‘Allen v. Farrow’ Argues Against the Biggest Piece of Evidence Supporting Woody Allen

The way Allen v. Farrow explains it, the main argument for Woody Allen’s innocence revolves around one document: a report from the Yale–New Haven Child Sexual Abuse Clinic. Commissioned by the Connecticut State Police, this report concluded that Dylan Farrow was untrustworthy in her claims that Allen had sexually assaulted her and even stated that it was possible she had been coached. It was such a big factor when it came to exonerating Allen in the court of public opinion that Allen actually read its results to the public during a press conference.

Now, Allen v. Farrow is reexamining that pivotal report in a new light. In its third episode, Allen v. Farrow argues that this opinion-swaying report was actually one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the entire, complicated case.

After Dylan Farrow told her mother that Allen had sexually assaulted her, Mia Farrow took Dylan to a pediatrician. That appointment led to the doctor making an official allegation to the police, as is procedure when it comes to sexual abuse allegations that involve a minor. That doctor’s report and not Farrow herself led to investigations opening in New York, the state that served as Farrow’s legal residence, and Connecticut, the state where the alleged incident occurred. It’s during this investigation that Frank S. Maco, State’s Attorney for the Litchfield district, ordered an investigation from the Yale-New Haven Child Sexual Abuse Clinic.

“I suggested the Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic to do the examination. They were going to assist me insofar as determining whether or not there were any impediments as to the child’s ability to perceive, recall, and relate,” Maco explains in Episode 3. “Their examination went on for seven months. Then I received a call that the Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic made a decision and I am given the bottom line conclusion that the child is unreliable, untrustworthy, and/or that Mia Farrow was a fabricator of this incident.”

This report has been largely held by the public — specifically by Allen’s fans — as proof that Allen was innocent. But as the docuseries explains, the history of this report is far more complicated than it seems. In its investigation the Yale-New Haven team broke with best practices multiple ways, interviewing Dylan a shocking number of times and destroying all of the documents that led to their conclusion.

“I read the report and I was horrified,” Stephen P. Herman, a forensic psychiatrist and expert witness for Mia Farrow, says. “They interviewed this child nine times. Even in the early ‘90s nobody interviewed a child of any age amidst an allegation of sexual abuse nine times.”

“You don’t interview a child about the same allegation over and over and over again. You interview the child the least amount of times as possible so as not to retraumatize the child,” Sunny Hostin, an attorney who specializes in child sex crimes and the current co-host of The View, explains. “No one should hold up that report and say that Woody Allen was exonerated.”

There’s another wrinkle to this report’s credibility. While Maco was working on his case in Connecticut, Paul Williams was working on his case in New York. An extraordinary case worker, Williams was the first to be named case worker of the year in the city. In the course of investigating Dylan Farrow’s case, Williams determined that there was enough evidence to pursue a criminal investigation against Allen. Shortly after giving this report, Williams was fired.

He was eventually reinstated after his firing gained the attention of such figures as Gloria Steinem. But in researching Williams’ firing, the team behind Allen v. Farrow discovered that Williams had corresponded with Jennifer Sawyer, one of the social workers who interviewed Dylan for the Yale-New Haven investigation. According to Williams’ notes Sawyer not only believed Dylan but thought she had something more to say.

Any one of these details would be enough to discredit the Yale-New Haven report. Yet Allen v. Farrow takes things one step further. To further combat the credibility of the accuracy of the Yale-New Haven investigation, the docuseries team compiles a group of its own child abuse experts in Episode 3. It then shows each of them the tapes Mia Farrow recorded or Dylan discussing the alleged assault days after it occurred. Every one of these experts concludes that the young Dylan Farrow was a reliable witness.

Legally, the case against Woody Allen remains in limbo. Courts ruled that the evidence about whether or not Dylan Farrow was abused by Allen was “inconclusive.” But Allen v. Farrow has just struck a major blow in this case that’s haunted Hollywood.

Watch Allen v. Farrow on HBO NOW and HBO Max