The Douglas County Grand Jury (1990) — Findings, and Their Judicial Expunction
node
The grand jury called it a carefully crafted hoax. Three years later a court erased the report entirely.
Who they are
The Douglas County grand jury, convened March 1990, and the prosecutions that followed.
What they do
In July 1990 it concluded the allegations were 'a carefully crafted hoax, scripted by a person or persons with considerable knowledge of the people and institutions of Omaha', and indicted the two young people who had stood by their filmed statements.
How it works
Alisha Owen was convicted on eight counts of perjury in June 1991 and sentenced to an effective 9 to 15 years — not the 27 that gets repeated. She never took it back. Lawrence King, who ran the credit union, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud over roughly $38 million and got 15 years; he was never charged with any offence against a child. Paul Bonacci later won $1,000,000 against King in a federal case — but King never filed any response at all, so that was a default, and no judge or jury ever weighed the evidence.
Why it matters
The report itself cannot be read, and the reason is not what people assume. In December 1993 the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered it 'expunged in its entirety' because it had never been authorised for publication in the first place. Meanwhile the legislature's own resolution from January 1990 said its committee had found evidence tending to substantiate the abuse. Those two things happened in the same city in the same months, and this engine records both.
The engine's record — word for word
[Report #193] Convened 19 March 1990; report completed 23 July 1990; indictment filed 24 July; report published by the Omaha World-Herald 25 July 1990. Special prosecutor Samuel Van Pelt; foreman Michael Flanagan.
THE FINDING, quoted inside the Nebraska Court of Appeals opinion in State v. Owen: the grand jury found that the 'story of sexual abuse, drugs, prostitution, and judicial bribery presented in the legislative videotapes [was] a carefully crafted hoax, scripted by a person or persons with considerable knowledge of the people and institutions of Omaha.' Owen and Bonacci, 'the two youths who stood by their videotaped statements alleging sexual exploitation, were indicted for perjury.'
THE REPORT WAS THEN EXPUNGED IN ITS ENTIRETY. In re Grand Jury of Douglas County, 244 Neb. 798 (30 December 1993): 'Because the grand jury's report was not authorized for publication pursuant to section 29-1420, it should be expunged in its entirety from the records of the district court.' Its full text is therefore unobtainable, and there is a legal reason for that which is separate from any question of suppression.
ALISHA OWEN. Indicted 23 July 1990 on eight counts of perjury; five-week trial; convicted on all eight counts 21 June 1991; sentenced 8 August 1991 to 3 to 5 years on each count in three consecutive groups — an effective 9 to 15 years, consecutive to a sentence she was already serving. THE WIDELY CIRCULATED '9 TO 27 YEARS' IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE OPINION. Her appellate counsel was John DeCamp. She never recanted.
BONACCI v KING (1999) — a default, not a tested finding. D. Neb., 4:CV91-3037, Senior Judge Warren K. Urbom. Lawrence King never answered the complaint; default was entered 27 February 1998; a damages-only trial was held 5 February 1999; judgment of $1,000,000 followed on 22 February 1999. All fifteen other defendants were cleared. Liability was admitted by operation of default; no factfinder weighed contested evidence.
LAWRENCE E. KING JR. Credit union seized 4 November 1988 with an estimated $38-39 million missing. Pleaded guilty 11 February 1991 to conspiracy, making false entries and misapplication of funds; sentenced to 15 years. He was never charged with any child-abuse offence.
Held side by side with franklin_committee_1989, whose own governing resolution of January 1990 recited that the committee 'has uncovered evidence which would tend to substantiate that child abuse... [was] associated with the credit union'. The legislature and the grand jury reached different places in the same months. Both are recorded.
Follow the trail
Walk this on the live map →