A federal judge in Washington D.C. has been accused of rape by a woman who testified in a murder trial he handled as a prosectuor in 1981, and congressional lawmakers are “alarm[ed] and distress[ed]” by their initial review of the case, according to the top House GOP investigator.
“We will work with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to determine the next best steps to ensure justice is served,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R.-Utah, said in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Chief Judge Richard Warren Roberts, who was appointed to the D.C. District Court in 1998, is being sued in a Utah federal court by Terry Mitchell over events that allegedly took place when she was a witness in a murder trial that he worked on as a Justice Department prosecutor. Mitchell’s suit accuses him of “outrageous maintenance of a predatory sexual relationship” with the then-16-year-old girl.
The court documents, which were first published by the Tribune, said the former prosecutor is accused of forcing Mitchell to go to a hotel room with him and have sex, even though she “made it clear she did not consent to any sexual contact.” Mitchell is seeking $25 million in damages in the civil lawsuit, which can proceed after so many years because Roberts left the state immediately after the case ended.
He initiated contact with Mitchell after the execution of the murderer in 2013, according to the report. “We have conclusive proof,” said Rocky Anderson, a former mayor of Salt Lake City who is now Mitchell’s attorney. “This isn’t just a he said, she said.”
