Ontario, Canada: The juror can’t be identified because of a publication ban on the names of the jurors in the case of Michael Rafferty, the man convicted in the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Tori Stafford.
Four years ago, jurors heard graphic testimony and were brought to the scene where Stafford’s body was left under a pile of rocks. The juror says she simply couldn’t remove it from her mind, despite two weeks off work and a short vacation.
The juror said: “My short-term memory was gone. I was angry. I was reliving the trial, but I was reliving it in the place where I was standing there at the crime scene, watching it happen over and over and over again. I couldn’t get rid of the videos in my head playing.”
Particularly traumatizing to the juror, was the testimony of Rafferty’s former girlfriend. Terri-Lynne McClintic who described in brutal detail how the couple lured the eight year old girl into a car, with Rafferty masturbating and raping the young girl. Stafford was covered with a bag and killed with blows from a hammer.
With the help of her personal injury lawyer, the juror was able to get into a therapy program, was diagnosed with a condition called vicarious post-traumatic stress disorder and has been seeing a psychiatrist.
In an effort to cover her medical costs and wages lost as a result of the time she had to be off work, she applied to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. The argument: the juror was in fact a victim. The board disagreed.
In 2014, it dismissed her application through the Compensation for Victims of Crime Act, saying she didn’t meet their criteria for a “nervous shock claim,” arguing she was too far from the crime in relation, location and time to qualify. Additionally, it argued, it was hearing the evidence that caused the juror emotional distress, not Rafferty’s crime itself. The board also found it was “absurd to suggest that a jury member is a victim of a crime.”
Ontario doesn’t offer any assistance unless ordered by a judge. But that may be changing. Ontario’s Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said he’s is looking into improving supports for jurors traumatized by gruesome evidence in trials: “We need to recognize and acknowledge the fact that jurors do perform a very important duty. I want to engage in those conversations with the judiciary and our other justice system partners to determine what could be a better way of providing those services to jurors …”
The juror said: “As far as my mind was concerned, I was at the crime scene.” She hopes the Ontario Court of Appeal will agree and grant her the damages she says were the direct result of his crime.
Be the first to comment