Thursday, January 29, 2015

Rape Victim's Statement 40 Years Later

Readers here know that I have written extensively about childhood sexual abuse, including how it enters language, both in child interviews and in adult interviews, as well as its life long impact and how language can change over time.  I have covered PTSD and sexual abuse for years, showing how the language can reveal, after many years, the ongoing trauma in the life of the victim.  

We have even been able to see what a truthful statement looks like 20 years after the rape, in the case of one of Bill Cosby's victims who told the truth about being drugged and raped by Cosby. 

Here is a strange and sad account:

A 12 year old female was raped.  The rape would prove to do what rape often does:  destruction of life.  

Back in the 70's, the case was set to go to trial.  

The rapist sought out a female attorney, specifically, as he stated that a female attorney would help him in the trial. 

The female attorney took the case willingly, as a favor to a friend, who asked her to do so.  

The attorney smeared the 12 year old as a seductress and 'won' the case on a technicality of throwing out evidence, forcing a plea and short sentence.  It was a victory for the lawyer, who was unafraid of targeting the child victim, herself.   

The attorney laughed about her victory, which was captured on tape.  

Years went by, and the attorney became a public figure, even running for office, particularly championing "women's rights" in her speeches. 

The trial, however, stood out as something that would outrage her supporters.  She wrote, about the trial, that she was assigned the case by her boss, and only took it reluctantly, being forced to do so. 

The 12 year old victim has suffered for 40 years from the trauma.  Upon learning that the attorney that devastated her (and justice) laughed at her, she was asked, "What would you like to say to her?"

This is her statement:

I would say her, ‘You took a case of mine in ’75, you lied on me. I realize the truth now, the heart of what you’ve done to me. And you are supposed to be for women? You call that  for women, what you done to me? And I hear you on tape laughing.”

Dr. Martha Stout, of Harvard, estimates that 4 in 100 people are sociopaths, who can be educated at elite levels, have power and control, yet be incapable of feeling empathy for others.  Sociopaths lie.  They do not lie as you and I might, politely, regrettable, and then with repentance and change. 

They lie. 

They fabricate reality to fit their own needs, which exist above the needs of all others, including children, businesses, or anything and anyone else.  

The 12 year old victim, now 52 years old, had the pain rekindled when recently discovered tapes were unearthed by media in which the lawyer that smeared her is heard laughing about the case.  The victim says that the lawyer lied about her, and "took me through hell."

Here is what the attorney wrote in her affidavit.  Note the passivity in language.  Passivity can be used to conceal identity or responsibility.  

I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing.  I have also been informed that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body. Also that she exhibits an unusual stubbornness and temper when she does not get her way.”

She wrote that a psychologist told her, in general terms:  "tend to exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences, especially when they come from “disorganized families, such as the complainant.”

The victim said that she had never accused anyone of anything, and that the lawyer did this, and was not required to give any proof of anything.  It was used simply to create doubt about a 12 year old child. 

The disclosing of the audio tapes revisited pain, re-victimizing the victim as she listened to the female attorney admit that her client "probably did it" and how she bragged about getting the physical evidence that would have convicted him thrown out of court.  She is heard laughing about giving her client a polygraph, which he passed, to which she said she forever lost confidence in polygraphy.  She is heard saying, "Oh, he plea bargained. Got him off with time served in the county jail, he’d been in the county jail about two months,”
with the lawyer's affidavit showing that the 12 year old victim, herself, had some culpability in being raped by her client. 

The 12 year old did what some very young rape victims do:  turned to self destruction, via substance abuse.  


11 comments:

Lemon said...

Was the attorney HRC?

Anonymous said...

OT-WM3

David Jacoby has recanted his statement that he saw Terry Hobbs with the three murdered boys the evening of May 5th, 1993. Here is a transcript of the facebook conversation.

West Memphis Three Facts: Jacky Daniels, Terry Hobbs has always maintained he never saw the boys that day. As for what David Jacoby said, maybe he can clarify it for us.

September 9, 2013 at 1:11pm

David Jacoby: i know there is a sworn statement in which i signed that states i saw the kids ride by when Terry came to my house , that statement was typed over several times each time i would find a discrepancy it would be re-typed i would read it find another re-type so on and so on . What was actually said was for months after the murders i would have this dream that theres a knock on my door , i'd answer the door and Terry and Amanda are standing there and Stevie and Chris and Michael ride by waving ! how that got by me is beyond me my copy of that statement arrived via mail a couple weeks later and it remained in a drawer until it got back to me that it stated i saw the kids that day !! now if it happend that way and when Terry said i'm looking for Stevie , i would have said there he is !!

September 9, 2013 at 6:31pm

West Memphis Three Facts: Thanks for clarifying that David Jacoby. So just to confirm, you are saying that you didn't catch the mistake in your statement that you saw the kids that day and that what it really should have stated is you only had a dream about seeing the boys. You are confirming that you did not see the boys that day, correct?

September 9, 2013 at 7:26pm

David Jacoby: No i did not see the boys that day !!

Anonymous said...

Jacoby's statement:

6. On May 5, 1993, I worked at the Memphis Ice Cream Company. I got home from work at approximately 4:30 PM on that day. Sometime between 5 PM and 5:30 PM on May 5, 1993 (it could have been as late as 6 PM, but I believe it was between 5 and 5:30 PM), Terry Hobbs came over to my house.

7. I believe I saw Terry's step-son, Stevie Branch, ride by on his bicycle in the street in front of my house. I also believe I saw two other little boys with Stevie. One of the other boys who went by the front of my house was on a bicycle and the other boy was on a skateboard.

8. Terry and Amanda came inside my house. Amanda played with toys, and Terry and I sat down and played guitars for up to one hour. At some point while Terry and I were playing guitars, I asked, "Where's Stevie?" because Stevie usually came over to my house with Terry and Amanda (and also Pam Hobbs when she came over). Terry responded that Stevie was riding his bike.

9. Between approximately 6 PM and 6:30 PM on May 5, 1993, Terry got up from playing guitars and told me that he was going to his house to see if Stevie was at home. Terry told me that Stevie was supposed to be home and he thought for sure Stevie would be home "before dark" or "by dark," or something to that effect. Terry then left my house. I am 90% sure that Terry left Amanda at my house for me and my wife to watch and that Terry left my house alone.

10. Terry was gone from my house for awhile. Terry returned to my house later and asked if Stevie had come by. When I said no, I volunteered to go out with Terry to ride with him to look for Stevie.

11. Terry and I drove around the neighborhood for approximately 10-15 minutes looking for Stevie. We drove near some apartments. We did not stop at any houses or talk to anyone at this point.

12. Terry then dropped me off at my house and said he was going to check a few other places for Stevie. I believe Terry again left alone, with Amanda staying at my house.

13. After awhile, Terry drove back to my house. I again went with Terry to ride around and look for Stevie. We drove two more times nearly the same route we had driven before. I remember that we again went by the apartment complex and saw some kids playing. Terry told the kids that he was looking for a little blond headed boy. A little black girl told Terry that he had seen that there were some boys riding their bikes near the woods near the apartments, which were the Robin Hood Hills Woods.

14. Terry again took me home and dropped me off because it was getting dark and I was going to change clothes and get flashlights to search further. I do not know where Terry went, but I expected him to come back to get me. I believe he took Amanda with him. I changed clothes, but Terry never showed back up.

Anonymous said...

Jacoby Statement cont.

15. Pam Hobbs did come over to my house later looking for Stevie and I drove her around to look for him. Pam and I ended up meeting up with other people looking for Stevie and the two other boys, including Terry. Specifically, in addition to Terry and Pam, I also recall searching at different times with Jackie Hicks, Sr. (Pam's father). I also recall seeing Dana Moore and Mark Byers out looking for their boys. I searched for Stevie and the other boys until nearly 3 AM on May 6, 1993, and then I went home.

16. I was not in Robin Hood Hills Woods searching for Stevie or other missing children alone or with Terry Hobbs on May 5, 1993 at or near 6 PM or 6:30 PM. Additionally, I recall that I was not looking for Stevie or the other boys near the woods until it was already dark, much later than 6 PM or 6:30 PM.

17. I searched near the woods by the apartments and stood near or on the pipe bridge into the woods. However, I did not cross the pipe bridge into the woods. I also drove around to the Blue Beacon side of the woods and looked in the weeds around the woods. I made it far enough into the woods to see the pipe bridge from that side.

18. I did not see Terry Hobbs call the police on May 5, 1993 or May 6, 1993. Also, Terry did not tell me he had called the police and did not ask me to call the police on those dates. I did not know that anyone had called the police until I saw Pam on the night of May 5, 1993.

19. On May 5, 1993 and May 6, 1993, I did not drive by or go inside the police station alone or with Terry Hobbs or anyone else. I did not see Terry Hobbs go to the police station on those dates.

20. Terry Hobbs has never told me that he saw a "black bum" or any other individual near Robin Hood Hills Woods on the morning of May 6, 1993.

lane said...

Exclusive: 'Hillary Clinton Took Me Through Hell,' Rape Victim Says - The Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/20/exclusive-hillary-clinton-took-me-through-hell-rape-victim-says.html?via=mobile&source=email

Exclusive: 'Hillary Clinton Took Me Through Hell,' Rape Victim Says

The woman at the center of the scandal over Hillary Clinton’s defense of an alleged child rapist speaks out in depth for the first time.

rob said...

Lane, thanks for that additional piece of info.

Anonymous said...

Kind of sad and scary that the lawyer who laughed now thinks she should be our next president; in fact, she seems to think she is owed this or is somehow entitled to the job. Bragging about how much money she will raise. And the national media will squelch any pressure to bring her shortcomings to light as prejudice against women or some such nonsense that does not apply to her.

Dawn So Ca said...

We are in a world of trouble if Hillary takes over the presidency. She holds (almost) as much evil and deception as Obama. My heart is saddened today to hear that a great man for the job has decided to step aside.

Kellie said...

OT WM3

Anon January 30, 2015 at 12:57 AM

Interesting info!

Can you give the source of it?

Thanks!

Deejay said...

Consequences for victim:
In her interview with The Daily Beast, she recounted the details of her attack in 1975 at age 12 and the consequences it had for both her childhood and adult life. A virgin before the assault, she spent five days afterwards in a coma, months recovering from the beating that accompanied the rape, and over 10 years in therapy. The doctors told her she would probably never be able to have children.

The victim was put through several forensic procedures, including a lie detector test. At first, she failed the lie detector test; she said that was because she didn’t understand one of the specific sex-related questions. Once that question was explained to her, she passed, she said. The victim positively identified her two attackers through one-way glass and they were arrested. But that wasn’t the end of her ordeal.

She described being afraid of men for years and dealing with anger issues well into her adulthood. At one point, she turned to drugs, a path that ultimately led her to prison. Now 52, she has never married or had children. She said she has been sober for several years and has achieved a level of stability, although she remains unemployed and living on disability assistance.

TxTchr said...

My thoughts EXACTLY!