Dan & Frances Keller, a Texas couple who have spent the past 21 years in jail on charges of child abuse, have been freed from jail following a deal between the Travis County district attorney’s office and the couple’s attorneys.
On November 30th of 1992, the Kellers were each convicted and sentenced to 48 years in prison for the alleged sexual abuse of a 3-year-old child. The child had reported to her mother that she had been physically and sexually abused — which eventually turned into claims of seeing the Kellers sacrifice babies and small animals, putting blood in drinks served to children, performing a satanic bone-replacing ritual on another child, and dismembering corpses.
Dr. Michael Mouw, the doctor who had testified in the case has now recanted his testimony, saying “While my testimony was based on a good faith belief at that time, I now realize my conclusion is not scientifically or medically valid, and that I was mistaken.”
Rosemary Lehmberg, the district attorney for Travis County, issued a statement saying “There is a reasonable likelihood that (Dr. Mouw’s) false testimony affected the judgment of the jury, and violated Frances Keller’s right to a fair trial.”
While I am an experienced civil daycare abuse lawyer, I do not claim know everything about this particular case. I do believe that our justice system is the fairest system we have at our disposal, though. If these two people are truly innocent of the crimes in which they’ve been accused, then this is a terrible, terrible injustice for all involved.