Witch Hunt (2008)

Witch Hunt (2008)

Produced and narrated by Sean Penn, ‘Witch Hunt‘ tells the bizarre and troubling story of John Stoll and other Bakersfield, California parents who were wrongfully arrested, tried and convicted of horrific ‘child molestation‘ charges in the early 1980s due to inexperienced social workers and the over-zealousness of sheriff’s department officials and the popular Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels …

“Academy Award-winner Sean Penn serves as producer and narrator of this documentary detailing the disturbing spike in child-molestation allegations and sex-abuse cases in the small California community of Bakersfield during the 1980s, and the rash of convictions that quickly followed. It was during the Reagan era that the citizens of Bakersfield began to grow concerned about law-and-order issues, eventually electing a new district attorney to crack down on crime. What happened next, no one could have foreseen. Almost overnight, seemingly well-adjusted individuals and happy couples were charged with the heinous crime of child molestation. In the aftermath, the local jails became crowded with alleged child molesters who took every opportunity possible to proclaim their innocence….” Rotten Tomatoes