Patty’s letter to Mayor Bauman

[What follows is Patty’s letter to Madison Mayor Sue Bauman written in May 2000, after the dismissal of the federal lawsuit.]

[Address redacted]
Madison, WI 537XX

Mayor Sue Bauman
Mayor’s Office, Room 403
City-County Bldg.
Madison, WI 53709

May 25, 2000

Dear Mayor Bauman,

Congratulations!

As you know, the attorneys your city hired to protect the police officers who turned on me after I reported being raped did a fine job. They held back nothing, spent money like water, and used every rotten spiteful tactic in the book. I’ll let you in on just a couple:

First of all, they had the detective cop who lied to and coerced me (Tom Woodmansee) sit directly across the table from me for the entire 20 hours of deposition I endured. He no doubt enjoyed every minute of my torture. The lawyers you hired repeatedly suggested that I must have enjoyed being raped by my attacker, since I didn’t fight him.

The main attorney Doug Armstrong sarcastically mocked the heartfelt journal I wrote about the rape. Another big chuck of the time was spent directly on my mental health, past and present. Then there was the classic questions about past sex partners. When will people stop using this tactic against rape victims?

Even after all I’ve been through, I was shocked and hurt that these tactics were used against me by lawyers representing the city of Madison.

I’m sure you’re thinking, well she didn’t have to go through this, she could have dropped it. But no. I tried to bring charges up to the PFC but they refused to take up my case. I didn’t have the money that would have been needed to take on the lawyers the city hired to defend the bad cops who turned on me. You refused to get involved. In the lawsuit, Woodmansee was given three attorneys, and every person on my witness list was put through hell, as was I.

When we met last January, after opening up to me about some past experiences of your own, you said that eventually I’ll get over this and be able to move on. But how is this possible? The financial and mental state this experience has put me in was no minor setback. You’d think that the guilty parties would at least be responsible for the cost of defending myself against the second rape—the one by the system.

I learned from this case that right or wrong has nothing to do with how the justice system operates. What matters is money, and who has more of it. Not one shred of evidence came to light that suggested I was not raped; all of my witnesses and therapists testified that I obviously was. They said there was nothing unusual about how I acted and no reason for police to treat me like they did. But now they will never get to say so at trial. You have made clear to the police that they are free to treat rape victims like this any time they want.

Talk to your lawyers. Ask them if based on what they heard they think I was lying about being raped. If not, why was it so important for you to make sure I didn’t even get so much as an apology over how I was treated?

Woodmansee, his lawyers and the judge all latched on to the fact that I was wrong about my attacker. A blind woman was wrong. Well, I never said I was sure. I said I wasn’t. But now every woman who gets raped and isn’t sure better keep her mouth shut or this will happen to her. You’ve seen to it.

Let me remind you of my life now. I’m 40 years old, I live alone, and I’m blind. Sometimes that scares me. What if I am ever attacked again? I would try to kill my attacker, even if it meant being killed myself. That would be better than risking calling the police. To fight to the death would be the better option.

I think you should hang your head in shame. The message you’re sending to the women here and even the cops is unacceptable. The cops are allowed to do whatever it takes to protect their own ass, as well as the city’s reputation. This comes well before the safety of citizens.

Again, congratulations on your win.

Sincerely,