My Journey Through the Courts With an Industrious Abuser by Barb Long, OTLA Guardian As we all know, sometimes our representation of a client can start off straightforward but morph into something less manageable. When this happens, particularly to those of us who represent crime victims, we must decide not only what we have the time and desire to handle, but also whether we have the emotional bandwidth to do it. This is a story about finding, or perhaps not finding, that balance during my representation of a domestic violence survivor. Kim Jensen met Ted Bowman after Jensen’s partner of 22 years passed away. From the beginning, it was apparent that Bowman was not the ideal suitor. He had baggage, including a pretty hefty criminal record across a couple of states, and a story that didn’t always make sense. Still, he convinced Jensen he was a changed man. A local media outlet had even published an article about how Bowman had cleaned-up his act after being a “thief, dope dealer and pimp.” And despite being bright and well-employed, Jensen had never really learned how to live alone. She wanted a companion and Bowman promised to take care of her. The first six months of the relationship went well. Bowman moved into Jensen’s home, a home she proudly owned after years of diligently paying the mortgage. But the honeymoon didn’t last long. Bowman’s behavior became increasingly controlling and eventually turned physically abusive. There was the time he broke her phone because she wasn’t paying attention to him. He isolated Jensen from her friends and family. He pushed her against a dresser, knocked her in the face and hit her with a belt. And there were the numerous times he threatened to kill her and burn her house down. The list goes on. Jensen petitioned for a restraining order but dropped it after Bowman convinced her he would change. He didn’t. She eventually mustered the courage to file another one after he slammed her into the refrigerator when she asked him to get a job. Bowman requested a contested hearing, letting Jensen know he wouldn’t go down without a fight. I met Jensen through my volunteer work with Legal Aid Services of Oregon, which helps domestic violence victims retain pro bono attorneys for contested restraining order hearings. I liked her immediately and was eager to help. She had solid grounds for a restraining order and this was exactly the type of pro bono work I enjoyed doing. Jensen had fresh bruises when she showed up to court for the hearing. Bowman broke into her home and assaulted her. Fortunately, Jensen reported Bowman to the police this time and he was arrested. The court upheld the restraining order without a hearing when Bowman didn’t show up to contest it. A criminal case for the assault followed. I continued to advise Jensen and testified as a witness on the state’s behalf at the trial. The jury convicted Bowman of three crimes constituting domestic violence, including two felonies, and the court sentenced him to over five years in prison. Jensen finally felt safe and I was happy to have helped a good person stop a bully. We both thought we were done with Bowman; we were wrong. Jensen called my office crying. Nearly four years after the criminal trial, Bowman was suing her for two million dollars, accusing her of theft and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Although I had a busy law practice and was recently back from maternity leave, I agreed to help her with the case on a pro bono basis. This was a convicted abuser suing his victim for things that didn’t happen. How hard could it be to get rid of him? Bowman’s lawsuit was poorly drafted but above average for a pro se, which made sense when I saw he filed over a dozen other lawsuits over the years. Most were dismissed early on but he recently obtained a default judgment in one and likely felt emboldened. He is also a person who does not give up easily, as evidenced by his pursuit of Jensen while he was in prison. He sent her numerous love letters and apologies, hoping to get her back upon his release. Only after his strategy failed did he file a lawsuit against her and begin publicly accusing her of stealing from him. The closer I looked at the case, the more I wondered what I had gotten myself into. BARB LONG represents survivors of sexual abuse and other crimes in civil actions against individuals and institutions. Long contributes to the OTLA Guardians of Justice at the Sustaining level and is the principal of Long Law PC, 1500 1st Ave., Suite 1000, Portland, OR 97201. She can be reached at [email protected] or 503-228-9858. See My Journey Through the Courts With an Industrious Abuser p. 26 25 Trial Lawyer | Fall 2024
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