Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice

12. Up against the System

12 Up against the System There persists, in some quarters, a belief that the criminal justice system is fundamentally about justice. But most people with real-world familiarity with how courts and law enforcement work harbor no such illusion . Sooner or later, they come to see that the key word in the phrase “criminal justice system” is not “justice” or even “criminal” but “system.” In the week after my article was published, I tried to talk to Police Chief Williams, but he did not return my calls. Neither did Mayor Bauman, the only local official with statutory authority to give orders to the police. Patty’s prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Jill Karofsky, a petite thirty-one-year-old with a squelched, Kermit-the-frog voice, stood by her charging decision: “I read the article. I also saw the police reports. I can see there are a lot of differences.” She wouldn’t elaborate. What about Patty’s recently unearthed letters alleging police coercion ? Karofsky had received them but felt they contained “no new facts.” What about Moston’s therapy notes or the hypnotist’s tape recording , in which Patty provides a detailed account of a rape the cops say never occurred? Wouldn’t these be of interest? Not in the least. Karofsky’s boss, District Attorney Diane Nicks, was equally tightlipped and defensive. A thin, fidgety former assistant attorney general who nearly knocked herself out trying, with only limited success, to win the confidence of people in her office, Nicks said she was ethically obligated not to say anything that might interfere with Patty’s pending prosecution. Didn’t she also have an ethical obligation to intervene if a person was being wrongfully prosecuted? Nicks called this area of the law “extremely complicated.” 96 Becky Westerfelt said several women had called the Rape Crisis Center wondering whether it was safe to report a sexual assault to the Madison police. She suggested two alternatives: asking one of the center ’s advocates to be present during questioning or reporting the assault to the state Justice Department, rather than the Madison police. I wrote a short follow-up article that incorporated these reactions under the headline, “Can Rape Victims Trust the System?” Like the first, it generated no media interest and only a few, mostly negative responses . Several men praised the police for taking a skeptical view toward women who cry rape, citing studies showing epidemic levels of false reporting. Being charged with a crime placed a huge additional burden on Patty’s already fragile psyche. She and Mark had resumed a platonic relationship , but it was even more strained than before. He denied saying the things Woodmansee attributed to him, but Patty remained resentful . One night she got drunk and took it out on his car, which he had left in her garage. She flung chairs at it, cracking the windshield and putting large scratches and dents in the exterior. Misty came down and made her stop. Despite this, Patty and Mark remained friends and he continued to help her with her vending business. Another time, when Patty had been out drinking, she came home to find that Misty had allowed Dominic’s nephew to sleep on the couch. She flew into a rage, and she and Misty got into a physical fight. Misty, already in her bed, heard Patty yelling things like “it runs in the family” and “you’re all assholes” at her houseguest. The nephew sought refuge in Misty’s room, and Patty followed. Misty got up and pushed her mother to the wall in the hallway. Patty grabbed her daughter around her neck. Misty, swearing up a storm, kicked her mother in the stomach to free herself, then locked herself in her room. She even called the police but, as the altercation subsided, declined their offer to send assistance. Knoll thought my coverage of Patty’s case “substantially complicated the process of trying to do something for this woman. You’ve raised the stakes on this.” His job, as he saw it, was “not to tilt at windmills or try to change the police department.” No good could come from that or from shining a spotlight on injustice. That would only make people in the system dig in their heels. Up against the System 97 • At the time, I considered Knoll’s perspective offensively cynical. If the system was making a mistake, then...