Victim Interrogated by Alleged Rapist
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, the ultimate slap in the face in the war on women. A man accused of impersonating a cop and raping a woman is allowed to cross-examine her while she`s on the witness stand. Should rape victims be forced to endure more torture during the trial from the men they say violated them? We`ll talk to an outraged rape victim and take your calls. And a vicious mugger robs an 81-year-old woman. The female attacker trails the senior citizen, then throws her to the ground, making off with her purse and plenty of cash. Tonight, we`ll try to help track this monster down. Then fast-breaking developments in the murder of that stunning Las Vegas showgirl. A coroner rules Debbie Flores-Narvaez was strangled to death. That, as her ex-boyfriend is dragged in front of a judge. I`ll talk to the dancer`s devoted sister about her face-off in court with the accused killer. Plus is drug addiction at the heart of the Tucson shooting horror? One of Loughner`s friends says the suspect used hallucinogenics. And the Army says he admitted to being a pothead. And new details about Jared Loughner`s father, allegedly seeing him take a black bag out of a car trunk the morning of the rampage and then running off. Now cops are frantically searching for that mystery bag. ISSUES starts now.</s>LUIS HARRIS, ACCUSED OF RAPE: In the interview with Detective Levi (ph) Davis, you never mention the word "rape."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is sex. Rape is sex.</s>HARRIS: So you`re saying that rape is sex?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unwanted sex is rape.</s>HARRIS: So your testimony here today now is that you were raped?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was raped by you. You forced sex upon me.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: How sick is that? Tonight, a Florida courtroom becomes a vicious battleground in the war on women. An alleged rapist acts as his own attorney, and interrogates his terrified victim, violating her over and over again as she sits on the witness stand. It was every woman`s worst nightmare, ripped straight out of a horror movie. This man, 31-year-old Luis Harris, allegedly pretended to be a cop, parking his car in the middle of a busy street and using a fake laser device to flag down a female driver. She pulls over, thinking this monster`s a real cop. Police say he then handcuffed her, telling her she was under arrest on suspicion of DUI. This frightened woman soon realized she was entering a living nightmare, that she might not make it out alive. Now, this Harris fellow was caught on surveillance video. And you`re looking at that image right now, using the victim`s ATM card. She claims right after he withdrew money from her account, he brutally raped her in the back seat of his car.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was pushed up against the window, and you were having sex with me from behind me.</s>HARRIS: With your handcuffs behind your back?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>HARRIS: Was that painful?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t remember the pain.</s>HARRIS: Were your hands in the way?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is getting me so darn angry. Two days later, he was caught after a dramatic police chase that ended on the roof of a building. Now this suspect, already accused of impersonating a cop, is impersonating a lawyer in the courtroom. Harris fired his court-appointed attorney and is representing himself. Is he trying to set up a mistrial? Well, he`s certainly putting his alleged victim through hell all over again, grilling her on the stand. She remains strong, looking him in the face and saying, "I was raped by you." Are you outraged, too? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS. Straight out to my fantastic expert panel. First to Katie Calloway Hall, who was kidnapped and raped by Phillip Garrido. And she is my hero for speaking out on this issue consistently. Katie, you`re a survivor of sexual assault. What`s your reaction to this accused rapist grilling his alleged victim on the stand?</s>KATIE CALLOWAY HALL, RAPE SURVIVOR: I don`t -- I think that would be the most difficult thing to do, Jane. I just can`t imagine. I just hope she has a tremendous support system. You know, I just can`t imagine -- that`s a law that needs to be changed. That`s -- that`s just crazy.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Emotionally does it make you angry?</s>HALL: It makes me furious. Especially listening to the -- it`s like a joke, listening to that -- that interchange between them. It`s ridiculous. If I had to face Garrido on the stand, I mean, I barely could look at him in the courtroom. I only looked at him to identify him. And then I looked at the -- the attorneys and just talked to them directly. I don`t know if I could have done it.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Is it terrifying to be on the stand and to confront the person who -- I have to say allegedly, because this guy is obviously still in trial -- but the person who was convicted of assaulting you, who did assault you, is it scary to face them?</s>HALL: It`s absolutely terrifying. And all I could do was, like I said, I looked at him only to identify him, and then I just concentrated on talking to the attorneys, in dealing with their questions. But I just can`t imagine, you know, you`re already afraid of the perpetrator who`s in the courtroom with you, you know. But being forced to talk to him, and in such a -- such a way that`s almost -- it`s almost ridiculing the victim.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. Here`s -- yes, here`s my big issue tonight. The ultimate power trip. They say rape isn`t really about sex; it`s about sadistic desire...</s>HALL: Yes.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... to exert power and control over another human being.</s>HALL: Exactly.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen to this sick courtroom exchange.</s>HARRIS: Do you remember testifying earlier that you pulled over because you thought you may have hit something?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I testified that you were flagging me down. I thought maybe I may have hit you, or I may have hit something on your car.</s>HARRIS: Can you describe ME, my height, my size, my build? Just by looking at me.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tan, Hispanic male, short hair cut. You`re taller than me. Maybe 6 foot.</s>HARRIS: Must have grown a foot or so.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t make any sidebar comments.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Gloria Allred, you crusade for women`s rights. Isn`t this institutionalized sexism?</s>GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIM`S RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Actually, I don`t think so, Jane. And I think the answer to situations like this is that persons who are alleged to be the victims of rape, sexual assault, need to have their own support system, and that includes having their own private attorney. And when they have their own private attorney, that attorney can help to prepare them so that, if, as and when they are sitting on the witness stand and being cross-examined by the person accused of raping them, they will be prepared. They will be able to deal with it. And many more victims are doing that. I`m currently doing that in some cases. And it is a big help to the victims, to have their own private attorney to prepare them for that moment.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, I understand that you`re saying that everybody in America has a constitutional right to defend themselves. And we certainly don`t want to change the Constitution over this one issue. But my gosh, isn`t there a way to balance constitutional issues with a woman`s right to maintain her dignity after she`s already been violated and humiliated, to stop her from being humiliated again? I mean, I viscerally feel outraged over this. And the intellectual constitutional issues are -- I would think there`s got to be a way, Stacey Honowitz, Florida prosecutor, to come up with a way to preserve the Constitution and still prevent a woman from being humiliated in this fashion.</s>STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Well, Jane, I mean, everything you`re saying is 100 percent right. And I think most people feel the same way you do. But unfortunately, in the courtroom, he has a right to either have a lawyer, or to defend himself. Now, does it make a difference, because this is his victim? Well, might -- many people might say, well, he`d be sitting there anyway next to his lawyer, telling his lawyer everything. And she`d have to look at him anyway. It`s humiliating to have to go into the courtroom to begin with to discuss rape. So yes, on top of it, the idea that your attacker is the one that`s then attacking you again in court, is despicable. But unfortunately it`s legal. And one of the protections, the protections are like Gloria said, either having a private lawyer, or having that relationship with the prosecutor that the prosecutor knows when to tell him he`s argumentative, he can`t ask that question, or to object to certain questions. But the idea of him questioning the witness, it`s legal, and it goes on.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m sorry. I`ve got an issue of a call to action tonight. There has to be a better way to prevent this kind of psychological rape, is what I would call it, in the courtroom. You know, a similar scenario occurred to a woman in Seattle. She was being grilled, or was going to be grilled by her -- the person she says raped her. She was so upset she ran out of the courtroom and tried to commit suicide. She came this close to jumping a bridge. Dr. Katherine Smerling, you`re not a lawyer, but you`re a psychologist. Can`t we come up with, well, maybe she could be on videotape in another room. Maybe he could submit his questions in writing. But they -- you know, this guy actually asked the woman who did the rape exam on this woman, oh, well, couldn`t those injuries have been consistent with rough consensual sex?</s>DR. KATHERINE SMERLING, PSYCHOLOGIST: Jane, I agree with you totally. It may be one thing what the lawyers agree, but you`re not taking into account the mental state of the person who has been raped. There`s a certain amount of resilience that we all have. Some more, and some less. Those that have less resilience will have a tremendous amount of post- traumatic stress disorder, which may lead to suicide. And you don`t know, with PTSD, whether it`s going to be in five years, in two years, in ten years. This is outrageous. Outrageous. I would never counsel anyone to be subject to something like this.</s>HONOWITZ: But that`s not -- I hate to say, you can`t counsel someone to say, "Don`t testify in the courtroom." Jane, you`re right, there are safeguards put in. When children testify, lots of times you can have a psychologist or a psychiatrist sign off on some kind of affidavit saying what kind of emotional trauma it would be to bring the child into the courtroom and have to sit there.</s>SMERLING: What about lawyers?</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you. Hold on.</s>HONOWITZ: You could be -- that`s what I`m saying. You could try to introduce that safeguard. That, if you know the attacker is going to play lawyer, that she is in a different room or that she is videotaped, or maybe some questions are submitted. But legally speaking, he has a right to cross-examine her.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s not a black-and-white issue, though. Hold on a second. Hang tight. Expert panel, hold on. We`re going to come back to you in a minute. What do you think at home about this alleged rapist cross-examination? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 586-7297. All right. Plus, an 81-year-old woman tackled to the ground and mugged by a female thug. We`re trying to find that suspect. Plus, the alleged murderer of a Las Vegas showgirl hauled in front of the judge for the very first time. I`m going to talk to the victim`s devastated sister who had an emotional day confronting this guy in court.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bailiff, bailiff. Get her out of here.