Having A Breakdown After Being Raped And Choked Could Land You In Jail
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 22nd, 2016
Good morning, everyone.
Yes, I’m sure many watched Trump’s speech. Me, I’ve had enough. I’ve got something else I want to bring up today.
From Daily Kos:
Rape victim thrown in jail after breaking down in court
A Houston woman in her 20’s who is called “Jenny” was raped and choked by a convicted serial rapist Keith Hendricks. While testifying against him in court, she had a breakdown, became incoherent, and ran out of the courtroom saying she’d never return. The prosecutor in the case had her arrested and put in jail for threatening not to show up to testify. Her mother and her attorney thought “Jenny,” who suffers from bipolar disorder, was put into a psychiatric hospital, when if fact, she was only hospitalized for a few days then then transferred to the Harris County Jail and put into the general population. The jail staff received erroneous reports that said Jenny was the sexual abuser rather than the abused victim. While incarcerated she was beaten.
It’s one of those stories that sounds and feels surreal, yet it happened. Jenny’s attorney filed a lawsuit against the Harris County sheriff, the jail guard who allegedly hit Jenny while in jail, and the prosecutor who requested she be jailed. Jenny’s attorney says a rape victim should never be put into that environment. He adds she was put in jail without due process — without committing a crime.
Click2Houston’s Legal Analyst Brian Wice stated:
“It’s astounding to me that could have happened,” said Wice. “At the end of the day she received less due process, less protection than the rapist did.”
At one point while in jail, Jenny was so frustrated with her situation, she “came out of her cell with fists swinging.” She hit a guard who in turn uses a closed fist and hit her. So she was charged with assault while in jail — were she should never have been placed. The prosecutor later dropped the charges and she was released after spending a month in jail.
Former prosecutor Kim Ogg, who is running against Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson in November, believes, like many, that Jenny’s treatment was wrong.
“Putting a witness in jail on a material witness bond is highly irregular and reserved for the worst of the worst witnesses, maybe gang cases,” Ogg said. “They can be protected by placing them in a hotel, you can place them with family, you can keep in contact.”
“In 30 years of practice, I’ve never heard of a rape victim being jailed and so mistreated.”
One especially sad and disturbing part about this case is that it will give rape victims one more reason not to come forward to report their rape and/or press charges.
It’s not clear why no one has attributed Jenny’s breakdown to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is common with rape victims and would cause a breakdown and erratic behavior. It’s what can happen when you’re choked and raped.
If you or someone you know is, or has ever been, a victim of rape/sexual assault, it’s never too late to seek help. You can find free support via the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and/or by visiting the Rape, Abuse Incest National Network/RAINN.org website online. If you are in immediate danger, please call 911. You do not have to live with horror, guilt, and/or shame. If you can hold on to one thing, remember this —It. Was. Not. Your. Fault.
*****
Readers: Can you imagine? A month in jail. This is just horrific. Once again the woman, the victim, is getting treated as if she is the bad guy, only in this case it is so much worse.
The forum is open. Talk about anything that’s on your mind.
Blog me.
Mike, TM: Exactly. That is what I read and my thoughts are with you. The supposed speech writer took the fall for Melania.
Judy: I agree but it’s never going to happen, and people will let it slide and use the excuse that “English is not her 1st language…blah…blah…blah.” Which brings me to Shelia: My thoughts are the same. We all know, as Elanor stated, that it was a made up story. If Melanie gave those “words as inspiration” as McIver claims, then Melania would without a doubt recognize those exact words as they were placed in her speech. Period. She plagiarized big time. But Trump had to do something to save his wife’s ass.
On the other hand, if it was true, Trump and his clan would’ve had that story out within minutes of this debacle. And Trump would’ve said to the girl, “You’re Fired!” for making such a huge mistake. Regardless….all of this means absolutely nothing because in either case Melania spoke Michelle Obama’s exact words and knew exactly what she was doing, and hoped no one would notice. Oops. We all noticed.
Notice how now Melania hasn’t said a word? At least nothing I’ve heard.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 23rd, 2016 at 8:19 am
Face it. Men don’t care what they do to women. We have to learn to support ourselves. That begins at the polls.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:22 am
Michelle, she hasn’t said a word because there is nothing she can say that will make people believe she didn’t know that she was plagiarizing Michelle Obama.
Since she has no desire to apologize then she just says nothing.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:28 am
She ended up in jail in one of those states that claims to be so religious. Notice it was done by a woman. Just shows you why white women can support men who abuse them.
The DA was a woman. The judge was a woman. Notice how they claimed it was done for her safety. That is the states argument for abolishing abortion clinics.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:29 am
Republicans whether men or women are heartless when they impose their “moral” judgments upon others.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:39 am
Notice how the cops justified their abuse of Jenny because they “thought she was the sex offender.” What the fuck gives cops the right to take the law into their own hands.
Short ans: white folk.
If this is what they admit to doing, imagine what they are actually doing. There is another story of police brutality here within the brutality of the justice system that would allow a heartless judge to imprison the victim without due process.
Whites claim such a concern for their constitutional rights, but they could give a shit about other peoples.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:41 am
That was disgusting. Women can’t catch a break. If your abuser doesn’t traumatize you enough, the justice system is here to ensure the job is done.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:43 am
That shit is fucking cruel, but that’s my republican state fuck women it’s a man’s world. Couldn’t they have questioned her in private? Taped it for the jury?
Whatever it was only a woman. Why women support this type of justice for them is beyond my understanding.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:44 am
Because the entire system is built on obtaining convictions. Collateral damage is not their problem.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:45 am
Why would the judge allow this? Putting a victim in jail because they’re too traumatized to testify? FFS. This shit makes me feel like crying, that poor girl. Imagine how terrified she was the whole time.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:46 am
Sad but true. Anarchists start to look less crazy and extreme when you see the ugly side of the state and “the law.”
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:47 am
Welcome to the world of a state run by republicans. Shit is tough, are you?
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:47 am
Cops blamed me for my own rape ten years ago in college.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:48 am
Stories like this slowly kill a part of me at a time.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:49 am
Wonder why women are so reluctant to report their rapes…
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:49 am
Oh Jesus Fucking Christ.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:49 am
This is the intersection of how we treat rape victims, people with mental health issues, why LEO need to be held responsible for how they deal with citizens, and our national fetish for locking people up and *trying* to forget about them. A total shit stew.
I hope her family sues the fuck out of them and she can spend her life getting the care she needs to deal with this trauma and her bipolar disorder.
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:50 am
Rachel#14, And then suffer through the fun of “WHY DIDN’T YOU GO TO THE POLICE RIGHT AWAY IF YOU WERE RAPED? It must not have been very serious!”
July 23rd, 2016 at 8:51 am
Rachel#14, Yeah – another woman report Hendricks’ rape of her in 2006. She even underwent a rape kit, which is pretty taxing for the victim. They just didn’t bother to test the rape kit for almost ten years. Ten years Hendricks spent raping women.
Another one of his victims, a woman in her fifties who he raped at gunpoint, reported in 1978, testified and managed to see him convicted, but he was given parole (because men who rape women aren’t considered enough of a public danger to keep locked up?). Parole he used to rape more women.