Yet another lawsuit has been filed involving
Renatta Frazier, Springfield Police Lt. Rickey Davis, and their
attorney, Courtney Cox. This time, however, these three are
defendants, and the plaintiff is “Jane Doe,” the young
woman whose rape in 2001 resulted in a scandal that led to the
departure of Frazier and several top police and city officials.
In a complaint filed Feb. 4 in state court,
Doe accuses Frazier, Davis, Cox, and Cox’s law firm, Hart
& Hart, of intentional infliction of emotional distress,
portraying the plaintiff in a false light, and defamation and asks
for a judgment in excess of $50,000 for each count.
The complaint alleges that in November 2003,
Davis, Cox and a Hart & Hart employee came to Doe’s
apartment and “interrogated” her about the 2001 rape.
“Throughout, Davis pulled his sport coat
open so the Plaintiff could see his Springfield police department
badge. In addition, throughout the interrogation, Davis made
mocking and threatening body gestures,” according to the
complaint.
Furthermore, the complaint says, the defendants
implied that Doe had lied about the rape and that the rape had not
occurred — beliefs repeated by Cox in February 2004 when he
appeared “before the Springfield, Illinois press,” the
complaint says.
Doe’s attorney, Stephen Hedinger,
confirms that the “press” referred to in that statement
was WICS-TV (Channel 20), which aired an eight-part series
featuring extensive interviews with Cox and Frazier during the
February 2004 sweeps period. The series suggested that SPD had
mishandled the rape investigation and that Shawn Greene, the man
who pleaded guilty to sexual assault, had had only consensual sex
with Doe.
Hedinger says Doe retained his services during
the weeks leading up to the WICS broadcast, largely to “run
interference, just keeping the media and Cox away,” he says.
Although Frazier wasn’t involved in the
November 2003 “interrogation” and didn’t speak
about Doe in the WICS broadcast, she agreed to the actions of the
other defendants regardless of the consequences to the
Plaintiff” so that “their own suit against the city of
Springfield would be benefited,” the complaint states.
In a letter that accompanied the complaint as
it was served to Cox, Hedinger asked repeatedly for a “quick
and quiet settlement.”
But Cox and his co-defendants hired
Springfield attorney Don Craven, who on Feb. 15 sent Hedinger a
letter rebuffing that request.
“We have no intention of offering dime
one to settle this matter. Not now, or ever,” Craven wrote.
In a statement to Illinois
Times, Craven said that the defendants
deny all the allegations and noted that Doe “expressed no
complaint or objection to their presence or their questions”
during the November 2003 encounter.
“The defendants regret that the plaintiff
has taken this action, and firmly believe that the only result of this
case will be to make deeper the wounds already suffered by this young
woman,” Craven’s statement says. “She suffered a
vicious attack, and suffered again as that attack and the SPD response
were examined and re-examined in the Frazier case. This litigation will
not right those wrongs.”
In his letter responding to Hedinger, Craven
implied that if the litigation proceeds, Doe’s identity and
personal information will be revealed. “Your client’s
name will become public, her reputation will become public, her
activities will become public, her relationship with her family
will become public, and she will be forced to re-live what could
not have been happy times, over and over again,” Craven
wrote.
Frazier, who was a rookie cop in 2001, was
accused of not responding properly to Doe’s 911 call
complaining of several men knocking at her door. After months of
media reports suggesting that Frazier failed to prevent the rape,
she resigned from the SPD. In October 2002, however, Illinois Times
discovered that the rape had occurred before Frazier was dispatched
to the scene. She subsequently filed a race-discrimination lawsuit,
and in April, the city awarded Frazier and Cox a $900,000
settlement.
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2005.
