Babette Spitler

Many thanks to reporter Roxane Arnold for her heartwarming story (April 18) concerning ex-McMartin defendant Babette Spitler’s “putting the pieces back together” and winning her fight to adopt the little 5-year-old boy who, at age 2, was taken away from her when she was arrested.

That story brought tears of happiness to the many people who knew of the gut-wrenching tragedies that were forced on the entire Spitler family. It also brought feelings of rage and revulsion that Babette and her little boy had to endure the terrible pain and suffering that neither deserved.

The whole sorry mess of the McMartin hoax, dubbed “the Case of the Century” by politicians, is, in reality, a horrendous crime that has been committed against each and every McMartin defendant. Their lives have been ripped apart; some reduced to the poverty level.

Is this unforgivable tragedy that was generated by the stupidity of the Manhattan Beach Police Department; the political ambition of former Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian; the bullying therapy of children by social workers, and the continued vindictive prosecution by deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin the “Crime of the Century”? You bet it is!

While Babette Spitler tries to explain to her 5-year-old son why she “left” him to bounce around in one foster home after another, those responsible for this cesspool of “justice” should be very proud of themselves.

JACKIE STARMER

Redondo Beach