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Ashley's Law
One of the scariest parts of my daughter’s condition, Rett Syndrome, are the seizures. Her seizures had dropped from about 6 a day when she was very young to a much more manageable 2 or 3 a week. Suddenly, she was having more and more. Her neurologist and I could not figure out what was happening. He asked if I could describe the seizures. Better yet, bring him video so he could see them himself. Trying to video someone while they are seizing is hard for many reasons. One of them is you feel like you should be trying to help and not just filming. I asked my now ex husband to help me install some cameras to get video of the seizures. Instead of video of seizures, I caught him raping her.
Her disability is so severe, that she can neither walk or talk. She can barely sit up unassisted. She is in essence, as helpless and dependent on others as an infant.
He had to remove her clothing and her diaper and then dress her again so I would not know.
He was arrested in South Jordan Utah. When it came time for him to be charged, the prosecutor and I realized there is no law in Utah to cover a vulnerable adult. If she were a child, or if she was elderly, the crime would be considered more heinous and would carry a mandatory prison sentence. As it stands, this law has a giant hole in it. The rape of an extremely vulnerable adult carries no such protections.
I would like the Utah State Legislation to fill this hole. No other family should ever fall in.
Ashley could not run. Could not tell. Could not fight in any way. She could not even scream. All she could do was seize. The seizures that needed a camera, that told her story, that stopped her rapist.
Please help me in changing this law by writing Utah Legislators and telling them this situation has to be remedied.
Please check to make sure the state you live in offers these protections.
Please make sure federal law recognizes all vulnerable adults.
We are The Mighty.
We can do this. We can pass Ashley’s Law.
