DA voices sympathy for rape victim
Anderson voices concerns, draws a rebuke from opponent Ogg
District Attorney Devon Anderson expresses sympathy over the jailing of a mentally ill rape victim for almost a month to ensure the attacker’s conviction and says the office is working with an advocacy group to avoid similar situations.
Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson on Monday expressed sympathy over jailing a mentally-ill rape victim for almost a month to ensure the attacker’s conviction and said the office now is working with a national mental health advocacy group to avoid similar situations.
The 25-year-old woman, identified in court documents as “Jane Doe,” was jailed over the Christmas holiday in order to make sure she testified against serial rapist Keith Edward Hendricks, who was sentenced to two life sentences.
The situation has dogged Anderson since last week, when the victim, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, filed a federal lawsuit against the county alleging that she was put in general population, where she was attacked, then incorrectly medicated until she broke down and was beaten by a jailer.
After the allegations were reported across the country, the National Alliance on Mental Illness called for an independent investigation, saying, “It is inexcusable to jail someone experiencing a ‘life threatening mental health crisis,’ ” the term Anderson first used to describe the woman.
On Monday, a spokesman said the DA’s office is trying to make sure a repeat of the jailing is avoided in the future.
“We feel for this victim, and what happened to her shouldn’t have happened,” said Jeff McShan. “We are asking (the mental illness group) to work with us on finding solutions so when a person with lifethreatening mental issue is refusing help, we can get it for them.”
He said those solutions could even mean advocating for legislative changes but did not elaborate.
In addition to consternation from victims rights groups and mental health advocates, the woman’s plight has provided an
“We feel for this victim, and what happened to her shouldn’t have happened. We are asking (the mental illness group) to work with us on finding solutions so when a person with life-threatening mental issue is refusing help, we can get it for them.” Jeff McShan, spokesman for the DA’s office “Anderson says she doesn’t want crime victims to think that they will be thrown in jail yet continues to defend the decision to do exactly that. She can’t have it both ways. This type of heavy-handed prosecution abuse must stop.”
Kim Ogg, Democratic challenger for the DA job
opening for Kim Ogg, Anderson’s Democratic opponent in November’s general election, who renewed calls Monday for an independent investigation and sent out fundraising emails about the situation.
‘Can’t have it both ways’
On Tuesday, Ogg is expected to roll out a plan to focus on sexual assault crimes, beginning with, “Never put crime victims in jail to secure a conviction.”
“Anderson says she doesn’t want crime victims to think that they will be thrown in jail yet continues to defend the decision to do exactly that,” Ogg said in statement released late Monday. “She can’t have it both ways. This type of heavy-handed prosecution abuse must stop.”
At a news conference in front of the Harris County jail, Ogg is expected to detail specific policies outlining the treatment of mentally ill victims and her plans to create a sexcrime division in the office, if elected.
Anderson has faced a chorus of criticism because of the victim’s allegations, laid out in a 33-page lawsuit filed last week in a Houston federal court. Her attorney, Sean Buckley, has said the county could be liable for millions of dollars for what he called “laziness.”
“It goes beyond just negligence,” Buckley has said.
Like other young women who end up homeless on the street because of mental illness, the victim was targeted by a sexual predator. She was violently raped in 2014. Since then, she was able to stay on her medication. She got engaged and moved to Longview, where she had an apartment with a man she has since married.
Breakdown in court
In Houston, prosecutors and district attorney’s investigators were able to build a case against Hendricks and on Dec. 7 bring the woman back for the trial.
The next day, she had a psychological breakdown as she tried to tell her story on the witness stand and was committed to a psychiatric ward in a hospital. To make sure she returned, prosecutors secured a court order to jail her as a material witness.
When she was released from the mental ward on Dec. 18, an armed investigator with the district attorney’s office handcuffed her at the hospital and took her to the Harris County Jail.
In jail, she was treated as a suspect of sexual assault and not a witness, according to the lawsuit. The sheriff ’s office has said she was put in the general population because there was no order to isolate her.
While behind bars, she was attacked by another inmate, according to her lawsuit. She apparently did not receive her medication regularly, and when she was found in a jail cell screaming at a wall, hands raised to the sky for God to help her, she had an altercation with a jailer.
According to jail records, she punched the female jailer, who then punched her face, giving her a black eye.
She testified with the black eye and stayed behind bars for days even after testifying. She was released on Jan. 14, more than a month after she was first committed.