OMAHA (NE)
Pioneer Press
Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. - Weeks after a judge declared that repressed memories are not reliable enough for filing claims of sexual abuse, a lawyer said he will not use the claim in a similar case against Boys Town.
Minnesota attorney Patrick Noaker said he made the move this past week, dropping the repressed memory argument in James Duffy's federal lawsuit against Girls and Boys Town, based in Omaha.
Noaker's bid to use the claim in another case was thrown out by Douglas County District Court Judge Sandra Dougherty in late November. She ruled that expert testimony claiming Todd Rivers of Omaha had repressed memories of abuse at Boys Town could not be presented at trial. Rivers' expert, Dougherty said, did not prove that such a diagnosis is scientifically valid.
Noaker, of St. Paul, Minn., said he withdrew the claim because he expected the same result from a similar hearing for Duffy's case scheduled for later this month.