Dale Anthony Akiki was born in 1957 with
Noonan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which left him with a concave chest, club feet, drooping eyelids and ears. Akiki served with his wife Sharon as a volunteer babysitter at a church in
San Diego County, California. In May 1991, he was arrested and charged with 35 counts of child abuse and kidnapping and held without bail for 30 months before trial. The government filed its first case against Akiki on May 10, 1991, in San Diego Superior Court. A second case was prosecuted against him on February 20, 1992. The campaign against him was initiated by Jack and Mary Goodall, the former being the CEO of
Jack in the Box, who stated that they found his physical appearance, coupled with his working contact with the children of the church in his capacity as a volunteer, "disturbing." Prosecutor Mary Avery was the founder of the San Diego Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, to which Goodall was the largest financial contributor. She was brought in to prosecute at the Goodalls' insistence after experienced child abuse prosecutors Harry Elias and Sally Penso found no grounds to charge Akiki with any crimes, citing the coercive investigation and the suggestive preparation and interrogation of children used by parents and therapists in the case. During the investigations, few records were kept of the interviews with children, and Avery tried to ban the use of the term "ritual abuse" (a synonym for
satanic ritual abuse); such measures were viewed as useful in obtaining prosecutions in an environment that was increasingly skeptical of allegations of satanic ritual abuse. During the trial, "the FBI’s leading authority on child abuse, testified ... he has found no evidence that ritual abuse exists." His trial lasted nine months (including six weeks of jury selection and seven and a half months of evidence), making it the longest in San Diego County history. The jury took seven hours to reach its "not guilty" verdict in November 1993. He was represented by Deputy Public Defenders Kate Coyne and Sue Clemens One said "it seemed like a witch hunt to me." Despite Akiki's acquittal, some of the parents involved remained convinced that he was guilty. The deputy district attorney and lead prosecutor Mary Avery disputed the claims that the nine children were systematically brainwashed by parents and therapists, stating that "the whole idea of contamination and suggestibility just does not account for the major behavior changes that occurred (in the children) while they were in Dale Akiki's (nursery school) class," referring to certain incidents like nightmares and bed-wetting. ==Subsequent events==