Capturing the Friedmans
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:32:02
First of all, you'd have
to believe that blood

:32:04
is coming out of these
children's orifices,

:32:06
that they're screaming,
:32:08
that they're crying,
:32:09
that their clothes are soiled
from semen and from blood.

:32:14
And yet their parents show up.
:32:16
Sometimes they show up
unannounced.

:32:18
Everything looks fine.
:32:19
Was there any physical evidence
in the case that was relevant?

:32:23
Or it was the case
really strictly based on

:32:26
the statements of the kids?
:32:27
It was more testimony.
:32:28
There was a dearth
of physical evidence.

:32:30
I don't even recall
whether there was

:32:33
any physical evidence that
would have indicated

:32:34
one way or another that
these events took place.

:32:37
I don't think that they're
sitting around with any kind

:32:41
of diabolical or
conspiratorial agenda

:32:44
to go out and falsely
accuse Arnold Friedman

:32:47
or railroad Jesse Friedman.
:32:48
But nobody's critiquing them.
:32:51
Nobody's telling them that
there's a right way

:32:53
and a wrong way to do this.
:32:54
Nobody's saying that we've got
a problem in this culture

:32:57
with hysteria around this issue.
:32:59
And so they're really free
to let their fantasies fly.

:33:04
I think the most
overwhelming thing was

:33:06
the enormous amount
of child pornography.

:33:09
You would just have to walk
into the living room,

:33:11
and it'd be piled
around the piano.

:33:13
There were literally foot-high
stacks of pornography,

:33:17
in plain view,
all around the house.

:33:21
But photos taken
during the search

:33:23
showed nothing of the kind.
:33:30
But as far as the families were
concerned, I don't want to

:33:32
use the word that they were
competitive with each other.

:33:34
I don't know if it's
to that extent.

:33:37
You know, sometimes it'd be some
idle conversation about,

:33:39
you know, another boy, you know,
"He was sodomized 5 times,

:33:42
but my son was sodomized
6 times," you know,

:33:45
as if that meant something in
the overall scheme of things.

:33:48
There's a whole community
atmosphere that gets created

:33:50
in a mass-abuse case
like this,

:33:52
where the families are
talking to each other,

:33:55
they're going to
community meetings,

:33:56
or they're calling on
the phone all the time.

:33:58
They're seeing each other
in group therapy.


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