You’ll remember that last fall an 18-year-old Highland Park High School student named Ryan Romo was charged with raping a fellow student after a concert. The grand jury declined to indict him. Then Romo’s family sued the accuser for defamation.
Today we learn that accuser, a 16-year-old at the time of the alleged crime and identified in court documents only as Jane Doe, has countersued Romo for “mental anguish, physical pain and suffering, and medical treatment as a result of sexual assault.”
She’s being represented by Charla Aldous, who won a $9.3 million verdict in the case resulting from the Episcopal School of Dallas sex scandal. Via Culture Map Dallas:
“Ultimately, the criminal justice system did not punish Ryan Romo, in part because of what appears to be an inadequate presentation of the case by the attorney in charge,” the suit reads. “For reasons unknown, corroborating evidence was not presented to the grand jury, including the testimony of an examining gynecologist who was willing and will testify that, based on the physical trauma to Jane Doe, she in reasonable medical probability was forcibly sexually penetrated.”
The lawsuit further claims that the Romos intend to cause Jane Doe and her family distress and to discourage sexual assault victims from coming forward in cases of date rape.
“This jury will have the opportunity to send a message that this community will support those making good faith claims of assault and not tolerate attempts to trample on victims,” the suit reads.
