Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Page #5

I don't know who to believe,

he's my father too.

And I'm your sister.

Please, believe me, Linda.

I need you to believe me.

These cases have been lost

all over the country.

Now, as far as I know, not one child's testimony

has held up in court against an adult.

Here it is, Torts.

So, I was thinking, what

if the child were a teenager.

Wouldn't she be more likely

to be believed?

But if she was a teenager,

it wouldn't be custody.

No.

I'm thinking of a civil suit, Rose.

Suing the perpetrator for damages.

She may not put him in jail,

but just maybe

she could win a settlement

for her pain and suffering.

Can you do that?

Look at this.

The statute limitation for torts for minors

is one year from their 18th birthday.

Meaning what exactly?

Meaning that we have until a child

turns 19 to make a case.

And an 18 year old is going to be a

lot more articulate than a 6 year old.

Is incest a tort?

A tort is a personal injury.

And that's not incest,

I don't know what is.

I think you've got a very good case

here, Kelly.

Not only against your brothers, but

against your parents and the Church.

We're going to sue the Church?

You told 3 clergymen

that your 3 older brothers

were molesting you and they did

absolutely nothing to stop it.

But, isn't it a sin

to sue the Church?

Honey,

Kelly,

your brothers have been raping

you for 8 years,

your mother knew, your father knew,

and 3 religious teachers knew.

I don't think you were

the sinner here.

I know how difficult this is.

And if you don't want to go through

with it, I understand.

No.

It has to stop.

I can't take it anymore.

Now, I have to warn you,

this isn't going to be easy.

Your parents may get

very angry with you.

Not to mention your siblings.

They're gonna yell and

scream and call you names.

They're gonna accuse you

of betraying your family.

You're gonna feel very alone.

I felt alone my entire life.

This takes a lot of courage,

I'm very proud of you.

Now, I'm gonna go ahead and initiate proceedings

and file a complaint and have it served,

and in the mean time I want you to

move out of your house immediately.

Where?

Don't worry, we'll find you an

apartment, I'll lend you the money.

Also, I strongly suggest that you have

no contact with your family right now.

OK.

We'll talk every day, we'll spend

lots of time together.

I'm very optimistic, Kelly,

there is no way the court can

negate your testimony.

- Hi.

- Hi.

You look great.

Thank you.

So?

How is your work coming on?

Well, I've got a new case

that I'm very excited about

but I'm sure you didn't call me

to discuss my career.

That's true.

Why did you come?

I wanted to talk to you about Dad.

OK.

I want to show you something.

I want you to read this.

What is this?

A psychologist report.

Dad was so upset by your accusation,

he had himself tested.

There is no way he could have done

it Shari, he doesn't fit the profile.

- There are no profiles.

- He took a lie detector test.

Do you know how many incest

perpetrators pass lie detector tests?

You don't give an inch, do you?

But, if he would just admit it...

Maybe you should admit

you made a mistake.

Alright, I gotta go.

- Kelly...

- She's dropping the case.

Can we talk privately

for a minute, please?

She's got nothing to say to you,

she's coming home where she belongs.

Don't let them pressure you.

My Mom and I talked everything

over last night,

and she promised me things

are gonna change.

You don't have to decide right now,

just take some time and think about it.

Hey, Lady, she already told you...

Excuse me Sir,

but I happen to be talking

to my client,

and if you continue harassing me,

I will find a bailiff and have you

ejected from this court house.

You realize that in a year,

it will be too late.

The statute of limitations will

run out when you turn 19.

Right now, you have the opportunity

to make your brothers accountable,

- to force your parents and the church...

- I don't want to force them to do anything.

I want to go home.

Home to what?

I told you, things are going

to be different.

You know, Kelly,

sometimes you're gonna have

to decide who's side you're on,

theirs or your own.

If you need anything,

you call me, OK?

What's wrong?

I got a call today

from Darlene Holland.

Christie has been hospitalized,

she's turned psychotic.

Damn it.

What is going on, Rose,

what kind of a world do we live in?

- I don't know.

- You can't win.

No matter what you do, you can't win.

What, the perpetrator gets off scott-free

and the victim serves a life long sentence?

There is only one way to make

those bastards accountable.

How?

We need to change the law.

You're dreaming, you know

how hard that is.

It can't be any worse than raped by

my father, if I can survive that,

I can do anything.

Stephanie Chadford.

Stephanie, hi.

My name is Shari Karney and I'm an attorney

in Los Angeles specializing in incest cases.

Really?

Yes, I was reading through some

briefs that I borrowed from ACLU

and I found your name,

I can't believe this.

You've been trying to overturn

statute of limitations?

Yes, that's right.

So have I.

You're kidding?

I thought I was all alone on this.

Until now, so did I.

Well, maybe we ought to get together

and compare our notes.

Exactly what I was thinking,

are you free tomorrow?

Basically we need

a strong legal argument

that would overcome the dismissal of

adult incest cases past the age of 19.

I think I have it.

What?

Delayed discovery.

The guy has a gall bladder operation.

He doesn't find out for 6 months

that they leave the sponge in.

Complications set in, infections,

he can't go back to work.

Statute of limitations has run out but

he can still sue for medical malpractice.

Why? Delayed discovery.

There is no way he could have known about

the sponge upon they opened him up again.

OK, now it's incest.

A child represses the abuse

until she's 30 years old,

meanwhile she fails in school, she has all

kinds of physical and emotional problems,

her life is a mess,

she doesn't know why.

It's exactly the same thing,

delayed discovery.

There is no way she could have known

about her emotional problems,

until she remembers the incest.

Therefore incest law suits should be

exempt from all time constraints...

because of fixed

statute of limitations

deprives the victim of ever having

rights against the perpetrator.

Exactly.

Oh, you know what?

This could work.

First we plan a team

Then we review perspective clients,

choose 10 to 15 of the strongest cases

- and file suits all over the state.

- Good.

We challenge the statute based on delayed

discovery and push the law to the limit.

We're gonna need support on this.

If we could get,

say, 5 state-wide organizations

to sign on to a brief to present to the

Court, we'll have a much stronger case.

I think we should also work on getting

a bill past in the legislation.

- It's a bad idea.

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