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| === Pretrial proceedings === | === Pretrial proceedings === | ||
| Clinton claimed in an affidavit<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/229667084/State-of-Arkansas-V-Thomas-Alfred-Taylor|title=State of Arkansas V. Thomas Alfred Taylor|website=Scribd|access-date=2016-10-14}}</ref> she had received information that Shelton was emotionally unstable and had a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing.<blockquote>"I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing. I have also been informed that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body. Also that she exhibits an unusual stubbornness and temper when she does not get her way."</blockquote>Moreover, in this same affidavit, Clinton expounds:<blockquote>"I have also been told by an expert in child psychology that children in early adolescence tend to exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences and that adolescents with disorganized families, such as the complainant, are even more prone to such behavior."</blockquote> <ref>Alana Goodman, ''The Hillary Tapes," </ref> | Clinton claimed in an affidavit<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/229667084/State-of-Arkansas-V-Thomas-Alfred-Taylor|title=State of Arkansas V. Thomas Alfred Taylor|website=Scribd|access-date=2016-10-14}}</ref> she had received information that Shelton was emotionally unstable and had a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing.<blockquote>"I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing. I have also been informed that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body. Also that she exhibits an unusual stubbornness and temper when she does not get her way."</blockquote>Moreover, in this same affidavit, Clinton expounds:<blockquote>"I have also been told by an expert in child psychology that children in early adolescence tend to exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences and that adolescents with disorganized families, such as the complainant, are even more prone to such behavior."</blockquote> <ref>Alana Goodman, ''The Hillary Tapes," </ref> | ||
| The judge's son Gordon Cummings signed the arraignment proceeding held on May 21 that granted a preliminary hearing to review the evidence, after "denied" was scratched out and after the previous lawyer's name, John Baker, was scratched out. "</blockquote> <ref>Gordon Cummings, ''Circuit Court of Washington County," </ref> | |||
| ===Trial proceedings=== | ===Trial proceedings=== | ||
Revision as of 22:41, 2 November 2016
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| Kathy Shelton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 (age 62–63) Springdale, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
Kathy Shelton (born 1962) is a sexual assault survivor who in 1975, at age 12, was raped by two men in Arkansas. One of the men accused of raping her was 41-year-old defendant Thomas Alfred Taylor whose court-appointed criminal defense lawyer was 27-year-old Hillary Clinton (then known as Hillary Rodham) in her first-time appearance as courtroom litigator (courtroom lawyer) who had, according to Clinton, previously requested removal from the case.
Early life
Shelton was raised by a single mother in Springdale, Arkansas, who was "very strict about her relationships with members of the opposite sex."
Trial and aftermath
Appointment of defense attorney
Clinton said in leaked recorded tapes that she was initially asked to do the job as a favor to prosecutor Mahlon Gibson who recommended her to the trial judge Maupin Cummings since the defendant wanted a female defense attorney.
"I had some really tough clients. I had one appear, a prosecutor called me years ago, said that he had a guy who was accused of rape...and the guy wanted a woman lawyer... Would I do it as a favor..."
— Hillary Clinton, Washington Free Beacon
Gibson stated in 2014 that Clinton had no choice but to defend the defendant after she was appointed by the judge in the case. At the time, she was working at the legal aid clinic at the University of Arkansas and represented the defendant for free. Clinton has said that she requested removal from the case.
The Judge, Maupin Cummings, was a supporter of Bill Clinton and urged his son Gordon to back Clinton in the congressional race 7 months prior to the trial.
Pretrial proceedings
Clinton claimed in an affidavit she had received information that Shelton was emotionally unstable and had a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing.
"I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing. I have also been informed that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body. Also that she exhibits an unusual stubbornness and temper when she does not get her way."
Moreover, in this same affidavit, Clinton expounds:
"I have also been told by an expert in child psychology that children in early adolescence tend to exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences and that adolescents with disorganized families, such as the complainant, are even more prone to such behavior."
The judge's son Gordon Cummings signed the arraignment proceeding held on May 21 that granted a preliminary hearing to review the evidence, after "denied" was scratched out and after the previous lawyer's name, John Baker, was scratched out. "
Trial proceedings
Based on court documents obtained by CNN and Clinton's account in her 2003 memoir "Living History," Clinton won a plea deal for Taylor, securing a significantly reduced charge and sentence, based on a forensic mistake that cast doubt on the semen and blood samples found in the defendant’s underwear.
Taylor, who pleaded to unlawful fondling of a child, was sentenced to one year in prison, with two months reduced for time served. He died in 1992.
After trial effect on Clinton
After the case, Clinton went on to found Arkansas' first rape crisis call center because of the impact it had on her to not be released by the court from defending an accused whom she personally believed was guilty of the rape charge.
Shelton's adulthood reaction
After Shelton became aware that Clinton had been the criminal defense lawyer of the defendant in her case decades earlier, Shelton stated in 2007 that she herself bore no ill will toward Clinton for having had to act as her assailant's court-appointed criminal defence lawyer in the rape case, saying "I have to understand that she was representing Taylor... Hillary was just doing her job.”
Shelton attributed her life problems and drug issues with the sexual assault itself.
Leaked audio recording
Several years after the trial, Clinton was recorded discussing the proceedings. That audio was not made public until several decades later.
Shelton said she had no problem with Hillary until she heard Clinton laughing about legal technicalities of the case during a discussion recorded in the leaked audio tapes.
In the audio Clinton is heard laughing not at the victim, as had been inaccurately stated by Clinton's political adversaries, but laughing once after Clinton recounted that the defendant's passing of a polygraph test "forever destroyed" her faith in such tests (due to her conviction that the defendant was guilty), and laughing again at the prosecution team as Clinton recounted her disbelief at their procedural failures which she believed they should not have made to enable them to convict the defendant for the original charge of rape as she had hoped:
"But you know what was sad about it was that the prosecutors had evidence, among which was his underwear... His underwear, which was bloody. Sent it down to the crime lab... . The crime lab took the pair of underpants, neatly cut out the part that they were going to test... tested it... Came back with the result of what kind of blood it was, what was mixed in with it, then sent the pants back with a hole in it as evidence.
So I got an order to see the evidence and the prosecutor didn't want me to see the evidence. I had to go to Maupin Cummings and convince Maupin that yes indeed I had a right to see the evidence before it was presented. So they presented the underpants with a hole in it. I said, "What kind of evidence is that!?" You know, a pair of underpants with a hole in it. Course the crime lab had thrown away the piece they'd cut out. It was really odd. I mean, I plea bargained it down because it turned out they didn't have any evidence... But I took, I happened to be going to New York and I took the underpants with me, I got a special court order. And I went to Brooklyn, where this man whose name I now cannot remember who had shared in the Nobel Prize for his work on the RH factor and was one of the premiere investigators who deal with blood, who had retired from Sloan-Kettering or some place up there... And so the, sort of the story through the grapevine was if you get him interested in the case then you know you had the foremost expert in the world willing to testify so that it came out the way you wanted it to come out. So I wrote him and got an appointment to see him and took a taxi over... Got through the gates, got into his office... And he sat at his little desk and I pulled out my underpants you know, gave it to him and he started analyzing, looking for fibers, you know magnifying glass and all that stuff. He said, you know, "Can't prove anything!" Can see a slight trace but it wouldn't be enough to test, all that.
So I wrote back told Mahlor Gibson that I had... well, sorry I can't remember his name but I cut out who's who and I wrote all that stuff and I handed it to Mahlor Gibson and I said, "Well this guy's ready to come from New York to prevent this miscarriage of justice!" "
— Hillary Clinton, Washington Free Beacon
Shelton's story was the focus of a 2014 CNN special.
Politics
In 2016 Shelton received worldwide media attention when she changed her stance and spoke out against Clinton in a surprise press conference held by Donald Trump before the second presidential debate between him and Hillary Clinton. Also attending the conference were Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey.
It was later revealed Shelton was made a $2,500 cash payment by a Donald Trump super PAC (Political Action Committee) ally founded by former Trump campaign senior advisor Roger Stone. Stone told the AP that Shelton "was extensively interviewed on video about her experience with Hillary Clinton and was paid for her time." After the press conference, she attended the debate as Trump's guest.
References
- "Arkansas rape victim comes forward after 40 years to call Hillary Clinton a 'liar' - Daily Mail Online". Daily Mail. 2016-08-09. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
- ^ Goodman, Alana (9 August 2016). "EXCLUSIVE: Child rape victim comes forward for the first time in 40 years to call Hillary Clinton a 'liar' who defended her rapist by smearing her, blocking evidence and callously laughing that she knew he was guilty". Daily Mail. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- Krauss, Michael I. (June 26, 2014). "Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Ethics of a Rape Defense". Forbes. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ Merica, Dan (June 25, 2014). "Prosecutor in controversial case says Clinton had no choice but to defend rapist". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- Boerma, Lindsey (July 8, 2014). "Hillary Clinton stands by her defense of 1975 rape suspect". CBS. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger, How Bill Clinton’s losing 1974 race helped launch the Clintons’ donor network," The Washington Post Nov 20, 2015
- "State of Arkansas V. Thomas Alfred Taylor". Scribd. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- Alana Goodman, The Hillary Tapes," Washington Free Beacon Jun 15, 2014
- Gordon Cummings, Circuit Court of Washington County," Thomas Alfred Taylor Court Documents - Page 7 May 21, 1975
- Alana Goodman, The Hillary Tapes," Washington Free Beacon Jun 15, 2014
- Black, Allida (21 Sep 2014). "Blazing a Trail: Hillary Clinton, Advocate for Children and the Indigent". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- Payton, Bre (11 Oct 2016). "Rape Victim: Hillary Clinton Laughed At Me And Blamed Me For Getting Raped". The Federalist. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- Stanton, Zack (October 9, 2016). "Trump is wrong: Hillary Clinton did not laugh about the rape of a 12-year-old". Politico. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- Kessler, Glenn (May 19, 2016). "Did Clinton laugh about a rapist's light sentence and attack sexual harassment victims?". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- "Rape victim says Hillary Clinton 'lied like a dog'". CNN. 20 June 2014 – via YouTube.
- Blake, Aaron. "Donald Trump's attack on Hillary Clinton for defending an accused child rapist, explained". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- Halper, Evan. "Woman who has long criticized Hillar Clinton got paid by Trump Ally". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- Kessler, Glenn (October 11, 2016). "The facts about Hillary Clinton and the Kathy Shelton rape case". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ "Campaign 2016 updates: Ryan won't campaign with Trump". Los Angeles Times.
- Gaskell, Stephanie (9 Oct 2016). "Who is Kathy Shelton? The woman behind Trump's attack on Hillary Clinton's rape defense". MIC. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
