Letter to editor: A victim of speaks out

My name is Colleen Bannister and I was a victim of a violent crime. This is a bit lengthy so I apologize but so is the ride through the justice system. Entering the justice system is nothing like people think. You think it's as easy as you are a victim and the bad guy will be punished.

The bad guy actually can bail out and walk the streets same as you in some cases for years until it's time for court. In many cases they will bail out over and over and over again while you are waiting for court and living in total terror. During which time all of the other hearings take place.

Understand these hearing will be rescheduled many times. So while you cling to the next court date like a vine when you reach for it it's often not there and you fall again and again and again. Your friends and family are also in fear of finding you seriously hurt or even dead and so they too carry a load they cannot set down until it is all over. Many simply can't handle the process of going through the justice system with you so they abandon you and this too causes you enormous pain and feels like a punishment.

When you are able to show up after the 4th continuance you are met with more disappointment because once again they walk out of the court house just like you. I was told this would be the worst thing I have ever been through in my life and it was. This isn't like Law and Order where everything gets wrapped up in an hour. The preliminary hearing would best be described as legal torture.

Imagine yourself on the stand being questioned for hours while you can only answer pretty much yes or no and one of the people questioning you isn't seeking information they are trying to trick you. People tell you just explain what happened. These sweet people have clearly never been to court. You don't get to explain. You are cut off left and right. The result is an entire new you created from yes and no answers.

Your world stops during this process of months or years. No one cares after a while if you have been beaten, raped, or stalked. Their lives have moved on. You are still stuck in the system and so the PSTD continues, the lack of sleep, the fear, the pain and the depression. Yes it's that bad. You can't just shelf it and so you survive each day.

When I looked back on my case I asked myself where was the break down in the system? All of the police officer's in my case treated me with total respect, followed up on me, wrote detailed reports, and were professionals on the stand. The DA's office worked very hard on my case. My Deputy DA worked on my case even though the judge failed us over and over again. I came to the conclusion that there were two things that keep people from being safe and impede justice.

The first thing in my case at least are the laws. Most of you are completely unaware of our domestic violence laws. The jail only holds a first offender 12 hours and the bail is $300.00. It's very hard to keep these men in jail. The second big problem is that even the laws we have are not being enforced by our judges. When you see those big dollar amounts in the paper for bail you need to understand that not only does only a percentage have to be put up but our judges are lowering them or completely dropping them.

This happened in my case 7 times! Even when there are laws that state that certain offenses or violations require a cash bond our judges are not enforcing these bonds. Why do you think you see so many violations in the paper? They should have never been let out in the first place. Spend a day in court and google the crimes and violations of the cases and compare it to what our judges are handing out. Now imagine you are a victim like me and the offender has 11 violations and is still on the street. The 10th one after he already plead guilty and was awaiting sentencing.

It was important to really give you a clear picture of what the system is like for a victim so you can see why it is so important to have good judges. This is why experience matters. We need judges that understand how important that laws are followed and that the process is over as quickly as possible. We need judges that have worked hours and hours in an actual court room.

How can you possibly know the intricacies without this experience? How can you possibly understand that letting a violent offender go after what seems like a simple violation could cost someone their life and these kinds of mistakes have. Let's talk about something as simple as keeping witnesses and victims from being intimidated during their testimony in court.

That testimony can make or break a case . A judge with lesser experience may allow a defense attorney to not only move the offender in front of a victim while on the stand as well as ask the entire court room to stand and move to one side while the victim is testifying. Would you want this judge if your daughter had been beaten or raped and was on the stand? This happened to me while I was on the stand for hours. This was a substitute judge named Ryan Russell. In his defense in the 2nd 8 hours of my prelim over a month later he did ask the bailiff to stop the defendant from intimidating me after the bailiff told him to. Only then was the offender was asked to stop. I actually think Mr. Russell is a really nice man. He responded to my messages about this when I recently contacted him about these events. He is a man that takes responsibility, but it doesn't make him qualified to be a judge. That prelim was a year ago so the argument of his experience in the court room is either inaccurate or simple hasn't paid off.

This isn't easy for me at all to come forward in this way and put myself at great risk of being judged all over again. It's an extremely vulnerable position and I am terrified of the pain this could cause me and my friends and family. I'm also terrified for this community. I was born in Carson City though I did move away for a while. I came back because I love a small town and I wanted to raise my son here.

The Nevada Day Parade was one of my favorite childhood memories ironically. I remember when Buddy, the dog, drove the car and my brother and I always stood up and clapped for our veterans as my son does now. Our small town has grown though and we need the right people in the right offices to protect us not just the popular ones.

I'm asking people to use common sense. When we elect judges we do so to fill a job that is so important it will serve us or at least several people we know at some point. It is not a popularity contest. This position as a judge oversees specific areas such as mental health, family court and juvenile court.

Pretend you are a boss and you are looking at 2 applicants and you have no time to train or hand hold. You like them both, but one of them absolutely hands down trumps the other in experience on every level. Who are you going to hire? Now we are talking about a job where sometimes decisions are so serious that a life is even at stake. Judges have so much more power than I ever realized until I found myself as a victim of crime. It is vital to have the right people in these positions. Like Ryan Russel. Vote for Kristen Luis.

Sincerely,
Colleen Bannister
Carson City