Special report: Metro Nashville lawyer asks about abortion, menstrual cycle in child sex assault suit

Lawyers for Nashville schools want to ask a 16-year-old girl who says she was the victim of sexual violence about her own sexual history. They’ve already asked her mother questions about the girl’s menstrual cycle, use of birth control — and whether the mother ever had an abortion.

The girl and her mother, named only as Sally Doe and Sally Doe #2, filed a $3 million lawsuit against Metro Nashville Public Schools in August alleging the girl was taken into a men’s bathroom at Hunters Lane High School and “subjected to unwelcome and/or pressured sexual contact by a male student.”

Another male student videoed it, which was then widely shared on cellphones and social media, and school officials did nothing to stop it, the lawsuit said.

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Metro Nashville Legal Department attorneys, representing Nashville schools, are trying to undermine the girl's assertion that the sexual contact was unwanted.

“(The girl) has put her sexual history at issue in this case by alleging ... that the sexual contact and videotaping between her and another student was ‘unwanted’ and ‘pressured,' ” the attorneys argue in a recent court filing.

Stephen Crofford, the attorney for the Does, said the girl is fragile and undergoing psychological treatment related to the alleged attack. Crofford wants a judge to prevent the lawyers from asking the girl questions that would pose a “painful invasion of her privacy,” according to legal filings.

In a legal filing, Metro Legal Department attorney R. Alex Dickerson rejects the girl, a freshman at the time of the alleged attack, is fragile or seeking treatment.

Actions by Dickerson include:

Asking the girl’s mother in a March 21 deposition if she obtained books used to teach her daughter about sex “about the time she was coming into her period”;

Asking the girl’s mother if the girl knew anything about the mother’s sexual history;

Asking the mother why the daughter sought birth control and whether she had a gynecologist;

Asking the mother about a 2001 pregnancy and “did the pregnancy terminate naturally?” Dickerson admitted in a legal filing that the question "came out poorly";

Pulling a Hunters Lane High School student out of class May 3 to ask him if he was the girl's boyfriend;

Asking the boy how the school district attorneys could reach the boy's mother to set up a deposition.

The attorneys also want electronic copies of the girl's social media accounts because "there is no better way for a jury to ascertain her allegations of physical and emotional well-being than through her social media posts."

Defending questions about the mother’s financial history, the attorneys say “to suggest that a parent’s financial health and standing has no bearing on a child's development is to suggest Sally Doe #2 grew up in a vacuum.”

Metro Legal Department Director Jon Cooper declined to answer questions about his attorney's tactics, citing the ongoing litigation.

"Attorneys are professionals. As professionals, they are responsible with complying with applicable local, state and federal law, including the state and federal rules of civil procedure and evidence, and the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct," Cooper said.

Dickerson has been licensed to practice law in Tennessee since 2008 and is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, according to the Board of Professional Responsibility.

'That takes victim blaming to a new level'

Experts questioned the need for Metro Legal’s actions.

Asking the mother about her pregnancy history is “an outrageous tactic that is highly unusual and very aggressive,” said Adele Kimmel, senior attorney with Public Justice, a nonprofit law firm in Washington, D.C., that represents victims in Title IX lawsuits against middle and high schools.



“I have never heard of questions being asked about the mother’s pregnancy history,” she said. “It seems geared to somehow using the mom’s history to blame the victim. I can’t get into the mind of the city attorney, but that takes victim blaming to a new level.”

Lawyer says 'personal' questions of girl are necessary

The lawsuit alleges that Nashville school officials failed to take action to protect the girl after the alleged assault and did not follow federal rules in properly documenting, investigating and disciplining offending students. It asks for a court order to force the school district to comply with federal rules known as Title IX.

Crofford asked a federal judge to bar the attorneys from asking the girl questions similar to those asked of her mother. Attorneys for Metro Nashville argue the girl opened the door to questions about her sexual past when she said she was the victim of a sexual attack.

"(The girl) is suggesting that she will not develop into a healthy adult because of unwanted sexual activity," Dickerson wrote in a recent filing.

"That kind of allegation puts Metro in the position where it will need to ask personal questions to see how (the girl) has developed sexually to this point in her life."

To ask such questions, lawyers need to prove they’re acting in good faith to obtain information they’re legally allowed to use to develop a case, said Penny White, a law professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and former justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

“What you want to guard against, what we’re worried about always, is that these types of questions are just being asked to deter reporting of sexual abuse or misconduct, that the purpose of the questioning is intimidation and that allowing it will further victimize someone who’s already been victimized,” White said.

“A lawyer is obligated to use the law’s procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or intimidate others.”

Mother of boy pulled out of class is outraged

The mother of the boy pulled out of class believes the Metro Nashville attorneys acted inappropriately.

The day after Dickerson pulled the boy out of class, his mother sent outraged emails to Hunters Lane High School principal Susan Kessler.

“I would like a phone call ASAP! Why is an attorney talking to my child without my consent?” an email filed with the court said.

Kessler did not respond by phone, instead sending the mother an email saying: “The attorney asked (the teen) for parent information to contact you directly. He did not ask (the teen) any other questions.”

The boy's mother fired back in an email, stating: “That is NOT TRUE!!” He has (sic) the status of his relationship. Is that not considered a question? Again! Why won’t you’re (sic) staff allow me to speak with you? Are you untouchable? So I can’t speak with you, but an attorney can speak with my minor son?I?I"

Cosby attorneys faced heat for 'shaming women'

Several experts said they were not surprised by the tactics deployed by the school district’s attorneys.

"We conflate consensual sexual activity and sexual violence all of the time in our culture," said Kristen Houser, a spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

Houser said some of the questions asked by the Metro Nashville attorneys reminded her of the recent criticism of attorneys representing Bill Cosby, who was found guilty in April of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. Cosby's attorneys labeled some of the disgraced comedian's accusers as liars and otherwise tried to discredit them.

"The defense team is under a lot of heat for using these ingrained, sexist beliefs that are shaming women, in particular, for any kind of sexual activity," Houser said.

"It’s sort of like trying to suggest they are unstable."

Teresa Huizar, executive director of advocacy organization National Children’s Alliance, also pointed to the Cosby case. She said the jury's decision to render a guilty verdict despite the defense team's "take no prisoners" approach to dealing with victims should be a wake-up call to lawyers everywhere.

Few attorneys have experience dealing with children, expert says

Despite recommended best practices for attorneys interviewing juveniles who are possible victims of sexual violence, Huizar said few attorneys have much experience dealing with children.

That can lead to bullying or, in some cases, creating new trauma. Whether or not it's the goal of an attorney, Huizar said attempts to discredit or poke holes in the story of a juvenile can force the juvenile to relive an event or feel it was their fault an attack occurred.

"It's a common idea that there’s a sense that somehow they must have done something wrong, which triggered the abuse," Huizar said.

"When you have an attorney who’s reintroducing that idea through questioning, that somehow this is their fault, that's tremendously damaging and can set back the progress that they’ve made."

Like Huizar, Kimmel said the Metro Nashville attorneys may have not experience in sexual assault cases that involve juveniles.

“If you have an attorney who doesn’t really deal with civil rights issues and they are dealing with zoning or other issues, you might see issues where they don’t know what the boundaries are,” she said.

“I suspect based on the kinds of questions the attorney was asking the victim’s mom, he does not do these sorts of cases and he has crossed the line.”