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I could have very easily said, I'm going
to die, just leave here and die.
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But I knew I couldn't panic.
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I had to react instantaneously.
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I woke up my friend and got to the
hospital within 10 minutes.
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I still lost almost half of my blood.
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It was scary. It was a scary, scary
night.
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Hello, and welcome.
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I'm Jesse L. Martin.
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When a marriage goes terribly wrong, it
often involves young people who started
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out lovestruck and ended up fighting,
even hating.
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During the dark hours of June 23, 1993,
while her husband John slept soundly by
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her side, Lorena Bobbitt took a sharp
knife to his manhood. It was a savage
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slash that went way beyond the ordinary
troubles between man and wife.
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Shocked Americans everywhere were glued
to the story. Men cringed. Women wanted
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to know, was it something he did to make
her snap?
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Tonight, the case that went behind the
closed doors and bloody ruins of John
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and Lorena Bobbitt's marriage to
litigate the facts of how it really
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happened.
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June 23, 1993, I was a police officer
with Prince William County Police
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Department.
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It was a real slow night that night.
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And honestly, you drive around and you
get bored.
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Then I remember that call came in well
after 2 o'clock.
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Hey, this is what we have.
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This is what's going on.
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We didn't know what we were getting
into. We just knew that there was some
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urgency.
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The crime scene was the home of John
Wayne Bobbitt and Lorena Bobbitt, a
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young married couple living in a
one-bedroom apartment in Manassas,
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Virginia. Just went up there and just
opened the door, announced myself,
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started looking in and around.
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I don't see anything particularly.
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I go into the bedroom, and that's when I
saw that pool of blood, a whole lot of
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blood on the bed.
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There was a blood trail all the way out
of the apartment down the stairs into
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the parking lot. I'm surprised he didn't
bleed to death.
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I took pictures of the bedroom and the
bed, collected the sheets, noticed that
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there was a knife missing out of the
butcher block in the kitchen.
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John Bobbitt was at the hospital with
this very serious injury.
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You can imagine the officers standing in
the Bobbitt's empty home, wondering how
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a marriage could have become this toxic.
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One of the tragedies of this story is
that the way that Lorena described it,
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it started as a little bit of a fairy
tale.
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About an hour drive outside of Manassas
was Quantico, Virginia, where
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there's a Marine Corps training camp,
and that's where John Bobbitt was based.
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Lorena, she came here on a student visa.
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It was from Venezuela that she
immigrated. She had dreamed about
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America and wanted to come to America.
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And they met. She was about 20 and he
was about 22.
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They went on dates for ice cream and
pizza.
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Her being from Latin America and a
conservative family, there would be a
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chaperone that would be there with them.
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Her relatives described it as love at
first sight.
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They were married within 10 months of
having met one another.
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It was only after they were married that
the volatility of the relationship began
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to emerge.
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And there's when you start hearing about
some of the darker side of the
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relationship.
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Lorraine was not perfect.
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Lorraine's intensity was off the charts
on jealousy.
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A small little thing would set her off,
and then she would just go on this
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screaming rampage.
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The problems would really start when he
had been drinking.
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There's a look in John's eyes that was
very different.
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The way Lorena described the
deterioration of their relationship that
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began with hitting and then escalated
into much more egregious forms of
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violence.
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We did respond to the resident several
times prior to this incident for various
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complaints.
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John Bobbitt was arrested for assault
and battery in February of 1991.
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According to the criminal complaint,
they had an argument and he choked her
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with his hand.
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John Wayne Bobbitt entered a plea of
guilty.
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But Lorena wasn't the only one reporting
abuse in this relationship.
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John had called the police on occasions
where there were altercations between
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them, where he felt that she was being
abusive and violent toward him.
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She had attacked him and scratched him
on his back and his face.
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All of the back and forth about previous
fights that they had had, how many times
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the police were there, I could easily
see this was a troubled relationship.
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The question is, what happened on the
night of June 23rd?
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They were already separated and agreed
to a divorce.
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It wasn't working out.
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But that night, she was staying in the
apartment temporarily for a few days,
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and then she was going to move in with
somebody.
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John and Lorena weren't the only ones in
the apartment.
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He had a childhood friend who was
staying the night.
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Robbie and John went out to dinner, had
several drinks.
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He had four or five beers and two B-52s.
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He comes home drunk. He had his friend
sleep on the sofa.
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John goes and gets in bed with her.
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And then allegedly goes in and forces
himself on his wife who was sound
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asleep.
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Forcefully has sex with her.
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Having been violated in a sexual way,
there's a sense of shock, disbelief,
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embarrassment, confusion.
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I remember her telling me that she went
to the kitchen to get a glass of water,
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and she just made it sound very much as
though she sort of sees a knife, and
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this impulse seizes her, and into the
bedroom she goes.
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Lorena Bobbitt cut her husband's penis
off.
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I mean, that's a profound act.
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You can't get much more personal than
going down to somebody's province.
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My wife said, I just kind of like...
Caught her out in the corner of my eye
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with peripheral vision. There was blood
everywhere, all over the floor, the
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walls.
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She left.
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She fled with the penis in one hand, the
knife in the other, went into the other
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room where John's childhood friend,
Robbie, was asleep, and stole $100 out
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of his wallet and his Game Boy.
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The fact that she may have taken a Game
Boy, hell, she wasn't thinking clearly.
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She wasn't thinking rationally.
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This woman...
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literally cut her husband's penis off,
drove off into the night.
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She drove to her place of employment and
dumped the knife into the trash can.
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I don't hold her accountable.
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John, according to Lorena, not only
slapped her around, but he also raped
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her. You don't take things into your own
hands and castrate someone.
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The doctors need to find his penis so
that he has a chance to reattach it.
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There's a window for success.
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So we were working with time constraint.
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I pulled my eyes and I couldn't feel it
because I had to stay away.
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The next thing I remember is she pulled
on my groin area twice and
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I felt a couple jerks. And then after
that, she just cut it off.
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Once he realized what had been done, his
friend walked him down the stairs to the
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parking lot and drove him to the
hospital.
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He came to the emergency room with kind
of a towel wrapped around his hand, and
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he was kind of holding it down in his
crotch area, so everybody just assumed
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he had done something with his hand.
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And the male orally nurse moved his
sheet back from John Wayne Bobbitt.
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Yeah, I said, God damn.
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It was shocking.
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It was just a clot in his groin from
where his penis should have been.
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You'd like to walk away into another
metaverse, if you could, when you see
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something so horrifying.
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He appeared to be somewhat in and out,
but he said, you have to be careful who
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you date.
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At that time, I was told that the organ
had been amputated and lost.
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The doctor spoke to him and said, you
know, if we get the penis, we'll try to
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reattach him. If not, we'll do the best
we can and we'll think about prosthesis
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00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:02,200
afterwards.
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The call came from the hospital.
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I heard a squad mate of mine, he said, I
need somebody to go look for the
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appendage. And I was just thinking, why
is he saying appendage?
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My squad mate was laughing in tears.
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He said, hey, you've got to go look for
somebody's penis.
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Cops being cops have a very thick, dark
sense of humor.
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We do that as a protective mechanism,
but you can imagine that was in high
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gear.
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The doctors need to find his penis so
that he has a chance to reattach it.
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As ridiculous as it might seem, you
know, I've got to go look for this
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appendix.
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Well, I started the shift about 8
o'clock, maybe 10, 15 minutes later.
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I saw on our cameras that a female was
walking into our lobby.
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And at that time, she just made a
statement. I threw it out the window.
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And I didn't put two and two together
immediately.
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And then that's when I threw his penis
and his game system out the window.
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And that's when I realized who it was.
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And you could tell she was distraught.
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She just had her head in her hand.
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And then she said, I threw it out on
Centerville Road.
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We sent.
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Some officers out to check the area.
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She had thrown her husband's penis on
the corner into a field that was near
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their apartment complex.
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Sergeant Hurley, he was the one that
found it. Sergeant Hurley actually
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stepped on it. That's how he located it.
I think we were all shocked that they
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actually found it.
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Now I'm just at the hospital waiting for
what's the next step.
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There was an urgency to get it on ice
and get it to where it had to be so they
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could perform surgery on the victim.
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It wasn't until we were on the way
really to the operating room that I got
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the word the organ was found.
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It came to the OR and I had to wash it
and put it in a Ziploc bag of ice and
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had its own little separate table.
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No one on John Wayne Bobbitt's medical
team had ever attached a severed penis
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before. Urologists typically aren't
trained to do replantation surgery.
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It would be a radical first-time surgery
for everyone.
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When you've got an amputated organ,
there's a window for success.
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It might be 10, 12, 17 hours.
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00:12:26,030 --> 00:12:28,110
So we were working with time
constraints.
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Ironically, the same hospital that John
Bobbitt was getting surgery done to
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reattach his penis, they did a rape kit
on her.
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They brought in Lorena Bobbitt.
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and went past me, past the room where
John Wayne was in.
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Lorena was meeting with a detective to
talk about what she was reporting as a
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rape.
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00:12:52,190 --> 00:12:55,710
The surgeons were doing their thing, and
we were all waiting to hear how that
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went. There had been attempts over the
past century to replant the amputated
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penis. Not many of those cases went very
well.
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John's penis was severed very close to
the body wall.
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The cut was almost textbook.
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I remember I had to wheel John up to the
operating room, and I made a stop at the
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library on the way to grab an anatomy
text to have a look at where we were
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going that morning and the roadmap.
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00:13:22,580 --> 00:13:25,060
So it was a challenge, but an exciting
one.
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We had two surgeons.
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00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,800
You needed a urologist to put the
plumbing back together, but you really
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00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:34,700
needed to have a microvascular surgeon.
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00:13:35,260 --> 00:13:38,100
someone who would be able to put the
blood vessels back together and the
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00:13:38,100 --> 00:13:39,100
nerves.
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00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,480
It was a nine-and-a-half-hour surgery.
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When we took the tourniquet off in the
recovery room, the penis brightened up
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00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:54,360
immediately. There was no leakage, so it
was very apparent very quickly that we
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00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,000
were going to get a good success and did
so.
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00:13:58,060 --> 00:14:02,160
In 1993, I was a reporter with the
Manassas Journal-Messenger.
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covering the police and court beats.
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00:14:05,870 --> 00:14:09,650
I would get to work at 7 in the morning
and do my police call rounds to find out
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what happened overnight.
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This day was different.
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The routine from the dispatcher was
typically to say not much going on, but
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00:14:16,530 --> 00:14:19,010
in this case, there was almost a titter.
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00:14:19,490 --> 00:14:24,970
And they mentioned that overnight they
had this incident in which a man had
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been injured.
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His penis had been severed.
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00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:31,880
Instantly, it was just starting to
capture people's attention.
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00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:38,060
I left the hospital that day, and within
hours, the world knew about it.
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00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,500
All I knew was I had a hell of a story
on my head.
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00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:49,540
It's a crazy story. This young,
seemingly central casting, beautiful
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00:14:49,540 --> 00:14:53,980
couple getting into this unbelievable
mess. The whole story, it just exploded.
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00:14:54,540 --> 00:14:57,160
The name Lorena Bobbitt took over the
world.
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00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,820
Next thing you know, this paper is being
handed person by person by person down
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00:15:01,820 --> 00:15:06,320
the bus of everybody just engrossed
reading about the latest details on this
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00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,620
story. Thinking about all the abuse that
she's been through and everything in the
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00:15:09,620 --> 00:15:12,660
middle of the night. I'd like to see
Lorena get 20 years, throw away the key,
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00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:17,360
and then deport her. What generated
worldwide attention, I believe, is that
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00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:24,360
Lorena Bobbitt attacked the concept of
masculinity and exposed to the world
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00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,020
how fragile masculinity really is.
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00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,180
It's simply one slice.
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The big question is why.
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We begin with John Bobbitt's parents,
Marilyn and Bill Biro. They're with us
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at our studios in Washington. First
reaction, Mary.
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My first reaction, I was very upset and
very angry to think that anybody could
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do something like that.
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and then leave them there to die.
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Legal consequences were now taking
shape.
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She was arrested that night.
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I needed to head straight to the
courthouse on the off chance that she
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might be making an initial court
appearance.
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And indeed, that is what happened.
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Lorena faced up to 20 years.
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What struck me about her initially when
I saw it was how young she looked.
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She looked to be kind of in a state of
shock. And I slowly approached her.
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I told her I was a reporter for the
Washington Post.
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And she wasn't really looking at me, but
she was talking to me.
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00:16:43,290 --> 00:16:47,530
And all she said was, he raped me. He
raped me.
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00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,020
It is a criminal case that has resonated
with men and women.
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00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:55,620
Raina Bobbitt cut off her husband's
penis with a kitchen knife.
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00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,480
Retaliation, she says, for his abusive
treatment of her.
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00:17:00,180 --> 00:17:04,859
So this was a situation where the
offender was also claiming to be a
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00:17:04,859 --> 00:17:10,240
victim. The Commonwealth attorney, Paul
Lieber, got pushback from women's groups
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saying, but she claimed rape. Why are
you not addressing that?
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So much so.
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00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,260
The prosecutor went and charged John
Bobbitt.
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00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,839
Lorena Bobbitt charges her husband with
marital sexual assault.
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Which carried a 20-year sentence.
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00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:34,080
I believe she was in a psychotic state,
and all she did was try to remove
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00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,400
something so he could never do that to
her again.
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I was real scared, like frantic, you
know. There's blood everywhere on the
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floor, the walls.
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Did you think that you might die?
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Yeah.
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Scary.
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Scary feeling.
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She hit him with her.
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00:17:52,310 --> 00:17:57,110
She's sick. No excuse for that. There
was a gender war going on. It's just
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00:17:57,110 --> 00:18:00,170
kind of this men are from Mars, women
are from Venus.
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00:18:00,510 --> 00:18:05,730
The visceral reaction on the one hand is
horror, on the other hand is
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00:18:05,730 --> 00:18:08,330
celebration. I think that's a plot about
society.
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It's like, whoop.
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00:18:12,930 --> 00:18:16,340
Mother... Are panicking across the
country.
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Men don't know what to do.
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00:18:21,220 --> 00:18:26,420
I think a lot of people thought almost
as a sort of cartoonish story of
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00:18:26,420 --> 00:18:28,440
revenge. Women are pissed.
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00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:30,540
That's why they're going.
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00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:35,240
It was a story driven by humor.
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00:18:35,860 --> 00:18:38,140
The whole country making jokes about me.
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00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,940
Number four, Lorena Bob an excuse was
good practice for carving Thanksgiving
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00:18:41,940 --> 00:18:42,940
turkey.
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00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:48,060
Am I wrong here, or was your wife a
crazy bitch?
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00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,240
I think everybody's slowly figuring that
out.
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00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:01,460
Howard Stern had John Wayne on his show,
and Howard Stern just ran
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00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:02,980
with it from there.
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00:19:03,180 --> 00:19:05,960
I don't even buy this whole thing that
he was raping her and stuff.
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00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:08,500
She's not that great looking.
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00:19:09,300 --> 00:19:10,860
She's got a lot of pimples here,
ex-wife.
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00:19:11,290 --> 00:19:16,230
That captures perfectly one of the
enduring misconceptions about rape,
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00:19:16,310 --> 00:19:20,530
where it is not at all about what a man
finds attractive. It's about power, and
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00:19:20,530 --> 00:19:24,230
it's a very common idea that I think
Howard Stern was teeing up for John
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00:19:24,230 --> 00:19:25,230
Wayne Bobbitt.
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00:19:25,310 --> 00:19:29,750
If you only listen to bits and pieces,
flip through the channels, you're not
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00:19:29,750 --> 00:19:30,750
going to get the whole story.
291
00:19:31,610 --> 00:19:36,610
Ultimately, both John and Lorena gave
exclusive interviews.
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00:19:36,910 --> 00:19:40,590
I think every journalist in the country
wanted that interview with Lorena
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00:19:40,590 --> 00:19:42,430
Bobbitt. Hers was to Vanity Fair.
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00:19:42,670 --> 00:19:45,990
People wanted to know who she was and
what happened. There was just this
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00:19:45,990 --> 00:19:48,650
effort to present her as the canary with
the broken wing.
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00:19:49,350 --> 00:19:55,010
The story was Chana, her boss, said the
last thing I need is for you to ask
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00:19:55,010 --> 00:19:57,070
Lorena to get in the swimsuit and get in
the pool.
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00:19:57,490 --> 00:20:01,290
And it sounded like that was the first
thing the photographer asked for. And
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00:20:01,290 --> 00:20:03,670
Lorena dutifully complied.
300
00:20:04,370 --> 00:20:06,530
Her Vanity Fair photos were sexy.
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00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,500
Here she was being charged with a
serious crime that could have put her in
302
00:20:10,500 --> 00:20:15,060
jail for a long time, and yet she did a
photo spread coming out of a swimming
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00:20:15,060 --> 00:20:21,140
pool and before John's trial and before
her own trial. It just astounded me.
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00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,300
Totally anathema to profile someone
who's an abused person.
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00:20:26,060 --> 00:20:28,720
Everybody I spoke to was like, he's a
horrible guy.
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00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,100
He didn't have a single advocate in all
the interviews. It's rare.
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00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:33,680
Usually someone.
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00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,180
Play something nice about you.
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00:20:35,660 --> 00:20:38,380
But John Bobbitt is the exception that
proves the rule.
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00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,060
What was your reaction when you found
out what happened to your brother?
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00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,680
If I had seen her, I would have killed
him.
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00:20:49,420 --> 00:20:50,700
You think she tried to kill him?
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00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,920
She tried to hurt him in the worst way
possible for any man.
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00:20:54,140 --> 00:20:59,160
She did worse than kill him. She took
away the thing that means most to a man,
315
00:20:59,180 --> 00:20:59,959
you know?
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00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,080
So why do you think she did this to you?
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00:21:14,860 --> 00:21:18,980
Less than two months before John Bobbitt
was going to face trial for marital
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00:21:18,980 --> 00:21:24,800
sexual assault, 2020 and ABC News gave
Lorena a platform to talk about her
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00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:25,800
charges against him.
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00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:38,460
Four sets excited him, and I would just
cry.
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00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,300
Like so many of the accusations that fly
back and forth between John and Lorena,
322
00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:44,000
this one is hard to reconcile.
323
00:21:44,220 --> 00:21:46,820
John denies that he was ever excited by
a violent death.
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00:21:49,460 --> 00:21:52,340
John Wayne Bobbitt's trial went up first
in November.
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00:21:52,860 --> 00:21:55,080
What really transpired? What really went
on?
326
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:56,700
Why did it get to this point?
327
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,480
Welcome back to How It Really Happened.
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00:22:05,980 --> 00:22:10,340
The horror story of John and Lorena
Bobbitt had its proper end as a justice
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00:22:10,340 --> 00:22:14,200
story, a courtroom drama to be
prosecuted in two separate trials.
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00:22:14,580 --> 00:22:18,900
John faced 20 years for marital sexual
assault, and Lorena was looking at 20
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00:22:18,900 --> 00:22:20,360
years for malicious wounding.
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00:22:20,620 --> 00:22:24,660
As they geared up to take each other
down in a fierce he said, she said
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00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:27,780
swearing match, an electrified nation
looked on spellbound.
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00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:29,880
How would the jurors decide?
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00:22:34,350 --> 00:22:37,550
It is a criminal case that has resonated
with men and women.
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00:22:39,270 --> 00:22:43,430
It's certainly the most celebrated trial
in Manassas, Virginia, in decades.
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00:22:44,290 --> 00:22:46,130
And there's a buzz with media.
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00:22:46,550 --> 00:22:48,450
Everybody was waiting for the big show.
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00:22:48,750 --> 00:22:52,650
In John Wayne Bobbitt's trial, cameras
were not allowed because he was charged
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00:22:52,650 --> 00:22:59,090
with marital sexual assault. In
Virginia, to protect the victim, the
341
00:22:59,090 --> 00:23:00,090
cameras were not allowed.
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00:23:00,450 --> 00:23:02,910
It really would come down to
believability.
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00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:05,580
He simply had to deny things.
344
00:23:06,340 --> 00:23:09,400
She had to prove that things were
happening.
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00:23:09,860 --> 00:23:14,420
A tearful Lorena Bobbitt testified that
John came home drunk and forced her to
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00:23:14,420 --> 00:23:15,139
have sex.
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00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:19,200
She says he then told her that her
objections didn't matter to him. So we
348
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,800
knew that they were going to have to
show that John forcibly raped her. One
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00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:29,580
of the key pieces of evidence that the
prosecution was relying on was her torn
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00:23:29,580 --> 00:23:30,580
underwear.
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00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:36,400
What she showed for force was that she
claimed he ripped her panties off of her
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00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:41,900
while he was raping her. Her testimony
was she was asleep the night of the
353
00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:42,900
incident.
354
00:23:43,300 --> 00:23:49,780
John Bobbitt came home around 3 a.m.,
quite intoxicated, and
355
00:23:49,780 --> 00:23:52,360
he woke her up in an amorous mood.
356
00:23:52,820 --> 00:23:54,840
I said, I don't want to have sex.
357
00:23:55,940 --> 00:23:59,900
And then he wouldn't listen to me. He
wouldn't let me go.
358
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,780
And he started to pull down my
underwears with his foot.
359
00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:09,920
And ripped them off of her and then
raped her.
360
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,300
She says afterwards she spotted a
red-handled fillet knife in their
361
00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:17,080
apartment kitchen when she went to get a
drink of water and said that after John
362
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,500
fell asleep, quote, I lifted the sheet
and I cut it.
363
00:24:21,140 --> 00:24:24,780
John Bobbitt denies he ever had forced
sex with his wife.
364
00:24:25,420 --> 00:24:29,360
They had a forensic from the FBI
testify.
365
00:24:30,300 --> 00:24:35,120
that the underwear were ripped off of
her, and that would be the sign of force
366
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:36,220
used by John.
367
00:24:37,380 --> 00:24:43,780
We hired the former head of the FBI
forensics to look at it.
368
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:50,920
He did several tests with the cloth and
discovered that the way to
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00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,320
tear the panties the way she described
they were torn, he could not replicate
370
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,200
that. Our response to that was they were
cut by scissors.
371
00:25:00,300 --> 00:25:06,220
At the trial, they had experts who had
examined her for signs of whether she'd
372
00:25:06,220 --> 00:25:10,760
been raped or not, looking at hospital
records for bruises or broken arms or
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00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:17,660
legs. A doctor who testified at John's
trial saw no evidence
374
00:25:17,660 --> 00:25:19,440
that she'd been raped.
375
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:25,300
He also testified that her demeanor was
not consistent with someone who had just
376
00:25:25,300 --> 00:25:26,300
been raped.
377
00:25:27,340 --> 00:25:31,960
And when the jury was out, I said, John,
you're standing here really calm.
378
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,640
You're acting like it's no big deal. He
said, Greg, the truth will come out.
379
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:41,580
After I think about four hours of
deliberation, the jury acquitted John
380
00:25:41,580 --> 00:25:42,580
Bobbitt.
381
00:25:42,700 --> 00:25:44,020
I'm thankful for the jury.
382
00:25:44,340 --> 00:25:50,240
They believe me. And I just want to get
on with my life. And, you know, I got a
383
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,620
lot of healing to do and start my life
over again.
384
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:57,520
is up next.
385
00:25:57,660 --> 00:26:01,060
Lorena Bobbitt looks like a woman in
trouble, and she is.
386
00:26:01,460 --> 00:26:06,360
The 24-year-old manicurist is charged
with malicious wounding for emasculating
387
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:08,140
her husband with a kitchen knife.
388
00:26:08,740 --> 00:26:13,880
It was, in fact, a tawdry story, but it
plays in people's minds like a battle of
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00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:14,499
the sector.
390
00:26:14,500 --> 00:26:18,620
The woman is an absolute liar, and I
think all these women are demented,
391
00:26:18,780 --> 00:26:23,300
mentally ill, to think that any woman
has the right to.
392
00:26:24,180 --> 00:26:25,240
You later, man!
393
00:26:26,959 --> 00:26:31,840
Howard Stern's New Year's Eve show, they
were going to use it as a fundraiser for
394
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:36,100
John. John, seriously, what happened to
you is horrible, and that's why we're
395
00:26:36,100 --> 00:26:37,120
raising money for you tonight.
396
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,420
Thank you, everyone, for the support.
397
00:26:39,660 --> 00:26:44,820
It was all kind of a farce, but I think
the idea at play with it was that, you
398
00:26:44,820 --> 00:26:50,430
know, he was a victim of this, you know,
terrible, heinous... crime and deserve
399
00:26:50,430 --> 00:26:52,430
somehow to be compensated for that.
400
00:26:52,630 --> 00:26:53,630
That is beautiful.
401
00:26:54,110 --> 00:26:57,450
$190,000. Congratulations, John Wayne
Bobbitt.
402
00:27:01,370 --> 00:27:06,150
Lorena Bobbitt goes on trial for
maliciously wounding her husband, and a
403
00:27:06,150 --> 00:27:07,870
lot of people are watching.
404
00:27:08,410 --> 00:27:11,930
What made you pop, snap, to get to that
point that that's what you did?
405
00:27:12,650 --> 00:27:14,630
Was no justification or excuse.
406
00:27:15,650 --> 00:27:16,650
Taking.
407
00:27:17,450 --> 00:27:24,210
law in her own hand, for maiming her
husband, and that she acted in anger
408
00:27:24,210 --> 00:27:25,210
or out of rebellion.
409
00:27:25,790 --> 00:27:29,010
And as a result, she has violated the
laws of this commonwealth.
410
00:27:29,690 --> 00:27:35,650
Her words in being interviewed by the
Sheriff's Department twice over a 24 or
411
00:27:35,650 --> 00:27:38,610
48-hour period was, why did you do it?
412
00:27:38,810 --> 00:27:43,130
He always has orgasm, and he doesn't
wait for me to have orgasm. He's
413
00:27:43,130 --> 00:27:45,210
selfish. I don't think it's fair.
414
00:27:45,900 --> 00:27:51,520
She effectively told law enforcement, my
husband is selfish in bed. As a juror,
415
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,480
that was one of the things that stayed
with me.
416
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:01,660
Far from being in this emotional state,
the DA said that Lorena knew exactly
417
00:28:01,660 --> 00:28:02,660
what she was doing.
418
00:28:03,220 --> 00:28:08,060
I went on, and I took it, and I went to
the bedroom, and I told back the sheets,
419
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:09,660
then I did it.
420
00:28:09,940 --> 00:28:14,460
And the prosecution was using that as
evidence of...
421
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:19,200
Her intent to actually injure him. You
were pretty angry with him, weren't you?
422
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,140
It was everything, Nick. It was
everything.
423
00:28:26,220 --> 00:28:28,780
I read that you forgive her. Do you
actually forgive her?
424
00:28:28,980 --> 00:28:34,500
Yes, because what she did was so
terrible.
425
00:28:34,780 --> 00:28:40,220
But she didn't do it because, you know,
I was mean to her. I just
426
00:28:40,220 --> 00:28:44,320
wanted a divorce, and she didn't want
it.
427
00:28:44,540 --> 00:28:45,540
She didn't want the divorce.
428
00:28:46,180 --> 00:28:52,300
The evidence will show that Lorena
Bobbitt believed that she had no real
429
00:28:52,300 --> 00:28:53,460
means of escape.
430
00:28:55,220 --> 00:29:00,200
John Bobbitt had threatened her that if
she tried to leave, if she tried to
431
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,260
divorce him, it wouldn't matter. He'd
follow her. He'd find her.
432
00:29:04,620 --> 00:29:05,820
I was very afraid.
433
00:29:07,340 --> 00:29:08,800
I was very afraid.
434
00:29:09,420 --> 00:29:11,100
I feel trapped.
435
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,420
I don't know where to go.
436
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,040
I didn't know what to do.
437
00:29:17,660 --> 00:29:19,400
I was very scared.
438
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:25,520
After the prosecution rested its case,
it was Lorena Bobbitt's defense team's
439
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,360
turn. And they turned the tables on John
Bobbitt by bringing up his history of
440
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:31,360
violent abuse.
441
00:29:31,420 --> 00:29:37,500
You can't disregard all the abuse
witnessed by so many different people.
442
00:29:41,220 --> 00:29:43,920
Lorena's lawyers presented this profile
of a woman.
443
00:29:44,380 --> 00:29:46,800
who got married and was just hoping for
the best.
444
00:29:47,700 --> 00:29:51,780
But shortly after they were married,
this marriage went sour, and it went
445
00:29:51,780 --> 00:29:52,800
sour really fast.
446
00:29:53,060 --> 00:29:55,860
And that's when Lorena says that John
turned on her.
447
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,840
They talked about the first incident of
abuse.
448
00:30:00,620 --> 00:30:05,320
John was driving home. Lorena felt he
was driving impaired.
449
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,680
He was zigzagging back and forth.
450
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:13,180
The speed limit, it was only 55 miles
per hour.
451
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,160
He was going like around 85 or 90.
452
00:30:16,580 --> 00:30:18,560
I was scared, and I told him to stop.
453
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,340
He would not listen to me, so I grabbed
the steering wheel, and then he punched
454
00:30:25,340 --> 00:30:29,480
me. They talked about subsequent
incidents of abuse.
455
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:36,780
He would put his hands around my neck,
and he would chuck this part of my neck.
456
00:30:37,230 --> 00:30:41,810
Lorena didn't only testify about spousal
abuse, but she also said that she was
457
00:30:41,810 --> 00:30:43,270
the victim of marital rape.
458
00:30:57,370 --> 00:31:01,550
Lorena's defense called some damaging
witnesses to testify against John Wayne
459
00:31:01,550 --> 00:31:04,150
Bobbitt, including two of his friends.
460
00:31:07,629 --> 00:31:11,810
Lorraine's testimony in terms of her
being raped by John.
461
00:31:12,190 --> 00:31:17,070
John Bobbitt comes in the room and he
said that he liked to have, that the way
462
00:31:17,070 --> 00:31:23,750
he liked to have sex was for sex because
that turned him on and that he liked to
463
00:31:23,750 --> 00:31:24,930
have him scream.
464
00:31:25,450 --> 00:31:29,370
He said that he liked to make girls
leave and yell for help.
465
00:31:30,730 --> 00:31:35,190
Mr. Bobbitt, did you ever forcibly have
sex with your wife?
466
00:31:35,390 --> 00:31:36,390
No, I didn't.
467
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,220
I never forced my wife to have sex,
ever.
468
00:31:39,340 --> 00:31:42,420
Cases ultimately come down to who you're
going to bully.
469
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,820
Her defense was called irresistible
impulse.
470
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:47,940
It's more commonly known as temporary
insanity.
471
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:53,400
And a survivor of an abusive
relationship comes to learn, if I'm
472
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:58,280
going to fight back and try to protect
myself, I need to do it to the extent
473
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,700
where I am the only one that can walk
away from the situation.
474
00:32:01,260 --> 00:32:03,220
It is the notion that...
475
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:11,020
You are worked up into such an emotional
state that you cannot control what you
476
00:32:11,020 --> 00:32:12,020
are doing.
477
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:18,960
The issue becomes whether you had the
capacity to control
478
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:24,620
your impulses. That's what she had to
demonstrate to the jury. It's difficult
479
00:32:24,620 --> 00:32:25,620
to prove.
480
00:32:25,980 --> 00:32:31,560
I still cannot fathom that she could not
stop what she was doing.
481
00:32:33,550 --> 00:32:35,110
Do you remember saying that to him?
482
00:32:35,590 --> 00:32:36,690
I remember, yes.
483
00:32:37,370 --> 00:32:41,550
The prosecution grilled Lorena about her
frame of mind during the attack.
484
00:32:41,830 --> 00:32:43,290
Was this premeditated?
485
00:32:43,790 --> 00:32:50,770
He said, Then I was angry already, and I
turned my back, and the first thing
486
00:32:50,770 --> 00:32:51,990
I saw was the knife.
487
00:32:52,390 --> 00:32:57,690
The only light that was on was the
refrigerator light, and I
488
00:32:57,690 --> 00:33:02,430
saw the knife.
489
00:33:04,010 --> 00:33:08,950
What the prosecution needed to prove to
the jury was intent.
490
00:33:09,450 --> 00:33:10,930
You remember telling Dr.
491
00:33:11,250 --> 00:33:18,010
Waltney that you walked in the bedroom,
you pulled the sheet back, you looked at
492
00:33:18,010 --> 00:33:23,930
his whole body, and then you did it,
then you caught him? Maybe I did say
493
00:33:23,930 --> 00:33:30,090
that. And the next thing she remembers
is he's driving in her car.
494
00:33:30,940 --> 00:33:34,060
And you realized that there was
something in your left hand. Yes.
495
00:33:34,340 --> 00:33:36,800
And you realized it was your husband's
penis. Yes.
496
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:42,380
And you were just horrified, isn't that
right? Yes. So you went and got rid of
497
00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:43,420
it just like that, right? Yes.
498
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:49,420
And you're in that jury room and they're
passing around photographs of a severed
499
00:33:49,420 --> 00:33:50,420
penis.
500
00:33:50,860 --> 00:33:52,900
Regardless of the reason, that gets your
attention.
501
00:33:57,380 --> 00:33:59,620
When we're in that survival mode.
502
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:05,100
but not completely in control of
ourselves, it's a powder keg for
503
00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:10,020
disaster. And we see situations like
this where survivors eventually end up
504
00:34:10,020 --> 00:34:11,020
killing their abusers.
505
00:34:11,139 --> 00:34:16,760
And this is not necessarily a chronic
state, but something that happens in
506
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,560
some immediate acute moment.
507
00:34:20,580 --> 00:34:26,699
One of the most powerful elements, I
thought, of the defense was...
508
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:31,639
their ability to bring several witnesses
to the stand on behalf of Lorena.
509
00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:39,260
I would observe her at work the next day
and I saw bruises on her wrist, behind
510
00:34:39,260 --> 00:34:40,400
her ear.
511
00:34:40,659 --> 00:34:45,320
I again witnessed extensive bruising
over the top and sides of Ms. Bobbitt's
512
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:49,800
skull, into her hairline and face line
and down her neck and shoulders.
513
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:55,120
She said she made a complaint while he
was still in the Marines and they
514
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:56,120
referred him.
515
00:34:56,670 --> 00:34:57,670
for counseling.
516
00:35:09,550 --> 00:35:16,010
I remember that, but not the way you're
putting it.
517
00:35:17,150 --> 00:35:20,250
Then, the defense put on a mental health
expert.
518
00:35:20,490 --> 00:35:26,510
She became psychotic. She said, This
woman was clearly abused, and it was
519
00:35:26,510 --> 00:35:31,450
repetitive. It feels completely
hopeless, and we're driven to the point
520
00:35:31,450 --> 00:35:34,290
of doing things that we would never
think that we would need to do.
521
00:35:34,690 --> 00:35:41,110
And at that point in time, she attacked
the instrument of her torture.
522
00:35:41,250 --> 00:35:42,910
That is her husband's penis.
523
00:35:43,310 --> 00:35:47,890
Somebody who's in an abusive
relationship is exposed to constant
524
00:35:47,890 --> 00:35:51,380
trauma. it's more difficult for the
brain to shut it off because we're
525
00:35:51,380 --> 00:35:54,600
always anticipating some sort of violent
or explosive episode.
526
00:35:55,160 --> 00:36:01,240
I believe the turning point in Lorena's
trial came with one of the final
527
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:02,240
witnesses.
528
00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:09,380
Her name was Regina Keegan, and she
testified
529
00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:16,100
that she went to get her nails done and
ended up getting it done by Lorena
530
00:36:16,100 --> 00:36:18,530
Bobbitt. I observed her. She was
shaking.
531
00:36:19,030 --> 00:36:22,050
Her hands were trembling, and she had
tears in her eyes.
532
00:36:22,930 --> 00:36:29,890
So we sat down, and she pulled up her
sleeves, and
533
00:36:29,890 --> 00:36:36,450
she was black and blue from here to
here, like bruises.
534
00:36:38,110 --> 00:36:40,150
And it wasn't like just a hit.
535
00:36:40,370 --> 00:36:41,410
They went around.
536
00:36:43,050 --> 00:36:45,810
I said, how did you get those bruises on
your arms?
537
00:36:46,670 --> 00:36:50,630
And she looked at me and she said, my
husband hurt me.
538
00:36:51,010 --> 00:36:53,170
And I think that was the turning point.
539
00:36:54,270 --> 00:36:58,510
Ladies and gentlemen, what she did
cannot be excused. It cannot be
540
00:36:58,510 --> 00:37:00,830
condemned. And it cannot be justified.
541
00:37:01,350 --> 00:37:05,970
I ask you to find her guilty of
malicious wounding. This lady has been
542
00:37:05,970 --> 00:37:11,150
stripped of all dignity, of all
self-confidence.
543
00:37:11,630 --> 00:37:13,230
She needs a lot of help.
544
00:37:14,070 --> 00:37:15,590
She needs your help.
545
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,820
If convicted of malicious wounding,
Lorena Bobbitt faces up to 20 years in
546
00:37:19,820 --> 00:37:22,760
prison and possible deportation to her
homeland of Ecuador.
547
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:30,620
We, the jury, find the defendant, Lorena
Lenore Bobbitt, not guilty of malicious
548
00:37:30,620 --> 00:37:34,960
wounding as charged in the indictment by
reason of insanity.
549
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,840
It was a trial that captivated the
nation and a verdict that split the
550
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,750
nation. Women and feminist groups
cheered today as Lorena Bobbitt was
551
00:37:43,750 --> 00:37:47,750
found innocent by reason of insanity in
the mutilation of her husband, John.
552
00:37:49,910 --> 00:37:53,510
She avoided a potential 20-year jail
sentence.
553
00:37:57,630 --> 00:38:04,030
Because she was held criminally insane
at the moment,
554
00:38:04,370 --> 00:38:06,570
state law mandated...
555
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,820
that she go to a mental institution.
556
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,000
Maybe that was the silver lining in it
all.
557
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:15,740
Maybe she found the help that she
needed.
558
00:38:19,060 --> 00:38:21,520
She was evaluated and deemed not a
threat to herself.
559
00:38:22,260 --> 00:38:24,140
About a month and a half later, she was
released.
560
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:29,380
I really learned a lot about this,
especially the way how women and men
561
00:38:29,380 --> 00:38:34,160
treat each other. Men have to have a
little bit more consideration and
562
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:35,160
respect a woman.
563
00:38:35,690 --> 00:38:37,570
She went on about her life after that.
564
00:38:37,810 --> 00:38:42,630
It took a lot of years, and thanks to
the doctors, I'll be able to now
565
00:38:42,630 --> 00:38:49,530
basically start all over again and start
a new relationship and have
566
00:38:49,530 --> 00:38:51,390
a family, and I can laugh now.
567
00:38:51,770 --> 00:38:56,290
But it's not a subject of laughing
matter when we talk about domestic
568
00:38:56,290 --> 00:38:59,370
violence, though. It's a serious
problem.
569
00:39:02,510 --> 00:39:07,860
Shortly after the trial, We heard that
John was trying to woo Lorena again,
570
00:39:07,940 --> 00:39:12,100
trying to get her back. But then we
learned decades later that apparently
571
00:39:12,100 --> 00:39:16,900
that hasn't stopped, that he is still
apparently trying to reconcile with her.
572
00:39:17,180 --> 00:39:21,040
These are letters that John has sent to
me.
573
00:39:22,500 --> 00:39:24,300
Some of them I haven't opened.
574
00:39:25,660 --> 00:39:30,640
So it says, Dear Lorena, I miss you very
much.
575
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:32,420
And if...
576
00:39:32,890 --> 00:39:37,770
There was a choice to have any woman in
the world.
577
00:39:38,050 --> 00:39:39,630
It will be you.
578
00:39:41,030 --> 00:39:44,950
Me and Lorena getting back together,
that would be the ultimate love.
579
00:39:45,270 --> 00:39:47,530
He's living in some sort of fantasy
world.
580
00:39:47,870 --> 00:39:54,390
And if you're living in that kind of
world, then love letters to the woman
581
00:39:54,390 --> 00:39:58,190
who severed your penis doesn't seem out
of bounds.
582
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,920
After the trials, John Wayne Bobbitt
added to his fame. He embarked on a
583
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,520
national tour dubbed The Severed Parts,
starred in two pornographic films,
584
00:40:15,740 --> 00:40:20,040
performed as a knife thrower in a circus
sideshow, and worked as a guest greeter
585
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,240
at Nevada's infamous Moonlight Bunny
Ranch.
586
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:28,220
And between 1994 and 2003, Bobbitt added
four convictions to his record of crimes
587
00:40:28,220 --> 00:40:29,218
against women.
588
00:40:29,220 --> 00:40:33,080
In his troubled life after Lorena, he
also pled guilty to attempted grand
589
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,100
larceny. But finally, not long ago...
590
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:41,260
Bobbitt said in an interview that if
Lorena had just taken a seat and talked
591
00:40:41,260 --> 00:40:45,900
instead of pulling a knife, quote, we'd
probably still be married with a family.
592
00:40:47,220 --> 00:40:48,240
I'm Jesse L. Martin.
593
00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:49,720
Thanks for watching.
594
00:40:50,140 --> 00:40:51,140
Good night.
595
00:40:51,190 --> 00:40:55,740
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