as the executive wrote to BSA national's personnel division in explanation, "No mention of Scouting was involved in the case in as much as two of the three judges who pronounced sentence are members of our Executive Board". Among the files include a 1972 BSA executive writing "I would like to let this case drop. One father has threatened legal action which could only injure the Boy Scouts of America. My personal opinion in this particular case is, ‘If it don’t stink, don’t stir it.’" Supporters of the BSA are quick to point out that the cases discussed in the files occurred prior to 1985. Critics, meanwhile, point out that as of 2012, the BSA has refused to release those files dating from after 1985. A Texas judge has ordered the release of the post-1985 files, but the BSA is currently in the process of appealing to avoid that release. A Minnesota district judge has also ordered the release. A California judge has similarly ordered the release of more files, and the California state supreme court has denied an appeal from the BSA. A BSA spokesman commented that "The BSA believes confidentiality of the Files helps to encourage prompt reporting of abuse". Note that there are many other reasons (besides child sex abuse) for why individuals were added to the "Ineligible volunteers" list such as violent or threats of violent behaviour, destruction of property or failure to uphold the other standards of the scouting program. Specific cases: -Floyd David Slusher, a former scoutmaster in the Boulder, Colorado area, was convicted in 1977 of one count of sexually assaulting a child and received an indeterminate sentence of "one day to life." Paroled in 1984, Slusher was arrested in 1989 and convicted of three felony counts of child exploitation in 1990. Release on parole in 2018, he was arrested on August 9, 2018 for parole violation. -Joe Gibson, a former Scoutmaster in the St. Petersburg, Florida area, was convicted in June 1982. -Lee Pontius, former Daytona Beach, Florida area Scoutmaster, and current Silver Beaver honoree, was convicted multiple times of molesting Boy Scouts, including on a November 1982 camping trip. -Martin Turner, a leader in Texas, pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of attempted indecency with a child by contact. He had abused two children in cases going back up to 40 years. -Al Steven Stein, a former boy scout leader in Santa Barbara, California, was convicted in 2009 for felony child molestation and misdemeanor possession of child pornography. Stein and the Boy Scouts of America were sued for negligent training, knowledge of Stein's propensities, and failure to report. Roe v. Boy Scouts of America, Stein et al., settled in 2015 with the BSA. J. Geck awarded judgment against Stein. BSA has since changed some of its policies as requested by plaintiffs. -David McDonald Rankin, a former Scoutmaster in College Park, Maryland, was convicted for abusing Scouts between 1984 and 1987. -Gary Lee Gephart, a former Cub Scout leader in Oceanside, California, was convicted in 1996. -Howard W. Curtis, a Haverhill, Massachusetts leader, pleaded guilty in May 2008 for acts occurring in the 1980s. -James Hiatt, a former Boy Scout leader in Texas, was convicted in May 2008 for abuse that took place from about 2003 to 2005. Brad Stowell confessed to molesting 24 boys from 1989 until his arrest in 1997. Authorities working at the camp were warned numerous times during his employment. In 1988, at age 16, Stowell had previously admitted to police that he molested a 6-year-old, which Scout officials were also aware of. -Gary Wade Brown, a former Boy Scout Leader in Orem, Utah, in 2009 pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual abuse of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree felonies, and one count of lewdness involving a child, a Class A misdemeanor. Seven additional charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. The abuse involved a 12-year-old boy and took place between 2005 and 2006. -Charles Donald Corley, a Boy Scout volunteer in Birmingham, Alabama, was convicted for sexual abuse against three young men in 1995. -Richard Turley, a former volunteer in California, was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old Canadian scout. After 18 months, he was released from a mental institution and went right back to work, beginning his volunteer work at a California scout camp. In 1979, he assaulted three of those scouts. Upon learning this, the Boy Scouts of America simply told Turley to return to Canada, not warning Scouts Canada of Turley's criminal behavior. In 1996, Turley went on to assault four boys, three of which were scouts, in Victoria, British Columbia. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. -James Molyneaux, 2004, a former Boy Scout leader and 6th-grade English school teacher in Portville, New York, was arrested in connection to an abuse case of a 13-year-old in July 1997 at a campground owned by the Molyneaux family that was used for scouting activities and another case of an 11-year-old at his home in Portville, NY in September 2000. Although Molyneaux denied the charges, at trial he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of second-degree sodomy, and one count of first-degree sexual abuse. Molyneaux is currently serving 17 1/2 to 23 years with a maximum sentence of 57 years in the Clinton Correctional Facility. The state has denied his appeal -Garth David Snively, 1994, a former Boy Scout leader, was convicted for two counts of first-degree child molestation and sentenced to 11 years after his 1993 arrest for molesting at least 20 Boy Scout members of various ages over several years, as well as while a mentor in the Big Brothers program. His victims testified in court that while at his home in Everett, Washington, Snively would apply baby powder to and fondle their genitals, make them wear diapers and, in addition, make them fondle, powder and diaper him.[54] A Level III sex offender, Snively was released and now resides in Centralia, Washington. -Richard Merry was an assistant Scout Leader in Troop 691, part of the Georgia Coastal Counsel, from 2006-2010. In September 2011, Merry was found guilty of victimizing several Boy Scouts in a general court martial and sentenced to 52 years of confinement and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Navy. He is currently incarcerated at Leavenworth US Penitentiary. Lee Smith- scout leader in warren Michigan convicted on multiple accounts of exposing himself and also having sex with boys in the early 1990s while on camping trips with boys, convicted and sentenced to 20 years. -Jerrold Schwartz, a volunteer with Troop 666 in Manhattan from 1978 to 2001, was charged with more than 30 counts of sodomy alleged to have occurred in 1996 and 1997, while Schwartz was serving as the troop's Scoutmaster. The victim claimed the abuse began in 1994, when he was 13 years old, but New York's statute of limitations had already expired on acts before 1996. At Schwartz's arraignment, the prosecution produced an audio recording of Schwartz admitting to and apologizing for the abuse in a conversation with his victim. Attorneys for the victim, who filed a $50 million suit against Schwartz and the Boy Scouts of America, stated that four other victims claimed that they were also abused by Schwartz in the 1980s and 1990s, but those acts were barred from prosecution by the statute of limitations. A previous abuse complaint had been lodged with the local Boy Scout council against Schwartz in 1994, but he was permitted to continue as Scoutmaster after police determined the accusation to be unfounded. In exchange for pleading guilty to four of the charges against him, Schwartz was promised a maximum sentence of between 2 2/3 and eight years. Schwartz was released on parole from Oneida Correctional Facility in January 2008, after serving five years and four months for his crimes.

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in Downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 am the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare.[1] Half of the building collapsed seconds after the truck bomb detonated. The remains were imploded a month after the attack, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial was built on the site. Construction and use: The building was designed by architect Wendell Locke of Locke, Wright and Associates and constructed by J.W. Bateson using reinforced concrete in 1977 at a cost of $14.5 million. The building, named for federal judge Alfred P. Murrah, an Oklahoma native, opened on March 2, 1977. By the 1990s, the building contained regional offices for the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the United States Secret Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs vocational rehabilitation counseling center, the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). It also contained recruiting offices for the US Military. It housed approximately 550 employees. It also housed America's Kids, a children's day care center. Prior bombing plots: In October 1983, members of the white supremacist group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), including founder James Ellison and Richard Snell plotted to park "a van or trailer in front of the Federal Building and blow it up with rockets detonated by a timer." While the CSA was building a rocket launcher to attack the building, the ordnance accidentally detonated in one of the member's hands. The CSA took this as divine intervention and called off the planned attack. Convicted of murder in an unrelated case, Richard Snell was executed on April 19, 1995, the same day the bombing of the federal building was carried out, after Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas declined to hear further appeal. Snell reportedly spent his last day watching news coverage of the bombing and laughing to himself. Destruction: At 9:02 a.m. local time on April 19, 1995, a Ryder rental truck, containing approximately 7,000 pounds (3175 kg) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel was detonated in front of the building, destroying a third of it and causing severe damage to several other buildings located nearby. As a result, 168 people were killed, including 19 children, and over 800 others were injured. It remains the deadliest domestic terrorist attack, with the most property damage, on American soil. Timothy McVeigh, a US Army veteran, was found guilty of the attack in a jury trial and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2001. A co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, is serving multiple life sentences in a federal prison. Third and fourth subjects, Michael Fortier and his wife, Lori, assisted in the plot. They testified against both McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a 12-year prison term for Michael and immunity for Lori. Michael was released into the witness protection program in January 2006. McVeigh said that he bombed the building on the second anniversary of the Waco siege in 1993 to retaliate for U.S. government actions there and at the siege at Ruby Ridge. Before his execution, he said that he did not know a day care center was in the building and that, had he known, "It might have given me pause to switch targets." The FBI said that he scouted the interior of the building in December 1994 and likely knew of the day care center before the bombing. Artwork in the building: Many works of art were in the building when it was destroyed in the Oklahoma City bombing. The Oklahoma City National Memorial displays art that survived the bombing. Lost works are as follows: -Sky Ribbons: An Oklahoma Tribute, (1978) Fiber sculpture by Gerhardt Knodel -Columbines at Cascade Canyon, Photograph by Albert D. Edgar -Winter Scene, Photography by Curt Clyne -Morning Mist, Photograph by David Halpern -Charon's Sentinels, Photograph by David Halpern -Soaring Currents, Sisal and rayon textile by Karen Chapnick -Monolith, Porcelain sculpture by Frank Simons -Through the Looking Glass, Wool Textile by Anna Burgress -Palm Tree Coil, Bronze sculpture by Jerry McMillan. -An untitled acrylic sculpture by Fred Eversley was severely damaged, but survived the blast. Demolition: Rescue and recovery efforts were concluded at 11:50 pm on May 1, with the bodies of all but three victims recovered. For safety reasons, the remains were to be demolished shortly afterward. However, McVeigh's attorney, Stephen Jones, called for a motion to delay the demolition until the defense team could examine the site in preparation for the trial. More than a month after the bombing, at 7:01 am on May 23, the remains were demolished. The final three bodies, those of two credit union employees and a customer, were recovered. For several days after the remains' demolition, trucks hauled 800 tons of debris a day away from the site. Some of it was used as evidence in the conspirators' trials, incorporated into parts of memorials, donated to local schools, and sold to raise funds for relief efforts. Remnants and replacement: Several remnants of the building stand on the site of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The plaza (on what was once its south side) has been incorporated into the memorial; the original flagpole is still in use. The east wall (within the building's footprint) is intact, as well as portions of the south wall. The underground parking garage survived the blast and is used today, but is guarded and closed to the public. The General Services Administration immediately sought to replace the facility. The building site is a transition zone between the Central Business District and the North Downtown neighborhood. The new 185,000 square foot building was designed by Ross Barney Architects of Chicago, Illinois, with Carol Ross Barney as the lead designer. Constructed on a two city block site, one block north and west of the former site, the new building's design maximized sustainable design and workplace productivity initiatives. Security design was paramount to the Federal employees and its neighbors. Secure design was achieved based on the GSA's current standards for secure facilities including blast resistant glazing. Structural design resists progressive collapse. Building mass, glazing inside the courtyard, and bollards help to maintain a sense of openness and security. The art in architecture component of the building incorporates a water feature that acts as an additional security barrier.

Zeran v. America Online, Inc.

Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 937 (1998), is a case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit determined the immunity of Internet service providers for wrongs committed by their users under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Section 230(c)(1) of the CDA provides that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." The Fourth Circuit held that each of the plaintiff's claims was barred by the CDA, holding that Section 230 "creates a federal immunity to any cause of action that would make service providers liable for information originating with a third-party user of the service." In the words of the Zeran court: Lawsuits seeking to hold a service liable for its exercise of a publisher's traditional editorial functions – such as deciding whether to publish, withdraw, postpone or alter content – are barred. The purpose of this statutory immunity is not difficult to discern. Congress recognized the threat that tort-based lawsuits pose to freedom of speech in the new and burgeoning Internet medium. ... Section 230 was enacted, in part, to maintain the robust nature of Internet communication Facts: On April 25, 1995, six days after the Oklahoma City bombing, a message was anonymously posted on America Online's (AOL) "Michigan Military Movement" bulletin board advertising items with slogans glorifying the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. These items included slogans such as, "Visit Oklahoma ... It's a BLAST!!!", "Putting the kids to bed Oklahoma 1995", and "McVeigh for President 1996". Persons interested in making a purchase were instructed to call the plaintiff, Kenneth M. Zeran, whose home phone number was posted in the message but who had neither posted the message nor had anything to do with the content of the ad. Shortly after the posting of the messages, Zeran began receiving a barrage of threatening calls. He contacted AOL to have the message removed, which they soon did. After the removal of the message, however, another was anonymously posted advertising that the shirts had "SOLD OUT" and that items with new slogans had been made available. The new shirts included slogans such as "Forget the rescue, let the maggots take over - Oklahoma 1995", and "Finally a day care center that keeps the kids quiet - Oklahoma 1995". Zeran again contacted AOL to have the message removed from the bulletin board, which they again did. At this point, per AOL's recommendation, Zeran contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation; however, for the next week, new messages continued to appear. On May 1, 1995, the number of calls and threats rose to a crescendo when a conservative radio personality known as Mark Shannon read the message on an Oklahoma City radio station, KRXO, then owned by Diamond Broadcasting. At this point, Zeran's house was placed under protective surveillance, and he was unable to use his telephone for his home business, as the threatening calls were coming in approximately every two minutes. This continued until at least May 15, by which time the number of calls reduced to only approximately 15 per day. On January 4, 1996, Zeran filed suit against Diamond Broadcasting, and in April of the same year, he filed a separate suit against AOL. Lower Court ruling: In this suit, Kenneth M. Zeran alleged that as a distributor, AOL was "negligent in failing to respond adequately to the bogus notices on its bulletin board after being made aware of their malicious and fraudulent nature." In Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc., the court found that "a defendant could not be held liable for distributing defamatory statements unless it knew or had reason to know of statements." In this case, since AOL did not dispute its knowledge of the defamatory statements, Zeran claimed to have grounds for alleging their liability for defamation. In response to this claim, AOL alleged that the CDA preempted the 1991 holding of Cubby v. CompuServe, and that as a result, the CDA should hold sway. Since the CDA was enacted in February 1996, after the defamatory messages were posted on AOL's bulletin board, the questions at issue in the lower court ruling were determined to be: (1) whether the CDA preempts a state law negligence claim against an interactive computer service provider ... and (2) whether the CDA applies to causes of action brought after its effective date, but arising out of events occurring before that date. Preemption of the state negligence claim by the CDA- In analyzing the preemption of the state laws, the court determined that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution demands preemption of state laws where they conflict with federal laws. The court analyzed three ways in which the state and federal laws could conflict: -Impossibility of compliance with both state and federal law -Conflict of language between state and federal law -Conflict between the state law and the "purposes and objectives of Congress" -In analyzing the first theory of direct conflict, the court found that AOL could "comply with the CDA even if it is subjected to state liability for negligent distribution of defamatory material," and thus found that the federal law did not preempt the state laws. With regard to the second and third theories of conflict however, the court found that the CDA did preempt the state laws. Based on the findings of Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc., which found that CompuServe "was a distributor for the purposes of defamation liability," Zeran contended that AOL was a distributor of information, not a publisher, and because §230(c)(1) of the CDA spoke specifically to publishers, Zeran alleged that there was not a conflict between the two statutes. The court found, however, that distributors are a subset of publishers, and that as a result the CDA conflicted with the state defamation law, thus preempting it. In their analysis of the third theory of state and federal conflict, the court stated that, Congress' clear objective in passing §230 of the CDA was to encourage the development of technologies, procedures and techniques by which objectionable material could be blocked or deleted. Since distributor liability would have the effect of disincentivizing the filtering of content by third parties, the court found that such laws were in conflict with the "purpose and objectives of congress," and were thus preempted. Retroactive application of the CDA: Zeran's final claim was that even if the state laws are preempted by the CDA, it should not provide immunity to AOL in this case because the messages were posted on the AOL bulletin board before the CDA's enactment. In analyzing this claim, the court used the Landgraf test, which states that "a court must determine whether Congress has clearly expressed a statute's intended temporal reach." To this question, the court pointed out that in §230(d)(3) of the CDA, Congress has provided such a clear expression, stating that, "no cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section." It reasons that since "no cause of action may be brought," the timing of the posting of the message is immaterial, and the CDA must apply retroactively. Appeals: After reviewing the proceedings of the lower court, the Fourth Circuit again granted judgment in favor of AOL. In this case, Zeran again claimed a distinction between distributors and publishers, citing Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc. and Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co. In those cases, such a distinction was made, however the court opines that "Zeran misapprehends the significance of that distinction for the legal issue we consider here." In the opinion of the court, distributors are a subset of publishers, and are thus protected under §230 of the CDA. The second claim Zeran made on appeal was again that the CDA should not apply retroactively. Again the court cited §230(d)(3) of the CDA, which reads that "No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section." The court believed that this statute indicated that, "Congress clearly expressed its intent that the statute apply to any complaint instituted after its effective date," and that therefore any issue of retroactivity was moot. After having lost at the district court and on appeal, Zeran, making similar allegations as above, petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. On June 22, 1998, the court declined to hear his case.