Goodman proposes bill to protect rape victims
January 2, 2011
By Caleb Heeringa
A bill being crafted by local state representative Roger Goodman aims to protect rape victims from being cross-examined in court by their attackers.
Limiting the trauma of such situations has long been a priority of Goodman’s and legislators have increased their attention to the issue following a November incident in which a victim climbed out a window of King County Superior Courthouse and threatened to jump rather than have to face her alleged rapist in court.
“We can’t allow a rapist to have the pleasure of questioning and controlling their victims on the witness stand,” said Goodman, a Democrat who represents the 45th district, which includes parts of Sammamish north of Northeast 16th Street.
The issue comes up primarily when an accused rapist is acting as his own attorney, which would allow him to cross-examine his victim personally.
An earlier version of the bill, which would have required defendants representing themselves to question their accusers through closed-circuit television or through a court-appointed attorney, passed the state house last year but faltered in the senate due to concerns that the legislature was overstepping its legal authority by telling the courts how to operate.
The issue also has the potential of running into a sticky constitutional issue – the sixth amendment grants a person the right to confrontront their accuser in court. Kimberly Gordon, a Seattle defense lawyer who lobbies in Olympia on behalf of the Washington Defender Association, and testified against last year’s bill, said she could not comment on the current bill without seeing the exact language. She was concerned about the premise, though, and said putting limits on a person’s right to question their accuser was a constitutional “minefield.” She said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against several other limitations on the sixth amendment, including the allowance of a 9-1-1 call instead of live testimony by a victim.
“I think everyone wants to prevent a situation like what happened in Seattle,” Gordon said. “But there’s hardly any aspect of a criminal trial that is more important in finding the truth than the cross-examination of a person alleged to be a victim. There isn’t any other good way around it.”
Goodman said he is confident that the new version of the bill – House Bill 1001 – respects the judicial branch’s authority and provides enough alternatives to face-to-face questioning that it won’t be in conflict with the sixth amendment. He’s spent recent weeks with court officials such as Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Madsen honing the language of the measure.
Goodman has also had input from victim advocates and the mother of the victim who threatened suicide. Prosecutors dropped the charges related to the woman after the incident, though earlier this month the court found the defendant guilty of seven other charges related to rape and child molestation. Prosecutors expect that the 40-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Whereas the first bill instructed the court how to change their rules, this one politely requests it, Goodman said. It also suggests a series of alternatives to direct cross-examination, including having the defendant deliver questions for the victim in writing. Goodman said courts could choose to make similar rules for domestic violence cases.
Gordon said judges already have discretion to set up rules for a trial and have the authority to stop a line of harassing or malicious questioning from a defendant.
“There are tools that judges already have at their disposal,” she said. “I don’t know that the answer is to limit constitutional rights.”
But Goodman, a lawyer who has long been active in law and justice issues at the state level, said it’s not enough to leave the emotional welfare of rape victims up to a judge’s discretion. He hopes the bill will put an end to the horror stories he hears of rapists taking advantage of the courtroom to “torture” their victims one last time.
“Our justice system cannot endorse courtroom theater that leaves witnesses incapacitated with fear and unable to testify,” he said.
Goodman expects to introduce the bill during the legislative session that begins Jan. 10.
http://sammamishreview.com/2011/01/02/goodman-proposes-bill-to-protect-rape-victims
