43
Rape victim describes ordeal from assault to trial
YOUNGSTOWN
Debunking myths about sexual assault and educating jurors are among the biggest challenges facing prosecutors in a rape trial.
“Jurors can be very judgmental, especially about adult victims,” said Dawn Cantalamessa, chief trial counsel for the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, speaking Wednesday at the Rape Crisis & Counseling Center’s Education, Awareness & Prevention Symposium.
Educating and engaging the general public in conversations about sexual assault are the goals of a campaign initiated by the Rape Crisis Center, a program of Compass Family and Community Services, which also celebrated its 40th anniversary at Wednesday’s event at Mill Creek MetroParks’ Fellows Riverside Gardens.
“We want to end sexual assault. The people in this room are community leaders who can make change happen,” said Joseph Caruso, executive director of Compass, to symposium attendees.
The campaign’s three steps are:
Change the conversation: By spreading facts to change the stereotypes about rape and sexual violence.
Join the conversation: Leadership stepping up to put an end to sexual violence.
Have the conversation: Empowering victims of sexual violence to heal through open discussion.
LaTreese Miller, 34, of Youngstown, a victim willing to engage in open discussion about sexual assault, said being raped by a co-worker in September 2009 changed her life.
Speaking at Wednesday’s symposium, Miller described what led up to her being raped. She said a co-worker became obsessed with her.
“I started out thinking he just wanted to be friends, but he had other things in mind. One night, he convinced me to come to his home and then into his garage, where he threw me onto the concrete floor, held me down and brutally raped me,” said Miller, a mother of three.
She escaped and drove herself to a hospital where she was examined and within an hour joined by Lynn Hart Bilal, prevention coordinator for the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence and former program manager for the Rape Crisis Center. She stayed with Miller through the entire process.
Little did Miller know it would be a five-year process before a jury would find the man who raped her guilty. Maurice Clark, 49, of Canfield Road, who maintains he is innocent, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2015.
During that five-year period, Miller said she had great support from her family and the Rape Crisis Center, but still required continual counseling. She suffered from depression, thoughts of suicide and was bothered by delays in the case.
Cantalamessa said she warns rape victims that the process of getting to a trial can take a long time.
“It’s not like television at all. Delaying is a favorite tactic of the defense. But, I tell the victims that our evidence is the evidence and to hang in there,” she said.
After the speakers and lunch, a panel answered questions and discussed ways to change the public’s perception of rape.
There are things in society that need to change, said Youngstown Police Detective Sgt. David Lomax, a member of the panel, who is affiliated with “A Call to Men” Ending Violence Against Women.
“Society expects young men to be tough and strong, have several girlfriends and to treat them as property,” he said.
Young men need to break out of the “man box” and all the things society says it is to be a man, not all of which are good, Lomax said.
“People don’t believe rape is happening. We need to educate them and open their eyes,” said panelist Jill Miller, of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Mahoning County.