CRIME WRITER TURNED VICTIM AND SURVIVOR: When the system fails, you rewrite the rules

TW: sexual violence

I was recently compelled to exchange crime writing for crime fighting when a man drugged and sexually assaulted me at a crime writers conference. Despite doing everything a victim is required to do, despite evidence, many credible witnesses and video surveillance, the Dallas Police refused to investigate fully. Furthermore, they misrepresented and misapplied Texas law as the rationale. I turned to my publishing community to protect our people and to at least address the predator within our codes of conduct, but there as well I quickly found out that people and institutions refuse to change until it becomes too painful not to. Change doesn’t just happen — it is caused.

I was at a professional conference, faithfully married over 25 years, surrounded by a dozen credible witnesses, have video of harassment (the accused making lewd gestures at me), a noted pattern of casing me, video and witnesses of my very impaired state, hotel surveillance footage available, and even two other women who came forward about harassing interactions with the same man at the conference — one of whom had gotten into an argument with him when he tried showing her photos of half-naked women he’d supposedly hooked up with the week prior in Dallas, and a second woman whom he’d boasted to about how he loved targeting women for sex at the conferences and host cities. Yet another woman has been noted to have been at the bar with the same man at the same conference and had the same “roofied” symptoms I had of a metallic taste, severe headache, lost memories, confused robotic state, etc. Yet…the police don’t know any of this because they closed the case without full investigation.

Criminals who target women count on two things: A woman who will be silent and a system that doesn’t care. Well he picked the wrong woman. This is the story of how we made one system care. Now it’s our turn to make sure that the criminal justice system cares.

There is strength in our stories, and there’s power in telling them. I want to set the record straight on my three-year-long fight for justice, even in the midst of a global pandemic and unprecedented political and social unrest. I want the crime writing community, full of former law enforcement themselves, to have a chance to have their say about the fact that a crime was committed at one of our biggest conferences, and our host city’s police department refused to protect our community by refusing to fully investigate. I want to show other women that people will stand up for us and I want public pressure to call upon Dallas District Attorney Creuzot to reopen and thoroughly investigate this case so others will be protected, better systems addressed, and justice served.

What exactly do I mean that the Dallas PD refused to investigate? According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police — an organization that police departments receive guidance and education — basic standards for investigating a sexual assault involve a preliminary interview taken when the crime is reported, a detailed follow-up interview with the victim a few days or a week later, proper evidence preservation, collection, and testing, identifying and interviewing witnesses and suspects[1].

The Dallas PD did not interview the suspect, they didn’t collect important evidence (the hotel video surveillance footage), they did not run the toxicology that the NYPD hand-delivered to Dallas, they did not interview any of the numerous witnesses, and they didn’t conduct a follow up interview with me, though I repeatedly offered to fly back to Dallas. Yet they closed the case and there are no systems preventing it from occurring because unless someone is willing to standup and risk further pain and scrutiny, law enforcement can circumvent the system by simply closing a case.

Why did they diverge from procedure? Their reasoning, stated in writing and verbal recording from my police report, cited an outdated Texas penal code that had changed more than two years prior to the crime. They told me that for non-consent due to drugging, Texas only recognizes GHB and Rohypnol, which according to the detective cause a blacked out, passed out, “carrying a woman over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes,” no memory state. They said my case could not have involved those drugs because I have scattered snapshot memories of the crime and any other drugs I was slipped would not be recognized by Texas, therefore, no crime. Case closed. Firstly, they never ran toxicology. Secondly, lower doses of these and many other drugs are commonly used in drug facilitated assaults that don’t cause total black-out. Thirdly and most importantly, that is not what Texas law states. Two years earlier Texas updated their aggravated assault codes [2] to include any substance given without the victim’s knowledge that is capable of impairing the victim.

Mark Pryor, fellow author and former Texas prosecutor who has been privy to my story, my evidence, and the DPD’s handling of my case states, “I was a felony prosecutor for fifteen years in Texas, and as someone who knows what evidence could and should have been collected in this case, I am deeply disappointed. Laurie has been horribly let down by organizations whose sole reason to exist is to help people, victims, like her. I have tried, and won, cases harder than this would have been, so for there not even to have been a proper investigation is shocking. Laurie’s story is an unwelcome reminder that sexual assault cases are treated differently, worse, than other major crimes and if we wonder why women are slow to report sexual assault, we just have to look at the way this case was handled to understand why.”

To add insult to injury, upon a reporter’s inquiry to confirm I’d made a police report, instead of the requisite cover page only, the DPD released my entire police report file to the media including recorded audio, notes, and all the gory details. The names were not fully redacted and my voice is fully recognizable.

And we wonder why perpetrators of sexual assault are so rarely brought to justice. Society complains that more women don’t come forward yet we’re crucified when we do. We’re subjected to scrutiny and suspicion like no other crime. We are easily dismissed and discounted with declarations like ‘it’s he said, she said’ or ‘women lie.’ Yet statistically women (and men) lie exponentially more about crimes involving money. It has been estimated that women lie about assault .002% — .008% of the time, while lies about insurance fraud alone are at about 10%. That means someone whose house was robbed is over 1000 times more likely to lie about it than a woman who files a police report for rape.

But do we subject victims to outrage and doubt when they come forward about a home robbery? Auto theft? Do we make sure to wedge in the words “It was only alleged…” with every conversation? Do we ridicule them for leaving a door unlocked, their curtains open, driving such a nice car that the thief couldn’t help himself…? Do we sow doubt in others through loaded comments? What were they wearing? Were they at the bar? No we do not.

Even given this profound inequality and suspicion upon victims, I didn’t believe for a second that as an attendee at a conference having to do with justice itself…surrounded by witnesses and attendees in the hundreds, many of whom were former FBI, CIA, detectives, Navy SEALs, police officers, and prosecutors…that the police would simply dismiss me. But they did.

Haleh Cochran, a longtime advocate and support specialist with the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) shared, “The majority of my career has involved working with survivors whose cases have been ignored or dismissed not due to lack of evidence, but because of misinformation or biases. As a society we have a lot of misconceptions about what sexual assault ‘looks like’. The reality is, sexual assault is rarely committed by a stranger jumping out of the bushes. It’s often someone you know and trust and who can hide behind their status or power. This usually leads to friends, family, coworkers, and even criminal justice professionals doubting the victim and focusing more on their actions than the suspects. And while it is harmful when people close to survivors doubt them, it’s even worse with law enforcement because police departments are given the power and authority to protect citizens within the community. This is why it is so important for the departments to have policies and practices in place to prevent biases from impacting investigations, because when you start by doubting a survivor, rather than believing them it not only fails to keep the community safe, but it also causes more harm.”

I then turned to my author community. Despite filing a formal complaint with a report from my lawyers, a few of the entrenched old guard of the publishing community tried to turn a deaf ear. Former board member Jay Stringer stated, “We were discussing the issues of harassment and assault at board level as long ago as 2016, but it was like trying to turn a large ship. Even after being made aware of previous incidents. We were way too slow to change. There was a culture of silence, of willful ignorance.” It was ultimately the authors and readers -the very fabric of our community- who proved they cared. Together we made a difference. After public pressure, the three publishing organizations to whom I addressed my concerns hired independent law firms to investigate my claims and evaluate the information collected and interviews conducted by a private investigator and attorneys. Significant changes were implemented that have truly made crime fiction a better, safer place, culminating in an article in USA Today and over 80 nationwide media outlets.

All three organizations issued the perpetrator a lifetime ban. And throughout it all, the accused man, though given the opportunity, never made one word in his defense. Is this because he would rather give up his writing career than suffer further scrutiny? Or because men know all things will be forgotten if they wait it out? Either way, can we allow this to continue?

Again, criminals who target women count on two things: A woman who will be silent and a system that doesn’t care. He picked the wrong woman. And so did the Dallas PD. Together, the crime writers and I made one system care. Now it’s our turn to make sure that the criminal system cares.

Because there are no protocols in place to address this premature closing of the case, I’ve spent the past years doggedly speaking with the Texas Attorney General’s office, the FBI, a Texas Ranger, TAASA, the Alliance for Safety and Justice, former Texas DA’s and prosecutors, mayors, city planners, a Texas state senator, the NYPD SVU, the president of the DEA which is the largest police union in the country, journalists, politicians, and others.

Every person I’ve talked to has agreed that DPD procedure demands certain basic elements of an investigation occur. All were outraged that in my case, the DPD did not follow their own procedures. Yet none of them have direct jurisdiction to force the DPD to reopen the case. I was told I could make an Internal Affairs report, but how am I supposed to trust the same organization that not only didn’t investigate one of the worst crimes, but violated my Constitutional right to privacy and victim’s rights to not just close ranks?

My only way forward is to publicly call on the Dallas DA’s office. The District Attorney’s office does have the jurisdiction to reopen and investigate my case. Working with TAASA and the Alliance for Safety and Justice, I am submitting a report to District Attorney Creuzot detailing my case and all of the new evidence that has been collected. There is now an opportunity to correct an injustice and to protect others. I know the DA cares about justice and together, we can make sure he knows we care and we are watching.

Change is needed. But it doesn’t just happen, change is caused. We make change. If you want to help make that change, please:

1. Give CLAPS to this article

2. Pass it on to friends

3. Please click here >> to sign this Change.org petition

It IS possible to overcome these problems when people work together. Thank you for your help.

[1] International Association of Chiefs of Police Sexual Assault Response Policy and Training Guidelines

[2] 85(R) HB1808. Texas penal code 22.021 subsection (a)(1),(2)(A)(vi) and Texas penal code 22.011 subsection (a)(1), (b)(6) and (b)(3).

[3] An article in the Minnesota Law Review noted that only 2–8% percent of rape claims are false. It also pointed out that most rapes go unreported. As a result, the ratio of false reports is likely closer to .002% or .008% of all incidents. Property-casualty insurance fraud alone, let alone other crimes of money, is lied about 10% of the time stealing around $308.6 billion from consumers every year. This means someone who reports a property-casualty insurance claim is 1250–5000 times more likely to be lying than a woman who reports a sexual assault.