Lorena and John Wayne Bobbitt were far from an ideal young married couple. The twenty-six-year-old man and his twenty-four-year-old wife fought continuously. Both called the police on several occasions over the course of their rocky marriage.
On June 21, 1992, Lorena Bobbitt requested a restraining order against her husband, but when she was told she had to appear before a judge, she opted not to.
Then, two days Later, Lorena took the law into her own hands, in a dramatic and forceful way that has captured the imagination of the world. While John was fast asleep on his back, Lorena went into the kitchen, got a knife, and cut off John's penis.
Following that act of mayhem, Lorena got into her car and Bed, taking the severed penis with her--inadvertently, she now says. When she discovered that the penis was with her, she tossed it out the car window and onto the highway.
After an extensive search--talk about a needle in a haystack!--the penis was found and reattached to John. It will take about a year before it can be determined whether it will work properly.
Now, in defense of the mutilation of her husband, Lorena claims that he had raped her twice previously. She does not explain why she did not call the police immediately after either of the alleged rapes and before she engaged in self-help.
She knew how to dial 911, as evidenced by the fact that she had done it previously on several occasions. She was in no immediate danger from her sleeping husband. She could simply have left the house and filed a rape report. There were no children who would be left behind if she went to the police.
She acknowledges that she acted out of rage and revenge: "I was the victim of repeated emotional, physical and sexual assaults. Everyone has a limit, and this was mine." She testified that following the second rape, she went to the kitchen for a glass of water and "saw the knife. I took it. I went to the bedroom. I pulled the sheets off him and I cut him." Not surprisingly, Lorena is defending on grounds of "temporary insanity."
Her lawyer is also talking about a kind of after-the-fact "self-defense": "Moments after the last rape, he was cut. That's about as fundamental a self-defense plea as you can ask for." Not quite The law does not recognize self-defense "moments after" the alleged dime, especially when the person who is being defended against is sound asleep. Nor does the law recognize "temporary insanity" without proof of mental illness. Rage alone will not do, or else virtually all violence would be excused if provoked by past actions.
Despite her virtual admission that she is guilty of a heinous crime punishable by twenty years in prison, Lorena Bobbitt is being treated as something of a hero and a celebrity by some. As one woman put it: "Every woman I've talked to about this says, 'Way to go.'" Lorena has hired an agent to handle her book and movie offers and to book her on talk shows. Jokes abound, mast of them unprintable. And the city in which the crime occurred is referred to by Locals as the place where men now sleep on their stomachs.
But what Lorena Bobbitt did is no joke. It is part of a growing justification for vigilante violence by those who claim they cannot receive justice from the legal system. The widespread support she is receiving will only serve to encourage others to take the Law into their own hands when they have been victimized, or -- worse -- to concoct false stories of victimization as a cover for their own unprovoked violence.
It is one thing for a battered woman with children who cannot leave without considerable risks to strike a preemptive blow against her assailant. It is quite another thing for a healthy twenty-four-year-old childless woman who can easily report a rape to exact revenge after the fact.
When Lorena did report the rape, John was immediately charged and brought to trial, proving that she did, in fact, have a lawful alternative. She is also now obtaining a divorce.
John's lawyer denies that his client raped Lorena, claiming that "this was all contrived to strike back at him after he said he was going to leave her."
After four hours of deliberating, a jury of nine women and three men acquitted John Bobbitt of rape charges.
"The proof just didn't exist for the majority of us." William Vogt, a member of that jury, said later.
This acquittal will pose an additional hurdle for Lorena to overcome at her upcoming trial for mayhem. But it is surely possible that a sympathetic jury may acquit her as well. Such are the vagaries of trial by jury in emotionally laden cases Like this one.
Dershowitz, Alan M. 1994. "Did Virginia Wife Act in Self-defense?" In The Abuse Excuse: And Other Cop-outs, Sob Stories and Evasions of Responsibility. Boston: Little Brown.