the videographer were left in the room. The first thing spoken was from the videographer, “What the fuck” in a stunned, disbelieving voice. The five women in the room had to take a long moment to decompress from the chilling testimony from Klein. It was a rare moment in my career when I knew I needed to wait until Klein drove away before I should leave the building. Klein never took the Fifth and admitted to almost nothing. At the time of his deposition, he was being actively investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. DOJ had been looking for a case to bring against CCCF for years. Klein’s case and Barton’s neglect gave them the opening. DOJ sent me a subpoena, interviewed my clients and, within a year from the settlement of my case, Klein was indicted in federal court on multiple sex abuse related charges and four counts of perjury for his testimony in my deposition. He was convicted of three of the counts of perjury and all the sex related crimes receiving a two-decade sentence from Judge Simon. In depositions with ODOC officials, I heard testimony of benign neglect and the refusal to take any responsibility. Some of these officials were involved in prior sexual abuse investigations and knew of defects in the monitoring of prisoners, training of officers, enforcement of mandates of the Prison Rape Elimination Act and stunning defects in preventing retaliation. ODOC continues to experience these events because they keep all actions private and under a veil of secrecy and disinformation. Oregon Public Broadcasting investigated for over a year, culminating in a lengthy story about the case, my clients and Klein. Because of modern reporting methods, my video deposition, live interviews with my clients and certain information in the case were published for the public. I admit to some of the feelings of horror and revulsion when I saw Klein’s face and heard his voice in the OPB story. Two of my clients purchased homes and stayed out of prison. All my clients were badly traumatized by their lives, but they all persevered until the very end, even talking to the FBI and testifying at Klein’s trial. This was the bravest act of all. They all were empowered by the system rather than being destroyed by it. And isn’t that the greatest victory of all? Dedicated to Sara Suarez continued from p. 23 24 Trial Lawyer | Fall 2024
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