Conviction

After 23 years, John comes face to face with his father Melvin.

More than a decade after the first allegations of satanic ritual abuse in California, the Satanic Panic was mostly snuffed out. The nation began to move on. But the children at the heart of it were just beginning to reckon with their past.

In the summer of 1991, Melvin Quinney was put on trial. The prime witness against him: his own son, John.

Back in Texas, after Debbie Quinney accused her husband of abusing his children and leading a satanic cult, their children were placed in a shelter. Not long after this, nine-year-old John Quinney entered a controversial form of psychotherapy that was hugely popular in the 1980s. Today, he thinks that therapy might have brainwashed him.

By 1985, California was fully engulfed in a panic. People were convinced that there was an underground network of satanists abusing children right under their noses, and everyone was a suspect. Children who were taken away for questioning often didn't return. Parents, friends, and neighbors were arrested without evidence to support the charges. In the midst of this frenzy, one family packed their b...

In the 1980s, protecting the safety of children became a paramount concern. It was the one issue that could unite even the most disparate factions of society, from radical leftists to Christian conservatives. But the movement to protect children quickly morphed into an all-consuming panic that pushed parents, therapists, and police to view all children as victims—even if the children claimed otherw...

We trace the roots of the Satanic Panic back to a strange Canadian memoir, Michelle Remembers. In it, a woman named Michelle describes satanic rituals she was forced to participate in as a child. She “recovered” these memories with the help of her psychotherapist, who coined the term ritual abuse. In this episode, we track how the idea of satanic ritual abuse jumped from the pages of a suspicious b...

In 1989, nine-year-old John Quinney accused his father Melvin of being a satanic cult leader and abusing him in satanic rituals. His father vehemently denied the charges. It was a case that tore their family apart. But what none of them knew was that they were just one of dozens of families going through the same nightmare.

When John Quinney was ten years old, he took the stand to testify against his own father. He had come to believe that his dad Melvin was the murderous leader of a satanic cult. It would be decades before John would learn that his family was just one of many swept up in a panic that gripped America in the 1980s—one in which hundreds of people were accused of taking part in underground satanic cults ...

Pedro’s trial date finally arrives, and Manny sets out on another quest. Will he finally push the envelope too far?

Manny takes some big risks that could get Pedro’s case dismissed—or could get Pedro into even deeper trouble.

Manny’s quest to free Pedro isn’t just about justice. It’s payback.

Terrell believes that Manny and his clients are out to destroy his career. But they aren’t the only ones sounding alarms about Terrell.

Manny meets a key witness. Saki meets Manny’s nemesis.

Pedro gets pushed to take a plea deal. Manny goes on a quest to find the one young man who can free him.

Private Investigator Manuel Gomez takes on the biggest case of his career: the case of Pedro Hernandez.