A woman who was raped as a child four decades ago said she would never forgive Hillary Clinton for legally defending the man who attacked her despite the Democratic nominee suggesting in recordings that she knew the assailant was guilty.
Kathy Shelton, who was 12 years old when a 41-year-old man lured her into a car and raped her, accused Clinton of "lying" on the campaign trail any time she paints herself as a defender of children and women, the Daily Mail reported exclusively Tuesday.
"It’s put a lot of anger back in me," Shelton said. "Every time I see [Clinton] on TV I just want to reach in there and grab her, but I can’t do that."
Clinton served in 1975 as the court-appointed attorney for Thomas Alfred Taylor, a factory worker accused of raping Shelton on the side of a deserted Arkansas road.
Taylor, who faced 30 years to life in prison, was able to plead down to "unlawful fondling of a minor" after Clinton used a legal technicality to prevent forensic evidence that connected Taylor to the rape from being used in court, the Washington Free Beacon previously reported. Taylor served less than a year in prison.
Clinton wrote in a court affidavit at the time that Shelton was "emotionally unstable" and had a "tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing." Shelton told the Daily Mail that the former first lady had ordered she take a psychiatric examination to determine whether the 12-year-old was "mentally stable."
"I don’t think [Clinton’s] for women or girls. I think she’s lying, I think she said anything she can to get in the campaign and win," Shelton said. "If she was [an advocate for women and children], she wouldn’t have done that to me at 12 years old."
In audio recordings of Clinton from the early 1980s, published by the Washington Free Beacon in June 2014, Clinton indicated that she believed Taylor was guilty and later laughed on tape when discussing the case.
"It was a fascinating case. It was a very interesting case. This guy was accused of raping a 12-year-old … ’Course he claimed that he didn’t, and all this stuff," Clinton said in a recording.
"I had him take a polygraph, which he passed, which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs," she continued, laughing.
Clinton also laughed as she detailed the crime lab’s accidental mishandling of DNA evidence that tied Taylor to the rape.
Shelton said that after hearing the tapes she wanted to confront Clinton about the incident to question the Democratic nominee about her record defending women and girls.
"I just want to know, you’ve got a daughter and a grandbaby. What happens if that daughter of yours, if that would have been her [who was assaulted at age 12]?" Shelton said. "You would have protected her. You don’t know me, so I’m a piece of crap to you … Who cares about me, as long as you can win your first case as an attorney?"
Clinton defended her defense of Taylor during an interview with a U.K.-based parenting forum called Mumsnet in July 2014, claiming that she had a duty to "fulfill an obligation."
"When you are a lawyer, you often don’t have the choice as to who you will represent, and by the very nature of criminal law there will be those who you represent that you don’t approve of," she said. "But at least in our system you have an obligation, and once I was appointed I fulfilled that obligation."