Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993 TAG: 9307130143
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In a two-page divorce suit filed Friday, Lorena Leonor Gallo Bobbitt said her husband was guilty of "marital sexual abuse." She told police she had severed her husband's penis as he slept nearly three weeks ago because, she alleged, he had raped her that night, authorities said.
Her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, denied the allegations of rape in a written statement during the weekend and called them "desperate excuses" for his wife's action.
The case, one of the Washington area's most talked about stories in recent memory, has sparked a flood of media calls to the couple, their lawyers and to law enforcement officials investigating the case. Inquiries have come from as far away as Japan, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert, who has charged Lorena Bobbitt with malicious wounding.
"I don't think I've seen anything like this," Ebert said.
Ebert said Monday that he still had made no decision about whether to charge John Bobbitt, but his wife's allegations of rape remain under investigation. He said he was awaiting the results of tests done on Lorena Bobbitt.
Lorena Bobbitt's attorney, James M. Lowe, of Alexandria, Va., said Monday that his client "was the classic battered wife."
After recuperating from a 9 1/2-hour operation to reattach his penis, John Bobbitt must see a doctor only about once a week now, according to plastic surgeon David E. Berman, one of two doctors who operated on Bobbitt. Berman said Bobbitt's chances of a full recovery are promising.
Bobbitt is pondering how best to sell his story to the media or whether he will appear on television talk shows, said his lawyer, Paul Erickson, who works in the Arlington, Va., office of International Producer Alliance, an entertainment firm based in Los Angeles.
"Every tabloid and every mainline news organization, except the nightly talk shows, has approached the family," Erickson said.
Except for a spokeswoman for ABC Entertainment, who said no program is planned on the Bobbitt case, representatives of major talk shows and other television networks could not be reached to confirm their interest in the story.
Lorena Bobbitt has not discussed with anyone the possibility of selling her side of the story, her attorney said. He said she had not ruled out the possibility, and added that he had gotten numerous calls from media who wanted to talk with her.
Until now, The Washington Post had not named the Bobbitts because the newspaper has a policy of withholding the names of victims of alleged sex crimes. But Erickson said his client was amenable to being named. His client "considers himself blameless" and "doesn't feel the need to be shielded and protected," Erickson said.
Lorena Bobbitt's name is on the criminal charges against her and on the divorce papers filed recently. Her attorney said her name is now "a matter of public record."
Attorneys for both the husband and wife said their clients are not granting interviews.
"He really just wants to get on with his life," Erickson said. Bobbitt and his family members "haven't decided whether granting interviews is conducive to a normal, healthy existence."
Berman, the plastic surgeon, said he put Bobbitt in touch with Erickson's firm last week because "I thought . . . he needed to get professional assistance and because a part of recovery is dealing with the media and the real world."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.