Re-CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS won awards for its filmmaker, Andrew Jarecki, and helped generate interest in the case against the eponymous father and son who had been convicted as sex offenders.

In 2003, I interviewed Jarecki and concluded by asking if he believed the Friedmans were guilty. Jarecki, the founder of Moviefone

, responded:

“The most honest thing I can say is that after all the misinformation I got while making the film, I learned not to give opinions about things when I wasn`t present. I was not a primary source. But the film gives the audience the tools they need—including putting them directly inside the Friedman house—to decide if they feel this family was capable of the acts of which they were accused. This is serious business, the accusation business, and whether you believe the Friedmans were guilty or innocent, they never had a chance.”

Now, years later, one could argue they got their chance. On Monday, June 24th, 2013, “[i]n a 155-page report written with very little ambiguity, the Nassau County district attorney, Kathleen M. Rice, concluded that none of four issues raised in 2010 in a strongly worded ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit were substantiated by the evidence.”

In the interim, it seems, Mr. Jarecki has developed a stronger belief in the innocence of the younger Friedman, Jesse: “D.A. Kathleen Rice has made a craven, but not surprising, political decision in failing to admit to the wrongdoing of the Nassau County D.A.’s office and former sex crimes chief Fran Galasso, in the face of overwhelming evidence of Jesse’s innocence.”

Should Jesse Friedman continue appealing his case? Is he innocent? Can anyone ever truly say?

What do YOU think?