Thank you for the opportunity to tell you my story personally, as it is very important to our family.

Our daughter is not here as she cannot cope or tolerate anything more relating to this trauma that happened to her. My husband and I were awoken in the very early AM last December !th by a phone call from a law enforcement office in the Medical "enter of the #ockies emergency room. Apparently our daughter, $ years old at the time, had been se%ually assaulted. The &# doctor told me that she had suffered a severe laceration to her cervi% and several vaginal lacerations as well. 'he was still bleeding profusely, had loss a lot of blood and needed emergent surgical intervention. (e )umped in our car and started out on the long drive to *ort "ollins. Ito tell you that it seemed the longest drive of our lives as we were so shocked, traumati+ed, and devastatingly concerned for our daughter,s welfare. &nroute we were notified by her surgeon that her in)uries had been corrected and that she was continuing to receive blood transfusions, which were numerous as she had suffered severe blood loss. (e were relieved to be told that her prognosis for a full physical recovery was good. After wandering through near neighborhoods she was discovered on the house porch of a man who )ust happened to be up in the middle of the night for a drink of water. This man and his roomate took her into their home and thus saved her life. 'he was covered in blood and bleeding profusely from her vaginal area. As she bled on their floor they called $ and did all they could to aid and comfort her. 'he literally almost bled to death. Apparently she and her girlfriend had been invited to a man-s home for a get together with another man as well. The girls were served several shots of alcohol. 'he feels very strongly that she was also given a .date/ drug. 0er alcohol level was found to be very high, especially for her small physi1ue. Date drug testing was negative. Date drugs like #ufelin/ dissipate from the body very 1uickly and thus difficult to detect in the serum. 0owever the

effects can be long lasting. The )ury was not allowed this information regarding date drugs. (hen found she was so mentally incapacitated that she did not even know her name. 0er attacker was located by police a few hours later and incarcerated. 0e subse1uently was charged with 2serving alcohol to a minor,32 contributing to the delin1uency of a minor and 42 *irst degree rape resulting in severe bodily in)ury. (e found it very distressing that during the court proceedings her perpetrator did not have to testify on the stand. Our daughter, however, did have to endure several hours on the stand testifying, and being interrogated by the defense side, which caused her even more trauma and victimi+ation. My husband and I were se1uestered by the defense after protest to the 5udge by her prosecuting attorneys, and thus we were banned from the court room. (e were not allowed to be there for her emotional support. During the proceedings there were several testimonials attesting to her mental incapacitation when found and throughout her emergency trauma. 'he was not coherent until awakening from anesthesia post operatively after the emergency surgery to save her life. During the trial she admitted to having no conscious memories of the rape. "urrently though she continues to e%perience disturbingly horrible nightmares that awaken her from sleep. The )ury verdict in the case was guilty of the first two listed crimes, but6 7OT 89I:T; of the rape charge, because she had no memory of the event, and therefore it was considered to be "O7'&79A: se%. (e see this as a complete and utter o%ymoron. (ho would consent to such trauma, and how can it be moral for a person to commit such forceful se%ual penetration on an unconscious person<<< Therefore we feel that this is an erroneous and 9759'T verdict. As it turns out, it seems to our family, that it was our daughter that was actually the one on trial, not the perpetrator of this heinous act. In the =ictims #ight Act, under intent, it states to assure that all victims of and witnesses to crimes are honored and protected by

law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and )udges in a manor no less vigorous than protection afforded criminal defendants. Our daughter was not only victimi+ed by this violent rapist, but then again by our ."riminal/ 5ustice 'ystem, as it seems that there is much more leeway given to the defenses side, and the DA prosecutors, hands are tied in many ways. Thirdly, she was victimi+ed by this society,s rape culture bias. &ssentially2 if a woman dresses up nice, meets a man for a date and drinks alcohol with him, then that infers that she has consented to se%2 evidently, violent se% or not. :astly, and perhaps the worst victimi+ation is self inflicted, as she >like most rape victims? has accepted society,s condemnation for her mistake, and there it is her burden to carry for the rest of her life. (hile this defendant is free both physically and emotionally to do how he pleases, as opposed to being behind bars2 it is our daughter that now is in a cage of society,s making. This case outcome only encourages rape and violent offenders to continue preying on victims, and deters victims of rape to continue to 7OT ever report it. (hen I entered my daughter,s hospital room the morning after her surgery, the last pint of blood was still being infused intravenously into her small pale body. I note the bruises on her neck and the broken blood vessels in her eyes. (e held each other for a while, then the first thing she said to me was .Mom did I somehow cause this to happen to me/ My husband and I are in awe of our daughter,s strength and courage during her traumatic ordeal, and absolutely ama+ed of her inner self,s tenacity in actually surviving the attack itself. 9nfortunately, especially after the verdict, she currently suffers from severe depression which is having and e%tremely negative impact on her returning to a full and happy life. (e can only pray with all our hearts that this person will not harm some other parents, dear young daughter. My husband and I the parent,s of a truly remarkable young woman.

Thank you 5udge @aup, and all in attendance, very much for listening to my statement.