Rape victim empathizes with woman who fled from testifying

The 37-year-old Wallingford woman's heart broke when she heard that a young woman had fled to the roof of the King County Courthouse last week rather than face questioning from her accused rapist.

"I totally understood, and it made complete sense to me," said the Wallingford woman, who faced her attacker from the witness stand last year. "The urge to run is overwhelming."

The woman had been raped at knife point on Oct. 20, 2008, while her children were asleep in her home. The accused rapist, Sankarandi Skanda, 36, chose to act as his lawyer, and that meant he had the right to question her on the stand.

For two days, she recalled, she endured "outrageous" accusations and questions from Skanda, who claimed she had hired him to kill her husband. The Seattle Times typically does not name victims of sexual assault.

Skanda killed himself in his jail cell before the trial concluded.

But the case prompted state Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, to introduce House Bill 2457 that would have allowed judges discretion in protecting sexual-assault victims from direct questioning by their alleged assailants.

The law would have allowed judges to order pro se defendants — that is, those acting as their attorney — to question alleged victims via closed-circuit television, as now allowed in some child-abuse cases. Or alternately, to allow a judge to order the defendant to question the alleged victim through a standby attorney, Williams said.

He said the bill "recognized that sexual-assault victims can be traumatized to the point that they become incapable of speaking." The bill passed the House unanimously, according to Williams, but stalled in the Senate's judiciary committee over concerns that the proposed law would violate a defendant's constitutional right to confront the accuser.

Williams, who did not run for re-election, said state Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, has agreed to reintroduce the bill next session.

"Should it pass?" asked the woman from Wallingford. "Absolutely."

"Ask yourself why they want to represent themselves?" she said Monday. "If they wanted to prove they were innocent, they would depend on a good lawyer. But they want to interfere with the process, put their victim through it again and assert their authority."

While she relived the horror of her rape on the stand, she said her attacker "smirked and enjoyed the spotlight."

Skanda, also known as Franklin Antill, was found dead inside his cell at the King County Jail on July 2, 2009. A noose fashioned out of bedsheets was tied around his neck, and a stack of trial paperwork was jammed against the cell door in an apparent attempt to keep jail staff from entering.

After the case was dismissed, several jurors said they would have voted him guilty on all charges.

"He had no credibility," said juror Alice Sieger, of Seattle.

On Thursday, a 21-year-old woman who was scheduled to take the witness stand in the rape trial of Salvador Aleman Cruz went to the roof of the courthouse and threatened to jump. She reportedly told prosecutors that she'd rather die than face Cruz, who was her mother's boyfriend when she was a child.

Cruz, who is representing himself, is charged with child rape and molestation for allegedly assaulting several young girls between 1992 and 1998.

A judge on Monday denied Cruz's request for a mistrial. Cruz claimed jurors' knowledge of Thursday's incident could impact their impartiality, but Superior Court Judge Douglass North disagreed.

Also Monday, prosecutors dropped the charges against Cruz that involved the 21-year-old, meaning she no longer will have to testify.

The other alleged victims will take the stand, prosecutors said.

The Wallingford woman said her heart goes out to them all.

She knows she has advantages that the 21-year-old woman, and the other alleged victims, couldn't possibly have at their ages.

She has maturity, she said, and a strong sense of herself. She has a degree in industrial engineering and an MBA. She has a supportive family and financial resources.

She was "strong-armed" into treatment at the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault & Traumatic Stress that "was the most grueling hard work," but says it was among the best things she could have done for herself. The center offers counseling and treatment to individuals affected by traumatic events, including abuse, crime, domestic violence and accidents.

The treatment allowed her to speak about the rape without being traumatized.

"I'm able to think of myself as a survivor now and not a victim," she said.

Even with all that support, her ordeal was terrifying, she said.

"I know I'm very fortunate and that it's a thousand times harder for other people," she said. "The only thing I can say is try to be brave, even after everything you've been through. You just have to be brave."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.