DA refutes lawyer's allegations her office broke the law in jailing rape victim

A mentally ill rape victim is suing Harris County and the county's law enforcement agencies for jailing her over the Christmas holidays after she had a psychological breakdown on the witness stand while testifying against her attacker. The victim's face has been blurred in this photo to protect her identity. less A mentally ill rape victim is suing Harris County and the county's law enforcement agencies for jailing her over the Christmas holidays after she had a psychological breakdown on the witness stand while ... more Photo: Sean Buckley & Assoc. PLLC Photo: Sean Buckley & Assoc. PLLC Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close DA refutes lawyer's allegations her office broke the law in jailing rape victim 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Prosecutors broke the law when they jailed a rape victim in order to secure her testimony against her attacker, the attorney for the woman said in a letter to Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson.

In the letter delivered Monday, Sean Buckley, the rape victim's attorney, said he believes prosecutors illegally obtained a court order to confine his client in the Harris County Jail last December, committing the crime of official oppression. He requested that Anderson appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the matter.

"I have made a colorable claim that employees in your office engaged in official oppression in their mistreatment of my client," Buckley stated in the letter. "This is a very serious matter that deserves a full, independent investigation by a neutral prosecutor with no ties to your office."

Anderson responded promptly that her office didn't break any laws.

"There is no reason to believe that anyone in this situation - the prosecutor or the judge - believed that what they were doing was unauthorized by the law," Anderson said at a Monday press conference.

Anderson has previously defended her prosecutors' actions, stating that while the DA's office does not jail victims, this was "an extraordinary set of circumstances."

On Monday, Anderson said her office found two other examples where witnesses were held in the jail. One man, who is homeless, is currently being held on a witness bond. He is a critical witness in a capital murder case and has been in custody for three months, she said.

Another rape victim was also held in the jail earlier this year, Anderson said. The woman was serving a six-month jail sentence for drug possession, and was issued a bench warrant to testify in a rape case. She was transferred to the Harris County Jail but her sentence expired and she remained an extra two months, she said.

"It was our fault, from what I know today," Anderson said.

Thirty-five other witnesses are being held under bench warrants, meaning they were convicted of a crime and were transferred to the Harris County Jail to testify.

Buckley filed a federal suit for his client in July over her jailing.

The 25-year-old woman, identified in court documents as "Jane Doe," agreed to testify in the December trial against her assailant, serial rapist Keith Edward Hendricks. However, the victim, who has long suffered from mental illnesses, suffered a psychological breakdown while testifying about her 2013 attack, according to the lawsuit.

She was subsequently taken to a hospital for mental health treatment and then jailed for 27 days following her release at the request of prosecutors who wanted to ensure she would testify in the January trial.

It is that court order - called an "attachment order" - prosecutors used to take the woman into custody that Buckley says was illegally obtained.

"The evidence shows that prosecutors and others in your office broke the law by obtaining an illegal attachment order/witness bond that was unauthorized by any statute," Buckley stated in his letter. "Specifically, there was no legal basis for your employees to 'attach' my client and throw her in the Harris County Jail for 27 days, since she was not under subpoena, was not a resident of Harris County, and was not financially able to pay a surety bond."

During her confinement in jail, the rape victim, who was housed in the facility's general population, was attacked by another inmate, had an altercation with a jailer and was not regularly given her medications, according to her lawsuit.

On Jan. 11, the rape victim returned to court and testified against Hendricks. He was convicted and received two life sentences.

In a video statement released last month, Anderson said Hendricks, 55, could have gone free had she not taken the stand in the trial and the woman's life again would have been at risk.