A rape survivor is suing Texas’ Harris County after she was jailed for more than a month and subjected to beatings and “psychological torture”.
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While testifying, Jenny suffered what the lawsuit describes as a “mental breakdown”. The judge in the case ordered a monthlong recess on account of the approaching holidays, and Jenny was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment.
Anderson said the rape victim, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, was going through a “life-threatening mental health crisis” and told prosecutors she would not give future testimony.
She was involuntarily committed to the psychiatric ward of St. Joseph’s Hospital to stabilize. But as explained in Raw Story, Jenny should have never been sent to jail since she was cooperating with court officials. Socias reportedly feared that she may not return to continue the case. “There were a multitude of community resources available including services offered by the DA’s office that could have helped them provide for this rape victim and stabilise her and help her remain stabilised and cared-for until it was time for her to testify again”.
The lawsuit also said the woman, while in custody, did not consistently get her medication, was attacked by another inmate and was later charged with assaulting a guard after having another psychological episode. She struck a guard and an assault charge against her was filed. Judges order a witness bond to ensure that a material witness, who is likely or presumed to evade from the trial, will testify in the next court date. According to her lawyer, she had to appear wearing clothing lent to her by prosecutors-a “humiliating” ensemble that included a pair of jail-issued rubber orange shoes.
Jenny’s attorney said she was put in jail without due process, placed into the jail’s general population and given a black eye by another inmate while in custody for almost a month over Christmas. Her attacker was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson released a video statement in response to coverage of the story by news outlets, addressing local KPRC in particular.
Hickman said the jail was not informed by the District Attorney’s Office that Jenny was a mentally ill rape victim. “If nothing was done to prevent the victim from leaving Harris County in the middle of trial, a serial rapist would have gone free and her life would have been at risk while homeless on the street”.
KPRC’s legal analyst Brian Wice noted perhaps the most tragic result of this case: “At the end of the day she received less due process, less protection than the rapist did”.
Buckley, the woman’s lawyer, told KPRC that Jenny was not in fact homeless and that Anderson should have known that because “her investigators were the ones who went there to pick Jenny up at her apartment and bring her to Houston to testify”.
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Jenny’s living arrangements don’t matter. District Attorney Anderson and her office have lost sight of what their jobs are supposed to be about. Incarcerating an innocent should not even be an option.
