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shannonsue1958
Guest
I was raped last fall. After at least five postponements, we finally went to trial last week. I live in Ohio. When I pressed charges, the charges I signed were two counts of rape, one count of gross sexual imposition, and one count of kidnapping with the specification that I was taken to be raped. I do have a mental illness but it did not have anything to do with why I was raped. At the trial, when the judge gave the jury their instructions, the charges were rape of a known mentally ill person. The jury found him not guilty because of the "mental illness" clause-that the rapist knew I was mentally ill. No one ever told me that the original charges were changed or that they were going to use my mental illness. I told everyone that he did not know I had a mental illness until the final act he did to me and I only told him then because I thought he would let me go if he was afraid I'd really freak out. I guess he told the police that he did know that I had a mental illness-but he told the police at least three different versions of what happened. He lied on the stand. The jury talked to the prosecutor and me afterwords and said that they knew he raped me but they could not find him guilty because of the wording of the charges. They told me that if the mental illness reference had not been on there, they would have found him guilty. I am so upset. This guy is dangerous, I am not the only person he has raped but one of two that were brave enough to go through with it. He knows my car and he knows the mental health center I go to and he showed up down there after I filed the charges, before they arrested him. Is there any action I can take against the prosecutor's office for not informing me that the charges had been changed? I feel like they just painted a big target on my back. I would not have testified or signed the charges if I knew they were going to use my mental illness.