As reported by Isthmus,
10/4/06
Madison Ald. Austin
King, president of the Madison Common Council, has introduced a resolution calling on the
city to formally apologize and make financial restitution to Patty, the Madison
woman whose seven-year ordeal at the hands of the Madison Police Department and
the city of Madison is the subject of a new book.
Patty, a legally blind
small business owner, was raped by an armed intruder on Sept. 4, 1997. Police
came to doubt her account, pressured her to recant, and had her charged with a
crime for reporting that she was raped. The charges were eventually dropped,
and Patty was vindicated with the identification of her assailant.
The resolution, which King
introduced Tuesday night with six co-sponsors, notes that “the city of Madison
has never apologized for the extremely harmful impact of these events on Patty,
and public trust in our justice system has been tarnished by this inaction.”
It expresses the
city’s “heartfelt apology and deepest regrets to Patty, who persevered against
all odds after having been brutally assaulted…and then further victimized by
the criminal justice system.” And it calls on the city to pay Patty $35,000
from its contingency reserve.
The resolution also
directs the city’s insurer to no longer retain the law firm of Axley Brynelson.
And it asks Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to draft a new policy to “eliminate
the use of lies, coercion, deception, ruses, or other techniques designed to
break down individuals who are reporting that they are victims of domestic
violence or sexual assault, in all but the rarest of circumstances.”
King, who has a long
history of anti-sexual-assault activism, says he was moved to act by an excerpt
from Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman’s Harrowing Quest for Justice,
by Isthmus News Editor Bill Lueders. That excerpt, which appeared in the
paper’s Sept. 22 edition, recounted Patty’s federal lawsuit and the conduct of
the attorneys from Axley Brynelson hired to defend the city.
“Frankly, I was
overwhelmed by it,” says King, who calls the actions of the attorneys in
deposing Patty “tantamount to torture.”
According to King,
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Police Chief Noble Wray have expressed
“comfort” with the resolution, although Wray would have preferred that the
issue of a new MPD policy be handled separately. King kept it in “to document
to the public that a lesson has been learned and that we are taking steps to
avoid another tragedy like this.”