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posted by martyb on Monday July 25 2016, @03:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the adding-injury-and-insult-to-insult-and-injury dept.

The anonymous woman was raped in Houston in 2013, according to court documents, and was cooperating with prosecutors when she suffered a breakdown while testifying in December 2015.

She has bipolar disorder and was admitted to a local hospital for mental health treatment when the judge ordered a recess for the holiday break until January 2016.

According to the documents, authorities were scheduled to be on vacation and "did not want the responsibility of having to monitor Jane Doe's well being or provide victim services to her during the holiday recess."

The complaint alleges that the district attorney's office obtained an order from the Harris County sheriff to take the woman into custody so she would not flee before completing her testimony.

The employee booking her into Harris County Jail identified her as a "defendant in a sexual assault case, rather than the victim." That impacted her treatment from jail staff, as the complaint reads:

The Harris County Jail psychiatric staff tormented Jane Doe and caused her extreme emotional distress and mental anguish by further defaming her, falsely insisting to her that she was being charged with sexual assault, and refusing to acknowledge her status as an innocent rape victim."

Doe also suffered beatings from other inmates and from a guard, who then requested assault charges to be filed against her "in an attempt to cover up the brutal abuse," according to the complaint.

[...] The complaint notes that her "rapist was also an inmate in the same facility" and treated more humanely. "Her rapist was not denied medical care, psychologically tortured, brutalized by other inmates, or beaten by jail guards," it reads.

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/22/487073132/rape-survivor-sues-after-texas-authorities-jailed-her-for-a-month


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  • (Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Monday July 25 2016, @03:49PM

    by Capt. Obvious (6089) on Monday July 25 2016, @03:49PM (#379862)

    didn't have to agree with that, as I wanted a jury trial, but the whole thing was a huge PITA so in the end I agreed to the dismissal.

    Good lord, why would you want to go to trial? Leaving aside the extra time and expense, there's no telling what 12 idiots would do. A bird in the hand, yadda, yadda.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday July 25 2016, @04:34PM

    In which I asked a Vancouver PD officer to help me report a 20 year old murder of a drug informant - a murder I witnessed - and he ridiculed me.

    I expect the prosecutor dismissed because he actually spoke to the cop.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Tuesday July 26 2016, @07:43PM

      by Capt. Obvious (6089) on Tuesday July 26 2016, @07:43PM (#380414)

      It sounds like you lucked out. Not knowing the details, that's a very stupid reason to want to go to trial.

      Hell, go to the press if you feel strongly about it, but its hard for me to imagine why it wouldn't be considered irrelevant and prevented from being entered into the record. And, if it were, who cares? The record of your case is never going to be of interest to anyone.