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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:00,980 --> 00:00:05,300 I could have very easily said, I'm going to die, just leave here and die. 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:07,960 But I knew I couldn't panic. 3 00:00:09,140 --> 00:00:11,240 I had to react instantaneously. 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,780 I woke up my friend and got to the hospital within 10 minutes. 5 00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:17,540 I still lost almost half of my blood. 6 00:00:18,780 --> 00:00:20,860 It was scary. It was a scary, scary night. 7 00:00:37,199 --> 00:00:38,700 Hello, and welcome. 8 00:00:38,940 --> 00:00:40,080 I'm Jesse L. Martin. 9 00:00:41,060 --> 00:00:45,760 When a marriage goes terribly wrong, it often involves young people who started 10 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,120 out lovestruck and ended up fighting, even hating. 11 00:00:49,860 --> 00:00:55,120 During the dark hours of June 23, 1993, while her husband John slept soundly by 12 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,660 her side, Lorena Bobbitt took a sharp knife to his manhood. It was a savage 13 00:00:59,660 --> 00:01:03,160 slash that went way beyond the ordinary troubles between man and wife. 14 00:01:03,870 --> 00:01:08,550 Shocked Americans everywhere were glued to the story. Men cringed. Women wanted 15 00:01:08,550 --> 00:01:10,910 to know, was it something he did to make her snap? 16 00:01:11,530 --> 00:01:16,730 Tonight, the case that went behind the closed doors and bloody ruins of John 17 00:01:16,730 --> 00:01:20,770 and Lorena Bobbitt's marriage to litigate the facts of how it really 18 00:01:20,770 --> 00:01:21,770 happened. 19 00:01:30,670 --> 00:01:35,110 June 23, 1993, I was a police officer with Prince William County Police 20 00:01:35,110 --> 00:01:36,109 Department. 21 00:01:36,110 --> 00:01:38,050 It was a real slow night that night. 22 00:01:38,330 --> 00:01:41,210 And honestly, you drive around and you get bored. 23 00:01:44,930 --> 00:01:48,530 Then I remember that call came in well after 2 o'clock. 24 00:01:48,950 --> 00:01:50,210 Hey, this is what we have. 25 00:01:50,630 --> 00:01:51,970 This is what's going on. 26 00:01:52,190 --> 00:01:56,250 We didn't know what we were getting into. We just knew that there was some 27 00:01:56,250 --> 00:01:57,250 urgency. 28 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:06,120 The crime scene was the home of John Wayne Bobbitt and Lorena Bobbitt, a 29 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,960 young married couple living in a one-bedroom apartment in Manassas, 30 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,640 Virginia. Just went up there and just opened the door, announced myself, 31 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,020 started looking in and around. 32 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,520 I don't see anything particularly. 33 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,400 I go into the bedroom, and that's when I saw that pool of blood, a whole lot of 34 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:26,400 blood on the bed. 35 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:32,080 There was a blood trail all the way out of the apartment down the stairs into 36 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,500 the parking lot. I'm surprised he didn't bleed to death. 37 00:02:35,100 --> 00:02:41,200 I took pictures of the bedroom and the bed, collected the sheets, noticed that 38 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,960 there was a knife missing out of the butcher block in the kitchen. 39 00:02:44,260 --> 00:02:48,660 John Bobbitt was at the hospital with this very serious injury. 40 00:02:49,180 --> 00:02:54,120 You can imagine the officers standing in the Bobbitt's empty home, wondering how 41 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,780 a marriage could have become this toxic. 42 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:07,100 One of the tragedies of this story is that the way that Lorena described it, 43 00:03:07,140 --> 00:03:09,720 it started as a little bit of a fairy tale. 44 00:03:11,660 --> 00:03:17,980 About an hour drive outside of Manassas was Quantico, Virginia, where 45 00:03:17,980 --> 00:03:21,880 there's a Marine Corps training camp, and that's where John Bobbitt was based. 46 00:03:23,780 --> 00:03:26,180 Lorena, she came here on a student visa. 47 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,980 It was from Venezuela that she immigrated. She had dreamed about 48 00:03:30,980 --> 00:03:32,860 America and wanted to come to America. 49 00:03:33,460 --> 00:03:37,520 And they met. She was about 20 and he was about 22. 50 00:03:37,780 --> 00:03:40,640 They went on dates for ice cream and pizza. 51 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:45,720 Her being from Latin America and a conservative family, there would be a 52 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,080 chaperone that would be there with them. 53 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,340 Her relatives described it as love at first sight. 54 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,120 They were married within 10 months of having met one another. 55 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:06,800 It was only after they were married that the volatility of the relationship began 56 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:07,800 to emerge. 57 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,540 And there's when you start hearing about some of the darker side of the 58 00:04:13,540 --> 00:04:14,540 relationship. 59 00:04:16,399 --> 00:04:17,959 Lorraine was not perfect. 60 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,079 Lorraine's intensity was off the charts on jealousy. 61 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,820 A small little thing would set her off, and then she would just go on this 62 00:04:25,820 --> 00:04:27,860 screaming rampage. 63 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,240 The problems would really start when he had been drinking. 64 00:04:32,740 --> 00:04:36,440 There's a look in John's eyes that was very different. 65 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:42,880 The way Lorena described the deterioration of their relationship that 66 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:47,720 began with hitting and then escalated into much more egregious forms of 67 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:48,720 violence. 68 00:04:51,820 --> 00:04:57,580 We did respond to the resident several times prior to this incident for various 69 00:04:57,580 --> 00:04:58,580 complaints. 70 00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:05,260 John Bobbitt was arrested for assault and battery in February of 1991. 71 00:05:06,300 --> 00:05:10,980 According to the criminal complaint, they had an argument and he choked her 72 00:05:10,980 --> 00:05:11,980 with his hand. 73 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:14,960 John Wayne Bobbitt entered a plea of guilty. 74 00:05:15,980 --> 00:05:19,580 But Lorena wasn't the only one reporting abuse in this relationship. 75 00:05:20,190 --> 00:05:24,170 John had called the police on occasions where there were altercations between 76 00:05:24,170 --> 00:05:28,150 them, where he felt that she was being abusive and violent toward him. 77 00:05:28,690 --> 00:05:32,250 She had attacked him and scratched him on his back and his face. 78 00:05:32,670 --> 00:05:38,450 All of the back and forth about previous fights that they had had, how many times 79 00:05:38,450 --> 00:05:43,690 the police were there, I could easily see this was a troubled relationship. 80 00:05:45,570 --> 00:05:48,810 The question is, what happened on the night of June 23rd? 81 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,660 They were already separated and agreed to a divorce. 82 00:05:59,020 --> 00:06:00,520 It wasn't working out. 83 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:06,620 But that night, she was staying in the apartment temporarily for a few days, 84 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:08,980 and then she was going to move in with somebody. 85 00:06:09,820 --> 00:06:12,260 John and Lorena weren't the only ones in the apartment. 86 00:06:13,060 --> 00:06:15,520 He had a childhood friend who was staying the night. 87 00:06:15,940 --> 00:06:20,600 Robbie and John went out to dinner, had several drinks. 88 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,540 He had four or five beers and two B-52s. 89 00:06:24,940 --> 00:06:28,860 He comes home drunk. He had his friend sleep on the sofa. 90 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,400 John goes and gets in bed with her. 91 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:37,240 And then allegedly goes in and forces himself on his wife who was sound 92 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:38,240 asleep. 93 00:06:38,580 --> 00:06:41,100 Forcefully has sex with her. 94 00:06:42,180 --> 00:06:49,060 Having been violated in a sexual way, there's a sense of shock, disbelief, 95 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,600 embarrassment, confusion. 96 00:06:53,100 --> 00:06:56,660 I remember her telling me that she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, 97 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:03,020 and she just made it sound very much as though she sort of sees a knife, and 98 00:07:03,020 --> 00:07:07,720 this impulse seizes her, and into the bedroom she goes. 99 00:07:08,380 --> 00:07:11,180 Lorena Bobbitt cut her husband's penis off. 100 00:07:12,740 --> 00:07:14,720 I mean, that's a profound act. 101 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,640 You can't get much more personal than going down to somebody's province. 102 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,680 My wife said, I just kind of like... Caught her out in the corner of my eye 103 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,080 with peripheral vision. There was blood everywhere, all over the floor, the 104 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:28,080 walls. 105 00:07:28,100 --> 00:07:29,100 She left. 106 00:07:29,860 --> 00:07:34,980 She fled with the penis in one hand, the knife in the other, went into the other 107 00:07:34,980 --> 00:07:40,540 room where John's childhood friend, Robbie, was asleep, and stole $100 out 108 00:07:40,540 --> 00:07:42,820 of his wallet and his Game Boy. 109 00:07:43,300 --> 00:07:48,640 The fact that she may have taken a Game Boy, hell, she wasn't thinking clearly. 110 00:07:48,660 --> 00:07:50,220 She wasn't thinking rationally. 111 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:51,500 This woman... 112 00:07:52,580 --> 00:07:56,580 literally cut her husband's penis off, drove off into the night. 113 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:05,660 She drove to her place of employment and dumped the knife into the trash can. 114 00:08:06,940 --> 00:08:09,280 I don't hold her accountable. 115 00:08:09,780 --> 00:08:15,340 John, according to Lorena, not only slapped her around, but he also raped 116 00:08:15,340 --> 00:08:20,320 her. You don't take things into your own hands and castrate someone. 117 00:08:23,180 --> 00:08:27,020 The doctors need to find his penis so that he has a chance to reattach it. 118 00:08:27,220 --> 00:08:28,560 There's a window for success. 119 00:08:28,860 --> 00:08:30,860 So we were working with time constraint. 120 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,280 I pulled my eyes and I couldn't feel it because I had to stay away. 121 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:47,340 The next thing I remember is she pulled on my groin area twice and 122 00:08:47,340 --> 00:08:52,560 I felt a couple jerks. And then after that, she just cut it off. 123 00:09:02,260 --> 00:09:07,980 Once he realized what had been done, his friend walked him down the stairs to the 124 00:09:07,980 --> 00:09:10,140 parking lot and drove him to the hospital. 125 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,980 He came to the emergency room with kind of a towel wrapped around his hand, and 126 00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:19,660 he was kind of holding it down in his crotch area, so everybody just assumed 127 00:09:19,660 --> 00:09:21,000 he had done something with his hand. 128 00:09:21,710 --> 00:09:25,770 And the male orally nurse moved his sheet back from John Wayne Bobbitt. 129 00:09:25,910 --> 00:09:27,290 Yeah, I said, God damn. 130 00:09:28,290 --> 00:09:29,350 It was shocking. 131 00:09:30,130 --> 00:09:33,410 It was just a clot in his groin from where his penis should have been. 132 00:09:33,790 --> 00:09:38,630 You'd like to walk away into another metaverse, if you could, when you see 133 00:09:38,630 --> 00:09:39,690 something so horrifying. 134 00:09:40,530 --> 00:09:45,950 He appeared to be somewhat in and out, but he said, you have to be careful who 135 00:09:45,950 --> 00:09:46,950 you date. 136 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,160 At that time, I was told that the organ had been amputated and lost. 137 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:56,900 The doctor spoke to him and said, you know, if we get the penis, we'll try to 138 00:09:56,900 --> 00:10:01,200 reattach him. If not, we'll do the best we can and we'll think about prosthesis 139 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:02,200 afterwards. 140 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:05,800 The call came from the hospital. 141 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,120 I heard a squad mate of mine, he said, I need somebody to go look for the 142 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,800 appendage. And I was just thinking, why is he saying appendage? 143 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:16,380 My squad mate was laughing in tears. 144 00:10:16,970 --> 00:10:19,370 He said, hey, you've got to go look for somebody's penis. 145 00:10:20,190 --> 00:10:23,610 Cops being cops have a very thick, dark sense of humor. 146 00:10:23,850 --> 00:10:27,330 We do that as a protective mechanism, but you can imagine that was in high 147 00:10:27,330 --> 00:10:28,330 gear. 148 00:10:28,510 --> 00:10:32,230 The doctors need to find his penis so that he has a chance to reattach it. 149 00:10:32,770 --> 00:10:37,490 As ridiculous as it might seem, you know, I've got to go look for this 150 00:10:37,490 --> 00:10:38,490 appendix. 151 00:10:40,310 --> 00:10:45,050 Well, I started the shift about 8 o'clock, maybe 10, 15 minutes later. 152 00:10:45,630 --> 00:10:51,090 I saw on our cameras that a female was walking into our lobby. 153 00:10:51,450 --> 00:10:55,150 And at that time, she just made a statement. I threw it out the window. 154 00:10:55,530 --> 00:10:58,210 And I didn't put two and two together immediately. 155 00:10:58,990 --> 00:11:02,750 And then that's when I threw his penis and his game system out the window. 156 00:11:03,230 --> 00:11:04,990 And that's when I realized who it was. 157 00:11:05,270 --> 00:11:06,830 And you could tell she was distraught. 158 00:11:07,170 --> 00:11:08,790 She just had her head in her hand. 159 00:11:09,030 --> 00:11:11,870 And then she said, I threw it out on Centerville Road. 160 00:11:14,250 --> 00:11:15,250 We sent. 161 00:11:15,370 --> 00:11:17,130 Some officers out to check the area. 162 00:11:17,390 --> 00:11:22,950 She had thrown her husband's penis on the corner into a field that was near 163 00:11:22,950 --> 00:11:24,130 their apartment complex. 164 00:11:24,990 --> 00:11:28,910 Sergeant Hurley, he was the one that found it. Sergeant Hurley actually 165 00:11:28,910 --> 00:11:34,050 stepped on it. That's how he located it. I think we were all shocked that they 166 00:11:34,050 --> 00:11:35,190 actually found it. 167 00:11:36,190 --> 00:11:39,570 Now I'm just at the hospital waiting for what's the next step. 168 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,840 There was an urgency to get it on ice and get it to where it had to be so they 169 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:46,640 could perform surgery on the victim. 170 00:11:51,740 --> 00:11:55,320 It wasn't until we were on the way really to the operating room that I got 171 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:56,340 the word the organ was found. 172 00:11:56,700 --> 00:12:02,020 It came to the OR and I had to wash it and put it in a Ziploc bag of ice and 173 00:12:02,020 --> 00:12:03,940 had its own little separate table. 174 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:09,080 No one on John Wayne Bobbitt's medical team had ever attached a severed penis 175 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:13,310 before. Urologists typically aren't trained to do replantation surgery. 176 00:12:13,710 --> 00:12:17,110 It would be a radical first-time surgery for everyone. 177 00:12:19,570 --> 00:12:22,650 When you've got an amputated organ, there's a window for success. 178 00:12:22,850 --> 00:12:25,690 It might be 10, 12, 17 hours. 179 00:12:26,030 --> 00:12:28,110 So we were working with time constraints. 180 00:12:28,970 --> 00:12:33,290 Ironically, the same hospital that John Bobbitt was getting surgery done to 181 00:12:33,290 --> 00:12:36,810 reattach his penis, they did a rape kit on her. 182 00:12:37,010 --> 00:12:38,970 They brought in Lorena Bobbitt. 183 00:12:39,910 --> 00:12:43,430 and went past me, past the room where John Wayne was in. 184 00:12:43,910 --> 00:12:49,570 Lorena was meeting with a detective to talk about what she was reporting as a 185 00:12:49,570 --> 00:12:50,570 rape. 186 00:12:52,190 --> 00:12:55,710 The surgeons were doing their thing, and we were all waiting to hear how that 187 00:12:55,710 --> 00:13:00,270 went. There had been attempts over the past century to replant the amputated 188 00:13:00,270 --> 00:13:02,890 penis. Not many of those cases went very well. 189 00:13:03,730 --> 00:13:06,030 John's penis was severed very close to the body wall. 190 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,520 The cut was almost textbook. 191 00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:15,880 I remember I had to wheel John up to the operating room, and I made a stop at the 192 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:20,400 library on the way to grab an anatomy text to have a look at where we were 193 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:22,060 going that morning and the roadmap. 194 00:13:22,580 --> 00:13:25,060 So it was a challenge, but an exciting one. 195 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:27,480 We had two surgeons. 196 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,800 You needed a urologist to put the plumbing back together, but you really 197 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:34,700 needed to have a microvascular surgeon. 198 00:13:35,260 --> 00:13:38,100 someone who would be able to put the blood vessels back together and the 199 00:13:38,100 --> 00:13:39,100 nerves. 200 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,480 It was a nine-and-a-half-hour surgery. 201 00:13:44,100 --> 00:13:48,840 When we took the tourniquet off in the recovery room, the penis brightened up 202 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:54,360 immediately. There was no leakage, so it was very apparent very quickly that we 203 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,000 were going to get a good success and did so. 204 00:13:58,060 --> 00:14:02,160 In 1993, I was a reporter with the Manassas Journal-Messenger. 205 00:14:03,050 --> 00:14:05,370 covering the police and court beats. 206 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 207 00:14:09,650 --> 00:14:10,650 what happened overnight. 208 00:14:10,930 --> 00:14:11,950 This day was different. 209 00:14:12,190 --> 00:14:16,530 The routine from the dispatcher was typically to say not much going on, but 210 00:14:16,530 --> 00:14:19,010 in this case, there was almost a titter. 211 00:14:19,490 --> 00:14:24,970 And they mentioned that overnight they had this incident in which a man had 212 00:14:24,970 --> 00:14:26,170 been injured. 213 00:14:26,850 --> 00:14:28,470 His penis had been severed. 214 00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:31,880 Instantly, it was just starting to capture people's attention. 215 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:38,060 I left the hospital that day, and within hours, the world knew about it. 216 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,500 All I knew was I had a hell of a story on my head. 217 00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:49,540 It's a crazy story. This young, seemingly central casting, beautiful 218 00:14:49,540 --> 00:14:53,980 couple getting into this unbelievable mess. The whole story, it just exploded. 219 00:14:54,540 --> 00:14:57,160 The name Lorena Bobbitt took over the world. 220 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,820 Next thing you know, this paper is being handed person by person by person down 221 00:15:01,820 --> 00:15:06,320 the bus of everybody just engrossed reading about the latest details on this 222 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,620 story. Thinking about all the abuse that she's been through and everything in the 223 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, 224 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:17,360 and then deport her. What generated worldwide attention, I believe, is that 225 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:24,360 Lorena Bobbitt attacked the concept of masculinity and exposed to the world 226 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,020 how fragile masculinity really is. 227 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,180 It's simply one slice. 228 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:31,280 The big question is why. 229 00:15:36,900 --> 00:15:42,100 We begin with John Bobbitt's parents, Marilyn and Bill Biro. They're with us 230 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:45,760 at our studios in Washington. First reaction, Mary. 231 00:15:47,060 --> 00:15:53,900 My first reaction, I was very upset and very angry to think that anybody could 232 00:15:53,900 --> 00:15:55,120 do something like that. 233 00:15:55,470 --> 00:15:57,330 and then leave them there to die. 234 00:16:01,950 --> 00:16:04,570 Legal consequences were now taking shape. 235 00:16:06,050 --> 00:16:07,610 She was arrested that night. 236 00:16:09,810 --> 00:16:15,150 I needed to head straight to the courthouse on the off chance that she 237 00:16:15,150 --> 00:16:17,390 might be making an initial court appearance. 238 00:16:17,590 --> 00:16:19,690 And indeed, that is what happened. 239 00:16:20,850 --> 00:16:23,190 Lorena faced up to 20 years. 240 00:16:23,850 --> 00:16:27,750 What struck me about her initially when I saw it was how young she looked. 241 00:16:28,170 --> 00:16:33,870 She looked to be kind of in a state of shock. And I slowly approached her. 242 00:16:34,170 --> 00:16:37,250 I told her I was a reporter for the Washington Post. 243 00:16:37,490 --> 00:16:42,810 And she wasn't really looking at me, but she was talking to me. 244 00:16:43,290 --> 00:16:47,530 And all she said was, he raped me. He raped me. 245 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,020 It is a criminal case that has resonated with men and women. 246 00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:55,620 Raina Bobbitt cut off her husband's penis with a kitchen knife. 247 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,480 Retaliation, she says, for his abusive treatment of her. 248 00:17:00,180 --> 00:17:04,859 So this was a situation where the offender was also claiming to be a 249 00:17:04,859 --> 00:17:10,240 victim. The Commonwealth attorney, Paul Lieber, got pushback from women's groups 250 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:15,520 saying, but she claimed rape. Why are you not addressing that? 251 00:17:16,180 --> 00:17:17,240 So much so. 252 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,260 The prosecutor went and charged John Bobbitt. 253 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,839 Lorena Bobbitt charges her husband with marital sexual assault. 254 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:26,660 Which carried a 20-year sentence. 255 00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:34,080 I believe she was in a psychotic state, and all she did was try to remove 256 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,400 something so he could never do that to her again. 257 00:17:37,220 --> 00:17:41,100 I was real scared, like frantic, you know. There's blood everywhere on the 258 00:17:41,100 --> 00:17:42,100 floor, the walls. 259 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:44,280 Did you think that you might die? 260 00:17:44,580 --> 00:17:45,580 Yeah. 261 00:17:46,650 --> 00:17:47,650 Scary. 262 00:17:48,430 --> 00:17:49,430 Scary feeling. 263 00:17:50,610 --> 00:17:51,770 She hit him with her. 264 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 265 00:17:57,110 --> 00:18:00,170 kind of this men are from Mars, women are from Venus. 266 00:18:00,510 --> 00:18:05,730 The visceral reaction on the one hand is horror, on the other hand is 267 00:18:05,730 --> 00:18:08,330 celebration. I think that's a plot about society. 268 00:18:09,030 --> 00:18:10,230 It's like, whoop. 269 00:18:12,930 --> 00:18:16,340 Mother... Are panicking across the country. 270 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,240 Men don't know what to do. 271 00:18:21,220 --> 00:18:26,420 I think a lot of people thought almost as a sort of cartoonish story of 272 00:18:26,420 --> 00:18:28,440 revenge. Women are pissed. 273 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:30,540 That's why they're going. 274 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:35,240 It was a story driven by humor. 275 00:18:35,860 --> 00:18:38,140 The whole country making jokes about me. 276 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,940 Number four, Lorena Bob an excuse was good practice for carving Thanksgiving 277 00:18:41,940 --> 00:18:42,940 turkey. 278 00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:48,060 Am I wrong here, or was your wife a crazy bitch? 279 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,240 I think everybody's slowly figuring that out. 280 00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:01,460 Howard Stern had John Wayne on his show, and Howard Stern just ran 281 00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:02,980 with it from there. 282 00:19:03,180 --> 00:19:05,960 I don't even buy this whole thing that he was raping her and stuff. 283 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:08,500 She's not that great looking. 284 00:19:09,300 --> 00:19:10,860 She's got a lot of pimples here, ex-wife. 285 00:19:11,290 --> 00:19:16,230 That captures perfectly one of the enduring misconceptions about rape, 286 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 287 00:19:20,530 --> 00:19:24,230 it's a very common idea that I think Howard Stern was teeing up for John 288 00:19:24,230 --> 00:19:25,230 Wayne Bobbitt. 289 00:19:25,310 --> 00:19:29,750 If you only listen to bits and pieces, flip through the channels, you're not 290 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. 292 00:19:36,910 --> 00:19:40,590 I think every journalist in the country wanted that interview with Lorena 293 00:19:40,590 --> 00:19:42,430 Bobbitt. Hers was to Vanity Fair. 294 00:19:42,670 --> 00:19:45,990 People wanted to know who she was and what happened. There was just this 295 00:19:45,990 --> 00:19:48,650 effort to present her as the canary with the broken wing. 296 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 297 00:19:55,010 --> 00:19:57,070 Lorena to get in the swimsuit and get in the pool. 298 00:19:57,490 --> 00:20:01,290 And it sounded like that was the first thing the photographer asked for. And 299 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. 301 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 303 00:20:15,060 --> 00:20:21,140 pool and before John's trial and before her own trial. It just astounded me. 304 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,300 Totally anathema to profile someone who's an abused person. 305 00:20:26,060 --> 00:20:28,720 Everybody I spoke to was like, he's a horrible guy. 306 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,100 He didn't have a single advocate in all the interviews. It's rare. 307 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:33,680 Usually someone. 308 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,180 Play something nice about you. 309 00:20:35,660 --> 00:20:38,380 But John Bobbitt is the exception that proves the rule. 310 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,060 What was your reaction when you found out what happened to your brother? 311 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,680 If I had seen her, I would have killed him. 312 00:20:49,420 --> 00:20:50,700 You think she tried to kill him? 313 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,920 She tried to hurt him in the worst way possible for any man. 314 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? 316 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,080 So why do you think she did this to you? 317 00:21:14,860 --> 00:21:18,980 Less than two months before John Bobbitt was going to face trial for marital 318 00:21:18,980 --> 00:21:24,800 sexual assault, 2020 and ABC News gave Lorena a platform to talk about her 319 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:25,800 charges against him. 320 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:38,460 Four sets excited him, and I would just cry. 321 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. 324 00:21:49,460 --> 00:21:52,340 John Wayne Bobbitt's trial went up first in November. 325 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. 328 00:22:05,980 --> 00:22:10,340 The horror story of John and Lorena Bobbitt had its proper end as a justice 329 00:22:10,340 --> 00:22:14,200 story, a courtroom drama to be prosecuted in two separate trials. 330 00:22:14,580 --> 00:22:18,900 John faced 20 years for marital sexual assault, and Lorena was looking at 20 331 00:22:18,900 --> 00:22:20,360 years for malicious wounding. 332 00:22:20,620 --> 00:22:24,660 As they geared up to take each other down in a fierce he said, she said 333 00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:27,780 swearing match, an electrified nation looked on spellbound. 334 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:29,880 How would the jurors decide? 335 00:22:34,350 --> 00:22:37,550 It is a criminal case that has resonated with men and women. 336 00:22:39,270 --> 00:22:43,430 It's certainly the most celebrated trial in Manassas, Virginia, in decades. 337 00:22:44,290 --> 00:22:46,130 And there's a buzz with media. 338 00:22:46,550 --> 00:22:48,450 Everybody was waiting for the big show. 339 00:22:48,750 --> 00:22:52,650 In John Wayne Bobbitt's trial, cameras were not allowed because he was charged 340 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. 342 00:23:00,450 --> 00:23:02,910 It really would come down to believability. 343 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. 345 00:23:09,860 --> 00:23:14,420 A tearful Lorena Bobbitt testified that John came home drunk and forced her to 346 00:23:14,420 --> 00:23:15,139 have sex. 347 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 349 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:29,580 of the key pieces of evidence that the prosecution was relying on was her torn 350 00:23:29,580 --> 00:23:30,580 underwear. 351 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:36,400 What she showed for force was that she claimed he ripped her panties off of her 352 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 369 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 373 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 389 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 Repair and Synchronization by Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0 54698

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