A mentally ill rape survivor was put in jail for nearly a month after she had a breakdown while testifying against her attacker, Texas news channel Click2Houston reported on Tuesday.
The twentysomething woman, who is identified only as Jenny, was a key witness in the trial of her attacker, a man convicted of violently raping her and several other women over a period of time. During testimony, the woman, who also suffers from bipolar disorder, broke down and was unable to continue. Instead, she ran from the court building and was found standing in traffic outside. She was taken to a medical center for treatment.
But when she was discharged from the hospital, she was taken to the local jail, where she stayed for the next four weeks. A mix-up in the paperwork led to correction officers mistakenly believing that she was the perpetrator, not the victim, of a sex crime. She was put into the general population, where she was she was both assaulted by another inmate and later charged with assaulting a guard.
Though federal law allows for witnesses who skip a court appearance to be jailed for contempt of court, Jenny’s lawyer told the channel that she had not committed a crime and had showed up to testify when required. Texas law allows for witnesses who are likely to not show up to trial to be held under an order called a writ of attachment.
Jenny’s lawyer, Sean Buckley, has since filed a lawsuit against the county and several authorities involved in the jailing, including the prosecutor who requested she be jailed. "This young lady should never have been put in the Harris County Jail," he told Click2Houston.
A statement shared with the news channel by the local district attorney’s office said that it could not go into details on the case, but defended the practice of holding a witness. "Witness bonds are a common tool used by prosecutors and defense attorneys when the lawyer has reason to believe that the witness will be unavailable or make him or herself unavailable for trial," the statement read.
Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson did not immediately return Refinery29’s request for comment.
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