Seeking Justice

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CARRIE'S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

From 2002 to the present, Carrie has cooperated and worked alongside the District Attorney's office, the Attorney General's office, and local law enforcement in the State of New Mexico to keep her abuser in jail. Carrie believes that a twenty-four yearlong court battle is inhumane for anyone, especially for an abused child case. It is unthinkable that a case like this should run this long. Below is a timeline of Carrie's survival and her experiences within the legal system. Carrie hopes to shed light on the challenges and constant retraumatization victims face within the current justice system, and she hopes lawmakers and the public will be inspired to make a difference.

• August 1982- Carrie was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her biological father began sexually abusing her, most likely in her infancy. The abuse started there and persisted for the next eighteen years. In total, Carrie survived 6,736 days in the home of a child predator.

• 1989- Carrie had a heavenly encounter that reframed the abuse in her home. She began to fight against the abuse around age 7. (See Matthew 18: A conversation between a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and a Catholic Bishop).

• April 5, 1996- The Child Youth and Family Division (CYFD) went out to Carrie's home. Carrie's father kidnapped her and her two younger sisters and hid them for several days on the other side of town. 

• April 9, 1996- Carrie and her sisters were returned to their home for questioning by social workers and the police. Before the interview, Carrie's father threatened her with her life if she said anything about the abuse, so Carrie remained silent. One of her sisters spoke up and the abuse was leaked out to the social worker.

• April 9 to around April 23, 1996- Carrie and her sisters stayed at a friend's house for safe keeping, while law enforcement and the social workers continued their investigation.

• April 23, 1996- Carrie and her sisters were returned to their home.

• May 1996- Carrie's father went to counseling. Carrie, her sisters did not. Their father continued to sexually abuse them for another seven years. No one came back from CYFD or the Police Department to check on Carrie or her sisters. 

• July 1996- Carrie's father removed her and her sisters from school, sports, and extracurricular activities to isolate them and keep them silent about the abuse at home.

• July 1996 to February 2001- Carrie experienced a "personal pandemic." Her father 'homeschooled' her and her sisters and the abuse continued, furthering her trauma and isolation.

• February 2001- Carrie ran away from home and joined the Carmelite Monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Her two sisters continued to be abused at home.

• July 2002- One of Carrie's biological sisters spoke with a therapist and told the therapist about the abuse at home. Within 24 hours, her father was arrested for child sex crimes and held in prison to await trial.

• August 2002- In the monastery, Carrie was interviewed by police, social workers, and detectives regarding the abuse. She prepared to give witness at her father's trial.

• Summer 2003- As her father's court case intensified, Carrie began counseling in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and began to realize and process for the first time the extent of the abuse. 

• January 2004- Her father was found incompetent to stand trial, and preparations were made for his dangerousness hearing. Carrie left Carmel to pursue more extensive therapy and trauma recovery from a therapist in Santa Fe. 

• January 2006- Carrie testified in court at her father's dangerousness hearing. Her father was deemed dangerous by the court and remained in prison. He was re-evaluated every two years for competency.

• Summer 2012- Carrie's father was found competent, and Carrie began prepping to give witness at the trial.

• July 2015- Trial in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Carrie's father was convicted of child sex crimes committed against her youngest sister. He received a sentence of 108 years in prison. Carrie's case, and her other sister's case were dismissed by the judge, on the grounds of sufficient prison time for her father.

• January 2, 2020- Carrie received an email from the DA's office informing her that all but one of her father's counts was removed by the appellate court the previous July, based on a technicality.  No earlier notification or explanation was ever sent out to Carrie or her sisters. The email specified that her father would be released from prison within thirty days. She was told there was nothing she could do.

•  January 3, 2020- Carrie reached out to the District Attorney's office and communicated her distress and concern for her safety. It seemed nothing could be done. 

• January 12, 2020- Carrie went to the news and asked for help. Carrie appeared in a series of news interviews and asked her community for help. 

• January 15, 2020- Carrie was contacted by the Attorney General's office, who reinstated her case immediately.

• January 30, 2020- Carrie's father was released from prison and was immediately detained for pre-trial. A national press conference was held with both the Attorney General and the District Attorney regarding Carrie's case. 

• February 2020- Carrie was interviewed by police and detectives, and two separate trials were established against her father for child sex crimes in two different counties in the State of New Mexico.

• March 2020- The Coronavirus pandemic hit, and all trial preparations came to a halt. 

• 2022- Carrie's father was found incompetent for the second time and preparations were made for his dangerousness hearing.

• 2023- Carrie prepared for the dangerousness hearing.

• 2023- Carrie's father was found competent. Trial prep resumed.

• 2024- Carrie prepared to give witness at the trial for the first case, set for March 2025.

• March 2025- Carrie's father was found incompetent to stand trial for the third time. The trial was canceled. The defendant was found dangerous by the court, and remained in prison, awaiting reevaluation for competency.

• September 2025- Carrie was notified by the Attorney General's Office that the defendant was found competent to stand trial. Trial preparations began again.

• March 2026- The trial for the first case is scheduled. Carrie is currently preparing to give witness in court.

• 24 years have passed since Carrie's father was arrested and Carrie began preparing to give witness in court. There are currently no laws to protect Carrie, or other victims like her, from unreasonably long court cases and constant retraumatization in the courtroom.

• Carrie has survived 8,578 days of remembering the pain and horror of abuse and preparing to give witness in court, specifically to aid the District Attorney's office, the Attorney General's office, and local law enforcement in the State of New Mexico. 

• The fate and length of the case is still unknown.

Recalling her lifelong fight for survival and justice, Carrie shares some of the personal cost, "I've been a living, breathing, crime scene for the past twenty-four years," she states. "I may have survived eighteen years in the home of a child predator, but now I'm struggling to survive twenty-four years of re-victimization in the courtroom."

Carrie sheds light on what it's like to survive the New Mexico State justice system, "Whenever I go into an interview, or courtroom, I feel like I should wear a yellow crime-scene tape around my shoulders," she states. "Lawyers, police, and investigators probe and inspect the things that happened to me, and for over two decades I've had to remember every detail of the abuse for them. As a result, I think about these things and suffer from them every day. I wish I was treated like a person with human dignity, instead of just a piece of evidence."

Carrie hopes that by sharing her story, lawmakers, state officials, and the public will consider fighting for laws and creating laws to protect victims from re-traumatization in the courtroom and unreasonably long court cases. "I hope the health and well-being of victims will become the responsibility of all those who stand for truth and justice in the State of New Mexico and in our country."