Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993 TAG: 9311110193
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From wire and staff reports
DATELINE: MANASSAS LENGTH: Medium
"I didn't see where the prosecutor had proved anything," William Vogt said.
Bobbitt was charged with marital sexual assault of his wife, Lorena. After the alleged attack, Lorena Bobbitt used a kitchen knife to cut off her husband's penis. She faces a Nov. 29 trial on a malicious wounding charge.
Vogt said the jurors were evenly split when they began deliberations. He said after the first vote, the jurors began discussing the legal concepts of proof, and what would be necessary to convict Bobbitt.
Vogt said the jury was troubled by inconsistencies in Lorena Bobbitt's testimony and apparent discrepancies between her testimony and statements she made to police.
"It is real hard to prove one person's word against another," said Steve Strosnider, director of the department of psychology and counseling at Lewis-Gale Clinic in Salem. "I don't know to what extent the jury was sympathetic to him because of the injuries he sustained. . . .
"In some marriages, you get into a pattern of escalation until one deed leads to another. Obviously she felt such rage at what she perceived to be sexual degradation that this was her way of tilting the scale back in her favor."
Darlene Young, director of the Salvation Army's Turning Point shelter for battered women and their children in Roanoke, said, "We go through this every day.
"Some woman come in with stories too bizarre to believe. Most people believe them when it's too late. Some end up getting killed.
"The thing that bothers me about this case is that the woman was not believed. That's the reason that some stay in these abusive relationships. They know they won't be believed.
"I believe that women have to have good proof. If not, the doubt will go in the man's favor."
John Bobbitt's acquittal did not end his legal problems.
Beatrice L. Williams of Niagara Falls, N.Y., filed a paternity suit naming him as the father of her 10-month-old son, said her attorney, William Berard.
Bobbitt's lawyer, Gregory Murphy, called the paternity claim "an unsubstantiated accusation."
Williams said in the suit that she had sex with Bobbitt, a former Niagara Falls resident, while he was visiting there in the spring of 1992.
by CNB