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Shawn Harris, who accuses her husband, who was later ordered to pay him alimony before he was convicted of sexually assaulting her, said that the couple’s marriage fell apart as a result of his continuous threats to murder her. “I did trust his threat,” she admitted to having done so. “I started living in this strange reality that just felt like a house of horrors,” the narrator says.
Because of her experience, perhaps the law in California could be revised. Crystal Harris, now 39 years old, and Shawn Harris, now 40 years old, have been inseparable since they met in college. They tied the knot in 1996. She said that there were sporadic incidences of domestic violence throughout the years, and then in 2008, Shawn sexually assaulted her while their two sons were upstairs in the bedroom.
She said this happened while their two sons were watching television. She was able to record the assault on tape by concealing a tape recorder in one of her drawers and playing it back later. In the audio clip, Crystal can be heard pleading with her husband, saying things like “I don’t want to be raped” and “you’re hurting my neck,” despite the fact that her voice is muddled.
She said, “I had made a mental note in my head of where the record button was.” “I had made a mental note” “So, you know, I’m talking to Shawn and I just hit that, and then I just close the drawer,” she said. “So, you know, I’m talking to Shawn and I just hit that.”
Crystal Harris was ordered by family court Judge Gregory Pollack to pay her husband $1,000 per month despite Shawn Harris’ history of domestic violence and the fact that he was awaiting a separate trial for rape charges during the course of their divorce proceedings.
This was in part because Crystal Harris was the family breadwinner, working as a financial advisor and making approximately $120,000 per year, while Shawn Harris stayed at home with the children. Shawn Harris had been working as a used car salesperson before the birth of his and his wife’s sons.
According to Crystal Harris, “the computer came up with a number of $3,000 a month that I should pay Shawn, but the judge did cut it down to $1,000 a month.” That is why I refer to it as the rape discount; he believed he was doing me a tremendous favor when he did it.
However, Pollack did not see it that way, and he stated in court, “It’s a long-term marriage. He’s a stay-at-home parent… how can you say there should be no assistance without being sexist?” He even claimed that Shawn Harris should get more money because he was unhirable.
“He’s out on bail facing rape allegations, and I’m not convinced that any car salesperson would hire someone like that,” Pollack said in court, referring to the defendant. “I’m not sure that any car salesman would recruit someone like that.” Crystal Harris stated that it is not a matter of how much money anybody makes; rather, it is a matter of whether or not they have been a victim of crime.
The request for an interview from “Nightline” was turned down by Pollack. According to a statement that was provided to “Nightline,” a spokeswoman explained that “any sitting judge cannot discuss the contents of the procedures in an open case.”
During the proceedings in the criminal court, Shawn Harris claimed that the intercourse was consensual. He stated that both he and Crystal yelled and screamed to get “our adrenaline rushing during sex.” However, the audio tape was used as evidence to convict him of forcing oral sex against Crystal.
The other two accusations against him, which were spousal rape by force and sodomy, also ended in hung juries, and the district attorney chose not to retry the case because of this decision. It’s possible that Shawn Harris will be let out of Donovan State Prison in 2014.
Crystal Harris has stated that, in her opinion, the tape recording was an essential factor in obtaining a conviction. Crystal Harris stated that if there hadn’t been a recording of the conversation on tape, they wouldn’t have been able to press charges. “And if it had happened, I most likely wouldn’t be alive today.”
In contrast, the judge ruled previously in family court, prior to the commencement of the criminal trial, that Harris was still responsible for paying some of her husband’s legal bills incurred during the divorce process. In order to reach a settlement, she consented to pay $47,000 toward Shawn’s legal fees.
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