ELYRIA — The acquittals of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen in the controversial Head Start child molestation case will stand, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The decision is a blow to prosecutors who had hoped to get the 1994 convictions of Smith and Allen reinstated and return the pair to prison.

“It’s finally over,” Smith said through tears after learning of the decision. “It’s finally over.”

Smith, 52, and Allen, 56, always have maintained they were innocent of molesting
4- and 5-year-old children on Smith’s Head Start bus route. Police and prosecutors contend Smith would take the alleged victims to Allen’s Lorain home, where they were sexually abused.

After they were convicted, Smith was sentenced to 30 to 90 years in prison, while Allen was given five consecutive life prison terms.

Both insist they’d never met before they were charged in the case.

Earlier this year, Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge released the pair from prison because of a technical error in the sentencing entries prepared by his predecessor, former county Judge Lynett McGough.

Prosecutors had argued the sentencing problem could be fixed with a new entry and the new sentencing hearings Burge planned to hold for Smith and Allen weren’t necessary.

But in June, Burge delivered a startling decision. He called prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case to his courtroom and announced that after reviewing the evidence in the case and the trial transcript, he didn’t believe Smith and Allen were guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted.

He then acquitted them, saying the interview techniques used by police when talking to the child victims in the case were highly suggestive.

“I have absolutely no confidence that these verdicts are correct,” Burge said at the time.
He said Tuesday he was pleased by the 9th District Court of Appeals decisions.

“I think the correct ruling has been made,” he said.

Judge James Burge’s acquittal earlier this year:

Under the appeals court rulings, prosecutors can still argue Burge’s logic and the legal merits of his decision, but it won’t reverse the acquittals of Smith and Allen.

“You can argue the legal issues, but Nancy Smith is in jeopardy no longer,” said Jack Bradley, Smith’s attorney.

County Prosecutor Dennis Will said he hadn’t seen the appeals court decisions and couldn’t comment.

Smith said she can’t believe that after 14 years in prison, she no longer has to worry about being sent back, but the case will continue to haunt her life.

“Will this always be in the back of my mind? Absolutely, they took 14 years of my life,” she said. “Nobody knows what it feels like to have my name cleared of these horrible charges.”

Even though her name is legally cleared, Smith said she isn’t done in court as she intends to ask for the files in her case to be sealed.

She also hopes that the children, now adults, who leveled the accusations against her will recant.

“If those children would just come forward and tell the truth,” she said. “I only hope they would do what’s right.”

Allen and his attorney, K. Ronald Bailey, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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