On August 12, 1983, Judy Johnson called the police and told them her two-year-old son had been sexually abused at Virginia McMartin's Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California. Mrs. Johnson accused a teacher, Raymond Buckey. After searching the school and the homes of the owners and teachers, police distributed a letter to parents of children attending the McMartin Preschool urging them to ask their children if they had witnessed any acts of sexual molestation by Buckey. The result was mass hysteria.

Although the children denied being molested or witnessing any molestations, the D.A.'s...