Case Background

The accusations in this case arose after the then 13-year-old daughter of Jack Carroll’s ex-wife reported to a friend that she was having dreams that an unidentified “someone” was touching her. The girl later changed the story to identify the “someone” in those dreams as a boy named “A.J.” Once Carroll’s ex-wife heard of the dreams, she immediately believed her daughter had been molested and within hours the dreams had become allegations of sexual abuse against Jack Carroll. Carroll and his ex-wife were undergoing a bitter separation at the time.

Also in her deposition, Ms. Szary noted a possible ‘c’-shaped transaction on the hymen and proclaimed her “findings were consistent with disclosure.” In fact, her findings were “inconsistent with disclosure” as the girl had reported to Sgt. Weber that she was still a virgin. After the exam, Weber spoke with the girl and “told her she was not a virgin.” To this the girl responded, “I was shocked.” The bogus findings of Ms. Szary were ultimately revealed after Carroll’s first conviction when the NYS Court of Appeals noted, “There is no evidence or testimony of penetration of any instrumentality.”

Prior to Carroll’s arrest, Detectives Weber (Troy PD) and Ed Girtler (NY State Police) attempted to get a confession from him by having the accuser make a scripted telephone call to him. The call was taped. On the tape, Carroll vehemently and adamantly denied the accusations made- even encouraged the girl to go to the doctors for an examination to show there was no abuse. Girtler and Weber deemed the tape “negative.”

Having failed at getting a confession from Carroll through the phone call, the detectives brought Carroll to the police station where Girtler showed him a polygraph test, reporting the test had been taken and passed by the accuser. The document was a fake. When Girtler asked Carroll to explain how the girl could have passed a polygraph test if nothing happened, Weber testified that Carroll replied, “She must be confused.” The detectives reportedly viewed this as a confession and arrested Carroll. Weber later admitted in an interview with local columnist Carl Strock of the Daily Gazette that he and Girtler, “…tried everything to get him to admit it, but he wouldn’t go for it.” This obviously contradicts his repeated testimony that Jack Carroll never denied the charges against him.

Trial 1

Carroll’s first trial took place in December 1997. Prior to that trial, then Rensselaer County Assistant District Attorney (now D.A.), Patricia DeAngelis had successfully argued to keep the taped phone call out of the trial. With the exclusion of that tape, Ms. DeAngelis was able to put Weber and Girtler on the stand to testify that Carroll never denied the accusations against him. Ms. DeAngelis presented this testimony despite knowing it was patently false. After a 3-½ day trial, Carroll was convicted on 3 counts of rape and 6 counts of sexual abuse and sentenced to 12 ½ to 25 years in prison.

An appeal was filed on the grounds that the trial court judge had prevented Carroll from introducing the exculpatory tape-recorded phone call, and also on grounds that there was no evidence of rape. The 3rd Department Appellate Court denied Carroll’s appeal and affirmed the conviction. Carroll appealed to the NYS Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to hear the case. That Court agreed to hear the case and ultimately dismissed the 3 rape charges stating, “There is no evidence or testimony of penetration of any instrumentality.” The Court further ordered a new trial for the 6 sex abuse counts on the grounds that the taped phone call should have been admitted at trial. At that point, Carroll had served 3 years in prison.

Trial 2

The second trial took place in January of 2001. Carroll was now facing retrial on the 6 counts of sexual abuse. Patricia DeAngelis again prosecuted the case. The night before the trial, DeAngelis called Carroll’s attorney, Mike Koenig, and offered Carroll a plea bargain; if he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, he would receive a sentence of time served. In other words, if he pleaded, he would go home. Carroll refused to plead to anything, maintaining his innocence.

Up until and including the first morning of the trial, DeAngelis continued to appeal to the trial Court not to allow the taped phone call into evidence, but the tape was allowed in. Unable to prevent the phone tape from being admitted to this trial, DeAngelis was forced to develop a strategy to deal with it. She introduced the tape herself and played it for the jury in a stop and go manner. She systematically dissected the tape stopping after each line and injecting her opinion on what Carroll meant when he was responding to the accusations. When he said, “Oh my God, I would never do that,” she told the jury he was appealing to a higher being to get him out of it. When he said, “ How can you say this,” she told the jury he was attempting to blame the accuser for his actions. And on and on it went. Half way through her strategy, DeAngelis had so polluted the tape that the Court ordered her to stop, stating, “I am not going to let you do this, its just too prejudicial.” DeAngelis totally ignored the Court’s ruling and repeated this behavior in her summation.

DeAngelis again called nurse Jane Szary as a witness in the second trial. This time, all the “evidence” that Ms. Szary had testified to in support of rape charges at Trial 1, was now being used to support claims of digital penetration- charges that had never even been levied against Carroll. So in Trial 1 Ms. DeAngelis had prosecuted Jack Carroll for rape and in Trial 2 she prosecuted him for non- rape, all based on the same “evidence” of Jane Szary that had been determined to be non-existent by the NYS Court of Appeals.

Patricia DeAngelis again called Weber and Girtler to the stand despite the Court of Appeals' ruling that the testimony of the two detectives had been, "...ambiguous at best." With the admission of the taped call at this trial, the detectives could no longer claim that Carroll had never denied the charges against him. They now had a new explanation: Carroll's denials were actually "admissions by denial." And the detectives knew this because they now were presenting themselves as experts in body language. Girtler testified that Carroll's arms were folded when he denied the accusations so that meant he was in "lockdown." If Carroll's legs were pointed towards the door when he denied the accusations against him, he was "looking for a way out." According to Weber and Girtler, these were clear indications of " admissions by denial."

To bolster the ridiculous theories of the police detectives, DeAngelis called the notorious Eileen Treacy to explain how every one of Jack Carroll's behaviors- even the most routine fatherly behavior- was indicative of a sexual abuser. Treacy is the same person responsible for the wrongful imprisonment of New Jersey day care teacher, Kelly Michaels in the 1980s. Michaels was eventually released from prison when the New Jersey courts found Treacy's testimony to be garbage.

Additionally, DeAngelis’ antics in the second trial included calling defense witnesses liars (i.e., “Even Grandma lied!”); repeatedly violating Court instructions; referring in her summation to testimony that had never occurred; crying during her summation; and repeatedly pointing out the accuser who she had positioned in the front row of the courtroom during summation.

After a 2-½ week trial, unable to surmount the unethical antics of Patricia DeAngelis, Carroll was convicted on all six counts of sexual abuse. He was sentenced to 12 to 32 years, more time than he had been sentenced to after his first trial, which included 3 rape charges. As a matter of law, his sentence was reduced to 10-20 years.

Current Status

Jack Carroll is currently in the custody of Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Malone, NY. NYS Department of Correctional Services reports that he was sent there for refusing to take sex-offender programs, programs that were not even offered in the facilities where he had previously been housed.

His most recent appeal to the 3rd Department Appellate Court was denied and his second conviction affirmed. He currently is awaiting a decision on a 440.10 Motion to Appeal that is before Judge Patrick McGrath of Rensselaer County. Carroll continues to steadfastly deny the charges against him.

View the 440.10 Motion submitted to Rensselaer County Supreme Court.

Personal History

Jack Carroll, age 50, is the oldest son of Phyllis and the late Joseph Carroll of Troy, NY. He and his wife Mary, own a home in Melrose, NY. Jack is the father of John [23] and Stephanie [14] Carroll, and stepfather of Mark [22] and Kara [20] Donohue. His youngest son Christopher Carroll [19] was killed in a car accident in Myrtle Beach S.C. on February 13, 2004.

Jack has been in prison since December 19, 1997. Currently he is housed at Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Malone, NY. Mary and other members of his family visit him weekly. He remains optimistic and hopeful that the truth in his case will be exposed.

Publicity

Columnist Carl Strock of Schenectady’s Daily Gazette has chronicled Jack Carroll’s case over several years in a series of award winning columns. You can find information on these columns at Schenectady's Daily Gazette

Pulitzer-Prize winning author and member of the Wall St. Journal editorial staff, Dorothy Rabinowitz, has also detailed Carroll’s case in her recent book No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusations, False Witness and Other Terrors of Our Time. This book can be purchased at amazon.com.

Ernie Tetrault, retired longtime anchor/reporter for WRGB Channel 6, recently began a series of bi-weekly, half hour public access shows that are currently detailing the Carroll case and similar cases of injustice. The show "Justice Now" is produced at Public Access station Channel 16 in Schenectady. "Justice Now" also airs on Time Warner cable Channel 18 in Rensselaer County every other Monday at 5PM. Also see TV Show page.

To be added to the bi-monthly newsletter distribution list for the Justice for Jack newsletter or if you would like to arrange for someone to speak to your organization on this case, contact Tim Carroll or Mary Carroll: justicenow4@yahoo.com

Donations

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Contact Jack

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