Satanic Ritual Murder Sentencing Postponed for 2014, Paper Says Lost in the Mall study's theory and methodology are not reliable under either Frye or Daubert standards

Satanic Ritual Murder Sentencing Postponed for 2014
By Mara Ispas  SA Breaking News – Fri, Nov 8, 2013

Johannesburg – The two men found guilty of the satanic ritual murder of Kirsty Theologo will only be sentenced in February 2014, announced Judge Geraldine Borchers on Friday.

The judge postponed the sentencing because of an operation she was scheduled for, and said she could only continue the trial on 11 February 2014....

Wagner and Harwood reportedly killed Theologo because they wanted to sell their souls to the devil.
http://za.news.yahoo.com/satanic-ritual-murder-sentencing-postponed-2014-143358159.html



By: Wendy Murphy, JD; Megan Mitchell, JD (expected 2013); Alexa Sardina, PhD (expected 2014)

Study Name and citation : Loftus, E. & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The Formation of False Memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25(12), 720 - 725. (Commonly known as the "Lost in the Mall" study).

Theory Advanced by the Study: False childhood memories can be implanted into adults by repeatedly stating the false memory as true.

Conclusion: The study's theory and methodology are not reliable under either Frye or Daubert standards....

For example, any attempt to use the Lost in the Mall study to prove or disprove that a person is telling the truth about sexual abuse should be unsuccessful simply because memories about getting lost in a mall have nothing to do with memories of being sexually or physically violated.

Put another way, the capacity to make a person falsely believe they were once lost in a mall does not "fit" and bears no relevance in a dispute over whether a person can be made to falsely believe they were sexually abused as a child....

While other studies come close to replicating the methods used in Lost in the Mall, the results themselves have never been replicated. This is important because replication of results is what makes the methodology and statistical significance of the original experiment reliable.3

Lost in the Mall fails the reliability test under this factor for two reasons. (1) It has not been repeated using the same methodology4 and (2) similar studies have obtained widely varied results....

The fact that an error rate was never calculated indicates an attempt to avoid publishing unwanted results.12 An attempt to account for this glaring anomaly is apparent because the author writes about "clarity ratings" as a seeming alternative to an error rate. This raises even greater concerns and adds nothing to an assessment of reliability because "clarity rating" is a meaningless term under Daubert....
http://wendymurphylaw.com/LOSTINTHEMAIL.pdf  

Jerry Sandusky's $59,000 annual pension is revoked by Pennsylvania after sentencing in child sex abuse case

Jerry Sandusky's $59,000 annual pension is revoked by Pennsylvania after sentencing in child sex abuse case

The retirement system told Sandusky he will no longer receive his $4,908 monthly annuity and informed his wife, Dottie, she is no longer entitled to a survivor's benefit.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Pennsylvania's public employee pension system said Wednesday it will revoke Jerry Sandusky's $59,000 annual pension in the wake of his conviction and sentence in the child sexual abuse scandal.

The State Employees' Retirement System notified Sandusky by letter that his crimes triggered forfeiture of his pension. The former Penn State assistant football coach was sentenced Tuesday to at least 30 years in prison for molesting 10 boys.

The retirement system told Sandusky he will no longer receive his $4,908 monthly annuity and informed his wife, Dottie, she is no longer entitled to a survivor's benefit....
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/pennsylvania-moves-revoke-sandusky-59-000-pension-article-1.1179765