Crash Into Me_ A Survivor's Search for Justice - Liz Seccuro [53]
RHONDA QUAGLIANA: Ms. Seccuro, I’m Rhonda Quagliana. Did you have Friday class that semester?
ME: I did.
QUAGLIANA: And did you go to class on Friday?
ME: I did not.
QUAGLIANA: Okay. And—but it’s because you have a Friday class that you think this was on a Thursday night, is that correct?
ME: Correct.
QUAGLIANA: And is it fair to say that you had been attending fraternity parties and the like through the semester up until October?
ME: I had been to a few, yes.
QUAGLIANA: And you had consumed alcohol at those parties?
ME: Certainly.
QUAGLIANA: Okay. When you awoke and found yourself in a bloody sheet, was the blood just located on one area of the sheet, or was the sheet covered with blood?
ME: I would say there were about six or seven ovals, two to three inches in diameter.
QUAGLIANA: Okay, and you were naked at this point?
ME: I was.
QUAGLIANA: And was there blood on other parts of your body besides the area between your legs?
ME: I was going to say in between my legs.
QUAGLIANA: Is that the only area that any blood ever touched?
ME: Yes.
QUAGLIANA: And where was the bloody area between your legs?
ME: Well, there was some dried blood on my inner thighs.
QUAGLIANA: Okay, how far down your legs did that go?
ME: Almost to my knees.
QUAGLIANA: What area of your legs did it cover?
ME: I’m not sure I get your meaning.
QUAGLIANA: I’m sorry. Was it—
ME: But I just answered that.
QUAGLIANA: Thank you. If it went down to your knees—
ME: The inside, the inside of my thighs.
QUAGLIANA: The inside, you know, did it cover—what area did it cover around the inside of your legs?
ME: Maybe like a two inch, is that what you’re looking for?
QUAGLIANA: Yes, that’s what I want to know.
ME: Two inch—two inch wide area.
These questions had the intended effect of making me nervous about the details of my answers—focusing on minutiae, and especially the traumatic minutiae of the blood.
QUAGLIANA: Was your jewelry intact?
ME: Yes.
QUAGLIANA: And you testified that the stripping of your clothes occurred all in one area, is that correct, one area of the room?
ME: Yes.
QUAGLIANA: And that Mr. Beebe had your arm while he was taking your clothes off?
ME: One arm and then the other.
QUAGLIANA: Okay. Oh, he had one arm and then the other? When did he take your other arm?
ME: The sweater. No, no, no, to take my sweater off, he began by holding my left arm and then to take the other arm out, switched arms.
QUAGLIANA: Okay.
ME: I’m sorry if I was unclear.
QUAGLIANA: That’s okay. Well, I’m trying to find out. So, and you testified that he was holding you very forcefully with his hand, is that correct?
ME: Correct.
QUAGLIANA: And when you went to retrieve your clothes that morning, your clothing was right in that area where he had allegedly stripped your clothes off, is that correct?
As if to say that in a rape, clothing must be strewn wildly about the room.
ME: Correct.
QUAGLIANA: And you recovered everything except your underwear?
ME: Correct.
QUAGLIANA: Okay. And you testified that you were wearing a denim miniskirt, is that correct?
ME: Yes.
QUAGLIANA: And, if you could just tell me, how—what was the length of the skirt? How far down did it go?
What? Really? I felt the same swell of anger I had felt when I screamed at my mother for asking about my clothes that day in the dean’s office.
ME: What are you implying? I would say that it went to mid-thigh. Would you like me to stand up and demonstrate for you?
She ignored my hate-dripping sarcasm.
QUAGLIANA: Sure, thank you.
So I stood.
ME: The skirt I’m currently wearing—
THE COURT: If the Witness would please step forward