Various police departments in both Travis County and the city of Austin have been named in a recent lawsuit filed by three sex assault victims. The lawsuit states that the women were denied “equal access to justice and equal protection of the law.”
The following entities have been named in the 60-page class action complaint:
*City of Austin
*Entirety of Travis County
*Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore
*Former Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg
*Austin police chief Brian Manley
*Former Austin police chief Art Acevedo
*Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez
According to the lawsuit, the three women in question were subjected to “policies, customs, and practices that discriminate against them based on their gender.” Additionally, it claims that Travis County, for “years at a time,” failed to test DNA evidence, and that the county also “refused” to prosecute certain cases. The lawsuit also states that approximately less than 10% of all sexual assault cases in the county are prosecuted every year.
The case of one of the women involved in the lawsuit determined that some of the DNA evidence involving the case itself may have been cross-contaminated. Additionally, the charges against her alleged attacker were dropped in 2013 so that charges could be refiled a year later once all of the necessary forensic evidence was submitted for testing at outside laboratories. In October 2017, however, Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore decided to drop all charges against the suspect once it was learned that he had sexual assault charges pending in the city of Houston.
The lawsuit states that, because of this, this specific victim will never be able to have her day in court in order to help bring the man who raped her to justice.
The lawsuit is currently seeking compensatory damages for all three victims. A sheriff’s office spokesperson declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
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