Jury Rules for Daughters in ‘Satan’ Case

SANTA ANA —  After one of the most sensational civil trials ever held in Orange County, a Superior Court jury in Santa Ana on Friday found in favor of two daughters who had accused their 76-year-old mother of subjecting them to years of physical and sexual abuse during sadistic satanic rituals.

However, the jurors awarded the daughters no monetary damages, and found that while their mother had been negligent, she had not intentionally harmed them.

Attorneys on both sides called the 10-2 verdict “a compromise,” with jurors wishing to express sympathy for the suffering of the daughters, yet unwilling to conclude that their mother had intentionally abused them as part of a satanic cult.

“I think (the mother) is a victim, too,” said one 30-year-old juror, who refused to give her name.

The juror said she had no doubt the two sisters had been physically and sexually abused. Asked whether she believed the tales of satanic abuse, which included descriptions of rape, torture, druggings and human sacrifices in secret caves, the juror said, “We’ll never know.”

“I think the key to this lies wherever the father’s buried,” the juror said. The women’s father, who, they said, had prostituted and raped them as well as forced them to participate in the satanic rituals, died four years ago.

The two dissenting jurors, however, said there was no physical or material evidence to show that even if the women had been abused, their mother was to blame.

“I just did not find a preponderance of the evidence,” said juror Tom Vaccaro.

“As far as I am concerned, (the mother) is not guilty,” said the other dissenting juror, Dolores Sue Thomas, 49. She wept in the courtroom as the verdict was read.

“It’s been horrifying,” Thomas said. “I’m glad it’s over.”

The sisters, whose names were withheld, had said from the beginning of the trial that they were not after money but wanted to persuade the public that ritual abuse does exist. They said they were deeply grateful for the verdict.

“It’s wonderful to be heard and believed,” the older sister, a 48-year-old resident of Costa Mesa, said with tears streaming down her face after the verdict was delivered to a packed courtroom. “We were believed and I’m very grateful.”

“We’ve broken new ground,” her attorney, R. Richard Farnell, said. “Those child molesters out there can have some sleepless nights. Their victims will remember.”

However, defense attorney Tom M. Allen said the verdict, reached after two days of deliberation, showed the daughters had failed to prove a significant aspect of their case.

“They wanted to show that there was a multigenerational, national satanic ritual abuse network, and the jury just didn’t believe that,” Allen said.

“Had they (the jury) believed the graphic details . . . they would have awarded intentional conduct as well as substantial monetary damages,” he said.