Repressed-Memory Suit Dismissed

Rejecting testimony influenced by a so-called truth serum, a state appeals court has ordered the dismissal of a woman’s repressed-memory suit against her father, who lost his job and his marriage after she accused him of rape.

Holly Ramona’s proposed testimony against her father, Gary, was inadmissible because it was affected by the drug sodium amytal, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said Tuesday.

Although Holly Ramona now believes she was molested, she was uncertain before her sodium amytal treatment and her therapist’s assurance that she was incapable of lying while under the drug’s influence, the court said. Testimony influenced by sodium amytal is unreliable and has been barred in California courts since 1959, the court said.

Gary Ramona was awarded $500,000 by a Napa County jury in 1994 in a suit against therapists who he said had planted false memories of child abuse in his daughter.