Convicted NY sex abuser says his fight goes on

6-25-2013 New York:

MINEOLA, N.Y.—Capturing the Friedmans, a New York prosecutor says, was the right thing to do.

But convicted child molester Jesse Friedman is vowing to continue his court fight to clear his name, despite the release of a report Monday concluding after a three-year review that police and prosecutors had sufficient evidence to pursue sex abuse charges in the 1980s against the suburban New York man and his father.

Friedman, a 44-year-old Internet book dealer who now lives in Bridgeport, Conn., has for more than a decade insisted on his innocence. His story was portrayed in a 2003 Oscar-nominated documentary called "Capturing the Friedmans."

But despite a high-profile public relations campaign to win his exoneration, the report issued Monday reinforced prosecutors' position that they apprehended the right culprits.

"By any impartial analysis, the re-investigation process prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates and the 2nd Circuit, has only increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse Friedman's guilty plea and adjudication as a sex offender," said the 168-page report released by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice. ..continued here.. by FRANK ELTMAN