Murder With My Husband - 13. Lorena and John Bobbitt - The Snippy Story
Episode Date: June 8, 2020This week's episode is the infamous story of John and Lorena Bobbitt. After years of abuse and torment, Lorena snaps on her husband causing him what most men would consider the worst physical pain the...y could endure. Although not much criminal justice is seen in this case, it gave a huge push forward to women's sexual violence rights. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/arts/television/lorena-bobbitt-documentary-jordan-peele.html Amazon 4 part series called Lorena https://www.thehotline.org Follow us on our social media: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband If you or anyone you know is affected by abuse and need support, call the Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS to 1-866-331-9474. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
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Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. My name is
Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And the husband. Another
day, another podcast, some of it. Another day, another podcast. So we are super excited
to tell you guys that we are doing our first giveaway ever with murder with my husband. Father's
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Okay, so let's jump right into the story.
I'm gonna tell you where I got my information from.
Okay.
www.New York Times.com.
There is also an Amazon four-part series
called Lorraine about this case and it is amazing is where I got majority of my information from
Like I said, it's four parts
kind of long but really good and then I also got from www.thehotline.org
So let's jump right into it.
Peyton was really really excited about this one. So I am I did a lot of research
I really wanted this one to be a good one for you guys. We've been pretty busy. We know that last week was
You know wasn't the best it was a little bit of a struggle for us
I'm not gonna lie, but we had a really busy week. So I just wanted this one to be awesome
So you ready I think so in
1989
Battery and women and domestic violence against women was not looked into or taken
seriously.
There were more laws against animal cruelty versus domestic violence at this time, meaning
that animals actually had more rights when violence was done to them than women had more
rights when violence was done to them at this time.
Keep in mind animal cruelty is still bad and please stop doing it.
I don't like that but I'm just giving you some reference.
In 1991, Clarence Thomas gets nominated for the US Supreme Court
and his former woman assistant Anita F. Hill came forward against him for sexual harassment.
The Senate comes to his defense, the accusations are brushed aside,
and he gets elected anyways. Anita is brutalized in the media, and women were shown that this is what
happens if you come forward. In a he said she said the man is granted authority and credibility
over the woman. Then the Kennedy rape case is dismissed, and once again, the women are devalued by the man and
by the system.
In 1992, charges against the Naval Academy are dismissed one by one.
So there was like this huge case, again, in the Naval Academy of Sexual Abuse, and one
by one, they're just brushed aside.
In 1993, over 2,000 women were killed by their partners.
This was the situation going on in America
for women's sexual rights and domestic violence.
On June 23, 1993, at around 5 a.m.,
the Manassas Virginia Police Department
gets a call from the hospital.
The doctors claim that they need to dispatch officers
over there immediately.
A man named John Bobbitt has been rushed in.
His penis cut off pretty cleanly.
Whoa, what do you mean cleanly?
Like straight line.
Just cut right off.
Whoa.
It had been cut off with a kitchen knife by his wife while he slept.
That had to have been a sharp knife because our knives can barely cut our vegetables.
I'm just going to say I saw the picture of the knife and it didn't look that sharp,
but I also saw the picture of the penis and it was a clean cut.
You saw the picture of the penis.
Oh my gosh.
You are saying, okay. So confused and shocked, obviously, the police dispatch over to the hospital and accurately do find John in a lot of pain.
In fact, without his penis, just the balls. Oh my gosh. The police department immediately dispatched CSI to John's apartment
where him and his wife, Lorraine, I lived and where the incident had taken place. Rumors
had spread that Lorraine had actually swallowed his penis after severing it. But nonetheless
authorities were hoping to maybe find the missing appendage anyways and hopefully reattach it.
That makes me hurt.
That literally makes me hurt.
So upon arrival in the early hours of June 23rd,
CSI noticed a blood trail from the parking lot
up to the barbed-sapartment.
They enter the residence and they find blood scattered
throughout the house,
discovering that the bedroom was in fact
where the crime had occurred.
There was a pool of blood, surprisingly about an inch deep in the shape of buttocks on
the mattress.
It's immediately apparent that John had actually sat there after she had done the deed.
Before he stumbled out to his friend who happened to be staying with them like in the apartment
So he stumbled out and said yeah, you know, and can you take me to hospital? Oh my I can't even think shit right now because that just makes me hurt so bad
That is crazy
So this is how he found his way to the hospital from his friend and he was
Okay, according to him no, but according to
everyone else, he was severely intoxicated that night, which actually served him quite
well as the pain of the wound didn't actually reach him very fast, which is why he sat
in the bed for a while. So the CSI unable to discover or find the penis in the bedroom,
search the rest of the apartment.
They enter the kitchen and search for the knife that had been used in the endeavor
and with no luck in either the murder weapon or the missing body part,
but they do discover pamphlets in the kitchen about rape and spousal protection against it.
So they're kind of like weird.
What the heck? Yeah. It was at this point, though, that the CSI's then get a call from the authorities. and spousal protection against it. So they're kind of like. Oh, weird.
What the heck?
It was at this point, though, that the CSI's then
get a call from the authorities, and they claimed
that they had received a 911 call from John's wife,
Lorraine, and that she had confessed to them
where she was, where the penis was,
and what had actually happened.
So with what?
Can you reattach a penis?
Like is that a thing?
You'll find out.
Okay.
That's good to know.
Yeah.
So, you know, just in case I ever go crazy.
Yeah, exactly.
So with everything going on,
the cops decide that the missing penis was the top priority,
not like arresting Lorraine,
yet they just knew that they had to get this penis
and they had to get it back to the hospital
because they didn't know how much time they had
until reattachment wasn't possible anymore.
So Lorraine tells the cops that after rushing
out of the apartment, she did, in fact,
have the penis in her hand and she got into her car
and she started to head to the Nelsalon where she worked, but
it's like the middle of the night, remember.
And on the way, she found that driving with the body part in her hand was somewhat difficult.
And she was already in like a weird state of mind.
And so she just, while she was driving, she just rolled the driver's side window down,
stuck her arm out and just tossed the penis over the top of the car and into a field.
That's so valuable.
How would you do that?
Oh my gosh, I know.
I can't.
I can't.
All I can see is just her just like flicking a little peep up over.
This is, this is, this is like a comedy show.
I know.
I know.
I know.
Um, if we're saying the word penis too much and that bothers you, I'm sorry.
No, this story every time I say the word
penis take a shot if you're a drinker
So they immediately the cops head to the area where she claimed she had tossed it
It was just a general area because she didn't it was dark. She wasn't really paying attention
And at the same time as this the CSI team now race against time to get to the garbage can
where Lorraine claims she had thrown the knife that she used in the incident.
It was in a trash can outside of her Nelsalon workplace.
When she had arrived to the Nelsalon, she found that it was locked because it's the middle
of the night.
And so she just threw the knife into the trash can and left.
But it happened to be trash day that next morning and sanitation workers were on their way to pick up the trash can and left. But it happened to be trash day that next morning
and sanitation workers were on their way to pick up the trash. So it was literally a race
between them and the CSI team to go get that knife first. So keep in mind like she walks
out of the house after doing this with the kitchen knife in one hand and the penis in the other. Yeah. So meanwhile in the penis
filled, a firefighter stumbles upon the severed body part like he comes upon it in the
field. And he reveals to the search team, everyone knife, I found it, but no one would pick
it up. They were like, I'm not picking it up. Oh yeah, I can imagine.
So everyone waits for the rescue team to get there
because they have like equipment,
you know, they have gloves, they have things to pick this up.
And then once the treasure was secured, I guess,
it was rushed to the nearby 7-11
that just happened to be on the corner of the penis field.
And the penis was placed into a hot dog tray
filled with ice from the 7-11.
Inside a hot dog bun?
Yeah, like why couldn't they have just used
like a square hamburger one or like a cup or a bag
or literally anything that people don't eat a weenie out of?
They just needed to use a hot dog.
They had to use it.
So at this point, the secured penis was on ice and was rushed to the hospital where John and doctors waited to see if
Reattachment was possible.
Upon arrival, the appendage was sterilized and John went into what would become a nine hour long surgery to reattach his property.
Oh, man.
During the time of the penis surgery,
to reattach his property. Oh man.
During the time of the penis surgery,
Lorraine, the suspect and the wife,
was taken to the same hospital opposite side to do a rape kit.
So her husband's getting the penis that she cut off reattached
and she's on the other side of the hospital
getting a rape kit done.
It wasn't until the penis had been found
that the cops had actually started to somewhat uncover
the rest of the story.
Lorraine had told them that John was very, very abusive through their marriage.
He would rape her, control her, and physically, emotionally, and mentally abuse her.
She was his property, and he reminded her of that every single day.
I'm going to tell you now, she is a immigrant. She's a Latina woman. She's like 90 pounds.
She's tiny,ina woman. She's like 90 pounds.
She's tiny, beautiful, beautiful girl.
But he held this against her.
She immigrated over.
He was her first love.
I see.
Yep, I know your son.
She has a green card because of him.
So he reminded her.
You're the reason I'm here.
Yes.
And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, okay.
So that night she claims that John had come home drunk and raped her.
In afterwards he fell asleep and so she went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and
then she saw the kitchen knife sitting in the kitchen and she said something inside of
her just snapped after the years of abuse and she doesn't really remember what happened
next.
Wow.
It was as fast as the next morning that journalists had caught wind of this investigation and the
story spread like wildfire as you would expect.
It was the first time that the word penis was printed in the New York Times.
Whoa, so everyone everyone's saying penis, not just us.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, how are you supposed to say?
We can sit around and go.
Yeah, the male private part.
The headlines read, wife cuts off husband's penis.
And absolutely everyone who reads that is gonna,
actually, everyone who sees that is gonna read it.
That's a great clickbait.
Yes.
So from the beginning of this case,
and the coverage of this, rape was mentioned.
It was, the headline was, you know,
cuts off penis and wife accuses husband of rape,
cuts off his penis.
So celebrities, TV shows, media was instantly making jokes
about this situation.
Dark humor from how it was reattached to what she did
with it during to why to, it was just literally a comedic story
from the beginning. It was not serious coverage. It was like, I mean, you're reaction to
the story, right? Well, it's kind of like a joke because he's alive and she just cut his
penis off. And they reattached it. Yeah, it's like a book. Yeah. And so late night shows,
Steve Harvey, Oprah, etc. are like talking about this story.
Everyone was cracking jokes.
I'll come, I've never heard of this before.
Because you don't.
I asked my parents all I had to say was his name.
I mean, and this is it.
I have never heard of this.
I mean, this was a while ago, but I'm not that long ago.
And I just said his name and they were like, oh, yeah, we know that story.
Oh, that's so funny.
So, you know, everyone's focusing on this woman
who cut off her husband's dinging,
but no one was focusing on the reason why.
At this point in time,
Marital rape was barely even acknowledged,
let alone pressed.
Like when it was, oh, he raped her,
people were like, that's their married.
Yeah.
You know, so Lorrainea immediately hires an attorney
and a media rep, usually victims of sexual assault
do not get their names published in media.
And this case would mean that neither John nor Lorrainea's name
would be published because they both had filed his victims.
John is pressing charges against her for cutting off his weenie
and she's pressing charges against him for marital rape.
So when Lorraine hired the media rep though, journalists caught wind of it and then they
were like, oh, that's it.
She hired media reputations.
So now we have the okay to publish her name.
So soon widespread who had done it, what their names were, everything about them.
So Lorraine lawyer decides to get in front of it while he can using the widespread attention. He sets up an interview with Vanity Fair
before the trial
Against him has even begun
Keep in mind this was before the internet nobody, you know
Except those who already knew John and Lorraine had known what they looked like so this interview was gonna put a face behind the most popular
story in America at the time.
And John and Lorraine were attractive.
He was attractive and she was beautiful.
Oh, you're gonna have to show me a picture after this.
So she's not in jail obviously.
No, they're just both arrested.
Okay.
Just taking it in the custody.
Yes.
Got it.
Vanity Fair was about to add to this story
in a crazy way by releasing her
side of the story, her beautiful pictures. I mean her pictures and Vanity
Fair were Anna swimming suit. Wow. Yeah. Like she's more illustrated. Yeah. Okay.
So at the first hearing for domestic relations against Lorena, the authorities
read aloud the statement that she had first given them the morning of the incident
So right after it happens, they interview her and this is what she says
A damning segment of this interview was when she was talking about why she had done it. They say why do you do it?
She claims that the abuse you know, and that he had raped her and all that and then she says
Because he have orgasm and not wait for me, he never let me orgasm.
Those were her exact words.
Yes. And keep in mind, she, there's some speech. I mean, she's an immigrant.
There's a barrier. Yeah. But and I think that does have a big part to do with this.
I mean, she'd just done this not making excuses for her actions, but she had just done
this. She was in a very weird state of mind and the cops were just
Why why why and after she talked about the rape and after she had talked about the abuse
She then says this statement which which doesn't look good for her. No, no, no, no
frustration is not a reason
A sexual frustration and everyone's mind is way different than rape, right?
So this was hard In the sense that John was claiming
that she had done this because he had told her
he wanted to divorce that night and wouldn't have sex with her.
And that's why he says that she did this.
And then she went into that.
Okay, I don't know.
So she's no, he made me needed, but then she says that.
So it doesn't.
Yeah.
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So Lorraine as attorney said the statement came from you know the language and the cultural
barrier as well as woman who was in shock and despair and she had no attorney present
during it, you know, is the first interview. And so that's what they, you know, chalk it
up to be. John was a rain the next day for a marital sexual abuse.
And he claims that he didn't do any of it.
I never beat her.
I never abused her mentally physically or emotionally.
I never raped her.
I just wanted a divorce.
The test on the rena that night came back positive
for sexual intercourse.
But John claims they never had sex that night.
So her rape kit says she had sex that night. But John is saying we didn't had sex that night. So her rape kit says she had sex that night,
but John is saying we didn't have sex that night.
Okay.
So police had been called four times previous
to this incident to their home.
Three of the times they were called by John.
The fourth was by Lorraine's mom,
who claimed to the police that Lorraine had been the cause
of the whole fight.
And Lorraine was also the breadwinner of the couple.
John was independent on her. She made more money than him.
And because of all this, the prosecutors believe that John's innocent.
Yeah, it sounds, I mean, what you're telling me, because I don't know anything about the story,
but it sounds like she's the cause of everything.
It sounds like she was going crazy. Obviously, we're not done with this story,
but that's what it's all looking like. Yeah. So John goes on trial before Lorena. And it
becomes internationally covered. People came from all over to witness the penis trial. Like you
said, I'm sure people were just cracking up. Yeah. Just a big comedy. You should see the inner you
should see the news clips like a joke. just dying over this. This is the biggest
trial in America of a wife who did this and at this time it's a wife who did this because
her husband wouldn't let her orgasm. As she says. Yeah. So that I mean that didn't help in the media.
Yeah. Like there were jokes about women who were're like, well, maybe man, she gets their crap together. Why, you know, you know, you know, you know, and men who
were like, you know, it was bad. So, you know, locals actually started making merchandise
and selling it outside the courthouse, like boxers that say, like, cut it, you know, or shirts
that are like, don't cut it too short, you know, stuff like that.
And, you know, they just played on the situation
of the whole thing.
It was like everyone outside the courtroom
was wearing this like, he missed merchandise.
And CNN, ABC, all the major news stations
were following this case at the courthouse,
covering it, you know, the case of the bobbits, you know.
And so at his trial, John was able to tell his brutal side of the story from that
night. He claims that he went out to a couple of clubs, wasn't intoxicated.
As she had made it seem and came home, he says that Lorraine attacked him because
she was sexually unsatisfied. Then Lorraine gets up and tells her side of the
events of the hearing as well. She claims that John had pinned her down that night,
tore her clothes off.
She had asked him why he kept doing this.
But the judge in John's case ruled that the only events that were allowed to be mentioned
at the trial were five days previous or after the incident.
So she couldn't talk about the abuse.
Do you know if there's a reason behind that?
No, I don't know.
I mean, there's always admissible.
It kind of, it screws over cases sometimes.
Yeah, it seems strange, because why would the judge share a lot?
Because she couldn't get up and go claim to her state of mind
of the past years of abuse.
Exactly.
So it just kind of seems like where the judge would only do five days.
Yeah.
So that was hard.
Lorraine explains that even in those five days,
he had raped her before this.
He had told her that forced sex excites him,
and if she tried to leave, he would find her
and make her still have sex with him.
And doctors who, at this trial,
who examined Lorraine, attestify that they don't think she was raped.
That her panties were cut with scissors and not torn,
and that she had no outward appearance of rape,
including her mental state after,
which like she just cut off her husband's penis.
So how do you testify to someone's mental state
at the time on a completely different matter?
Yeah, that's true.
Afterwards, she wasn't acting like she got raped.
Well, she just cut off his penis.
Like, I don't know what you were wanting her to act like. Um, John changes his story at trial, claiming, okay, okay, okay, we did
have sex that night, but I was asleep during it basically, because I was so tired. I wasn't
drunk, but I was so tired that I was basically asleep. Okay. Well, that's a lie because you
cannot sleep during sex. Thank you, mate. You're welcome.
John was not charged for the crime.
So he gets off.
Not for, he doesn't get marital rape sexual abuse.
I never understood how people in court can change their stories.
Yeah, the judge and the jury looks at it like,
you know what?
Yeah, they just, I don't know, they change their mind.
That's something that's always kind of bugged me.
Courts are a weird thing.
If you change your story in court, something's wrong.
Yeah.
Like, something's wrong.
Yeah.
Huh.
So, feminists, women's organizations come out, protests
and immediately start happening.
This woman's battered, she's abused.
Yeah.
And you just let them off.
So, to prove, Marital rape at this point in time in America,
there had to be two qualifiers.
One was you had to be separated at the time.
So you couldn't be married and have Marital rape.
You had to be living in different houses and then he came over and raped me.
And then two, you had to leave significant damage.
You had to make her bleed.
You had to bruiser. You had to leave physical damning evidence.
That makes no sense.
Not emotional, you know, physical.
So basically, it was impossible to prove marital rape.
Marital rape happens in marriages, they're not separated.
And they don't always leave damage.
Wifes don't always fight back to their husbands.
And so this was in a state that basically,
these were the cases in a state that accepted rape
was even possible in marriage.
Most states at this time didn't even accept it.
You couldn't come to court saying my husband raped me.
It didn't stand.
It was impossible.
If you were married, it was consensual, no matter what.
Only few states had these, okay,
fine, you can get raped during marriage, but you have to have
these two things. Yeah. So in the case, the jury had actually
come back pretty quickly with a verdict, but upon being
interviewed years later, saying, you know, when we were
trying him, they actually changed their mind. They think that
after being shown photos of the crime scene, the knife that cut off penis, and it's pretty graphic. They kind of lost track of what they were
really there for. It wasn't about, did this guy rape her? It was about, did this woman cut off
her husband's penis. Which, I mean, I guess it makes sense, right? Because you're looking at these
pictures and you're like, oh my gosh.
It felt like they were convicting her.
Yeah.
Well, it'd be hard to look at a crime scene that's so violent.
Yeah.
And then try her side.
Convict him, right?
Exactly.
Yeah.
You're convicting the victim of these pictures.
Psychologically, you're brain.
Yeah.
And they say that now.
They're like, yeah, I don't think we knew kind of we didn't.
How do you wrap your mind around? Yeah, yeah, so
After the first child, John's child John went to live on a ranch
He refrained from interviews, but he made sure that people knew he was riding horses
because that would
hurt after you just had reattachments or Dree
And he was still playing into the joke.
And so he had journalists come take pictures
of him riding horses and publish them.
What?
So he also gets a new girlfriend while he's out there.
And between the trials, the jokes,
and the comedy value of this only get worse
as John started to laugh and chime in on these jokes as well.
In his interviews, he would joke about it.
He would talk about it.
David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, every late night show
was talking and joking about this.
This guy was like a celebrity.
Yeah, oh yeah, 100%.
Howard Stern had his annual New Year's pageant
that he used to use to raise money.
And in this year, he raised it for John
and his reattachment surgery because it cost a lot of money.
They ended up raising $190,000 for him on TV that night.
And it all went to him.
It all went to him.
He was an instant celebrity profiting off this case.
Oh, maybe you should cut my penis off.
But it was disgusting.
The Howard Stern show, they made him get naked basically and like strip and like talk about
his penis and like,
how crazy his wife was, and she was just getting the bad and the stick, and he was the celebrity.
Yeah, that kind of sucks for her, because she's claiming and saying that he raped her, and
she's just getting, like, it's joke.
Yeah.
Okay, keep up.
He started selling his own merchandise about his PP, and he goes on tour, talking about his PP and he goes on tour talking about his PP.
Like literally he's just famous for his penis.
I don't know.
He starts joining in on the comedy skits late night shows about his incident that was
literally still going to go to trial soon.
Like it hadn't even gone to trial yet and there was already this much media coverage about
it.
I bet part of him wanted to just drop everything
because he probably didn't care about opening his thing,
because he got his penis back.
So he probably was just, no.
He says this was his time to make it.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So Lorraine's trial was gonna be aired on TV in January.
And the same person who was prosecuting John's trial was also
gonna prosecute Lorraine. So he did the John trial and tried to prosecute him and felt and now
he's gonna do Lorraine's trial and try to prosecute her. So he literally did both sides of the story,
which is kind of crazy. That rarely happens. So she was going to plead not guilty
and claim temporary insanity,
even after getting offered only four months
if she pled guilty.
She was looking at 20 years if she gets sentenced,
but Lorraine has said no.
I'm not gonna take four months.
I'm gonna risk the 20 years because I'm not guilty
and I'm gonna go through with this trial.
That would be hard.
So on day one of her trial,
there were so many cameras and people there to witness
and even more local selling merchandise.
This was even bigger than John's trial.
It was this on steroids.
Japan sent over people to cover the story
like hundreds of news trucks outside of the courtroom.
Just I guess there's nothing else really going on
at this time, so this was it. Lorraine's team opening statements ended with a life is more valuable than a penis.
I cannot believe I have not heard of this before.
I know. I live under a rock. That's crazy.
No. So women around started speaking up for Lorraine.
Wobby Goldberg takes her side. There's a whole thing on it.
You know, those who are proud of her for standing up against her rapist, there's a pretty
big shift for self-defense and women's right.
At this time, it kind of pushed it pretty good.
At the trial, Lorraine and her team showed many instances of past abuse, some even validated
with eyewitnesses, neighbors, co-workers.
Neighbors said they could hear John yelling at her all the time and acting
controlling.
Co-workers claim that she would come to work with rug burns all over her legs,
bruises, goose sags on her head.
People claim that he shoved her around in front of them like at parties.
He would push her up against the wall, call her degrading names, call her like a
stupid Latina.
Oh my gosh.
So when she finally has her chance in court to talk about the
past abuse eyewitness after eyewitness comes in against him. Really? Yes. Good.
Um, even though the past police calls were made primarily by John, he was actually arrested at one
of them for battery because she had bruises, she had a fat lip. It was all. How was this not brought
up before? I because they the judge made it inadmissible.
That's so frustrating.
So it comes out in the trial that one of her neighbors
had actually given her the pamphlets
about the rape and the marital abuse.
So she was telling people, I'm in trouble
and they could see it.
And so one of her neighbors gave those to her.
They even brought in some of John's basketball friends
and all of his friends
testified against him talking about how he talked about forced sex and that he liked it and he
liked to make girls scream for help and he liked hurting them during sex and etc. Oh that's horrible.
It was basically a floodgate of witnesses providing evidence that they had seen the abuse on Lorraine by John. When Lorraine was testifying, so she finally gets up.
It's so obvious that she's reliving the trauma.
It was really hard for me to watch because it was aired.
So they have the footage and she's shaking and she's trembling.
And she can't really speak English that well.
And so she's trying to talk and she's a hurt woman.
Like you can tell she is not okay talk and she's a hurt woman.
Like you can tell she is not okay.
And he's fine.
He's going off with Howard Stern and partying and a celebrity.
And so, Lorraine admits on trial that she had become pregnant at one point during their
marriage, but John had made her get an abortion, even though she didn't want to.
He had told her that if she didn't, he wouldn't stick around and he wouldn't help raise the
baby. She claims that John would tell her, you know, she was ugly and an ugly
Hispanic and she didn't deserve him. He would threaten to take away her immigration
paperwork, claiming that he would deport her if she decided to leave him. When John gets
up on stand at this trial, he admits to pushing and shoving, but never hitting or forcing
sex. Oh, I shoved her.
I pushed her in front of those people.
They're right, but I never hit her.
And I never raped her.
This keeps changing a story.
The defense provides a document that he had actually
had to sign during his time in the military.
And on the document, he admits that he's hit his wife before.
Like, one of the questions was like,
Spouse will be used and he says, yes.
Whoa, I'm so proud.
Why would you, I don't know.
I would you put yes, even if you did it,
not saying that's okay, I'm just.
Yeah.
When they asked John, you know,
what about all these eyewitnesses?
What about this point?
What about your basketball friends?
What about this?
He forgets or doesn't remember a lot of the instances
that the eyewitnesses had brought up.
Around this point in the trial,
with this story headlining on every news station,
another story that was in my opinion
equally as heartbreaking and strange broke headlines,
which sort of clouded the obsession with the bobbets
for a minute.
The story that was breaking news
was that Olympic skater,
Tanya Harding, had cheated by paying someone
to break the legs of her fiercest competition Nancy Carrigan.
Oh, okay. I know this.
So this news obviously doles the interest they're now splitting the limelight.
But only for a second. Honestly, this was a great time for tabloids in TV. Nancy Carrigan
on film right after, you know, screaming out in pain. They just had all the juiciest stories.
These two both were living, there was pictures, you know,
there was, you know, it was just a good time for TV.
Wow.
And I think this time in television proves my theory
that despite the ugliness and sadness
that comes along with true crime,
from the beginning of time,
majority of people have just been obsessed with it
and we can't seem to look away.
No one, you know, CNN was actually receiving complaints about their coverage on the actual presidential news at the time.
Viewers upset that they weren't covering Tanya and the Bobbitt case. Why are you talking about the news?
Why are you talking about politics? Why are you talking about president? Talk about Tanya. Talk about the penis
Like they were getting complaints sent in stop covering up these things. That's so interesting. So back at trial
Hispanics from all around surrounding states made their way to the trial to protest and show their support outside of the courthouse for Lorraine
They stood in the freezing cold weather that January and they they stood with her when she would walk out. They would cheer for her.
Good.
Lorraine attestifies a trial that during their marriage, she had actually tried and she
bought a tape recorder so she could show the divorce lawyer because she wanted to leave
him.
How he treated her, she wanted to have proof of the abuse so that they wouldn't deport
her basically.
Smart lady.
And John found it before, and then he hit her.
He raped her.
He punished her for it.
Lorraine had moved some of her stuff out
to her neighbor's house telling the neighbor
that she was leaving him.
And she just wanted it to be a fast move.
So can I start sneaking things to your house?
A couple days before the incident, a brand new client
from the Nell Sal salon who didn't know
Lorrainea came in to get her Nell's done.
She noticed that when Lorrainea, you know, pulled her sleeves up to start working on the
hands, she had handprint bruises on her forearms.
And so the client, you know, asks her about it and she starts shaking, falling, the manicures
bad.
Lorraine is just silently crying through the whole thing.
How is this guy just not convicted already?
There's so much evidence against him.
When the client asked her, you know, what's wrong?
She claims that her husband's hurting her.
The client told her to leave.
Lorraine had to answer the client said she would bring her home
with him or her home with her.
She needs her too.
And she says, no, her husband would kill both of them
if she left.
So she tried.
She tried.
She told people she, she knew she needed help a day before the incident.
Lorraine went in to get a restraining order against him.
And she was denied.
She was told to come back a couple days later when there was someone there who could help
her.
So she the day before it's so messed her. So she, the day before, she broke.
She broke.
That's so messed up.
The night of the incident, John and his friend, who was staying with them, arrived home
from the bar at 3am.
John claims to this day that he only had a little bit to drink and neither of them were
drunk because they went drive drunk, but his friend literally testified at the trial that
they were drunk and that they drove home drunk.
So I don't, I don't know.
Yeah.
Lorraine woke up when they came home and John went and got in bed with her.
John claims that he, you know, touched her, rolled on top of her and then fell asleep.
He doesn't remember if they had sex or not stating if I did, I was asleep during it.
But he's not drunk. Remember?
Yeah. He's perfectly fine.
Lorraine claims that John came in,
pulled her underwear off and got on top of her raped her.
She claims that, you know, she said,
I don't want to have sex with you,
but he pinned her down anyways.
He covered her mouth.
So his friend wouldn't hear her struggling
while testifying this part.
Lorraine is not okay.
Like they're making her relive it
and she is the saddest I've ever seen a testimony.
She tells the attorney interviewing her that you probably just, you don't understand
because you're a man, but it hurts when you're raped.
Like it hurts and I was hurting physically.
Yeah, and she goes, it feels like I was getting ripped open and she says, John doesn't understand
either how bad it hurt because he just doesn't care about my feelings.
Like she's just exploding yeah on the stand
She says afterwards that she went into the kitchen to try to calm down because she was super worked up
She was sobbing and she got a glass of water
And she opened the fridge and all the lights were off and the fridge illuminated and the knife was sitting right there
Yeah, that was a sign and so she says that
Everything bad from their marriage just ran through her
head and took took over her and she just claims I don't remember what happened after that.
I was just enraged. And so she just remembers driving in her car unsure of who she even was.
What was going on how she felt. And then she comes to and she noticed that she has a knife
in one hand with her hand on the steering wheel and a penis in the other hand on the steering wheel.
And so she instantly gets scared rolls the window down and throws the penis out of the
window.
Because she's like what, like she knows, but she's in a break, like she's meant to
broke.
No, it's true.
I mean, I've heard of stories where people do things and they're like, I just, I don't
remember.
I don't remember doing them.
Yeah.
She subconsciously drives to her workplace because that's the only other place she knows.
She tries to go in, can't get in, she tries to understand what happens, what had happened,
and what she had done, and so she knows, I think she'd put two together, and so she throws the knife away in the trash can. She's like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, okay. So it's not like she was, she just,
like didn't really comprehend what was going on.
So at the trial, the doctors that they bring in this time
claim that Lorraine was suffering from PTSD
at the time of the incident.
She went into a panic.
They testify that she did not have control
over her impulses, acting and severe distress.
She legitimately went psychotic. which is why she claimed insanity.
Correct.
Yes, yes, temporary insanity.
And she attacked the thing that tortured her.
Like she went in there and literally went, he's told me that I can't leave that he will
continue raping me.
And there there was a lot more details to all of this and what he would do and stuff.
So if you're interested in that, you can do it.
I'm just going to go into that graphic and stuff.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
The way the reason why the rape was hurting her basically.
So this whole thing is called an irresistible impulse of insanity.
She literally couldn't stop the insanity from coming on after years of abuse.
The PTSD, like they literally say a person just breaks. Wow. He literally couldn't stop the insanity from coming on after years of abuse, the PTSD.
Like they literally say a person just breaks.
Wow.
So the defense brings in doctors who claim, ah no, she was just angry.
No psychosis was going on.
Okay.
Those doctors should be fired and she never be doctors again.
So that's so messed up.
Literally, a pivotal point of this case for the jurors was when one of the
states key witnesses that came in and said, oh, she was just angry after watching her testify,
gets back up and says after watching this and hearing wherever it's I to him in agreement with
the defense's doctors, she had PTSD. He changes his opinion. He was on John side. And in the middle
of case goes, nope, never mind. This is a battered woman. She literally broke. She is not responsible for her actions
at this time.
He probably couldn't take it anymore.
No. So during the trial, there were many people that were not on the reign of side because
John was a celebrity at this point. So television personalities arguing back and forth about
who to believe men stating that the rape accusations were false, John was just was good looking and he could get whoever
he wanted, he didn't need a rape her. The dialogue about the case was pretty
intense and pretty disgusting. I'm not gonna lie, I lost a lot of respect for a
lot of the celebrities I saw talking about this case. Just and I know like I said
at this time, Marital rape was not acknowledged. Sexual violence was not acknowledged either.
We're still working on it.
Some of the thing these people said, she's a nugly, Hispanic woman.
Why would he need a rape her?
Yeah, I think something that really bothers me because I've heard it in other rape cases.
And so forth is when people say, well, they're super good looking.
They don't need a rape.
Anyone that is said so many times and I just, it's not about that.
He doesn't just want sex.
He wants violent sex.
Exactly.
It's not about that.
You don't understand.
I'm not a doctor, but I don't know how people do understand that.
I know.
The jury on the case of Lorraine a Bob at versus John Bob at found Lorraine
a not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.
Good.
Okay. Because of this by law, though, she was immediately taken to the psychiatric hospital Bobbitt found Lorraine a not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Good.
Because of this by law, though, she was immediately taken to the psychiatric hospital for an evaluation
of how long she would be in custody for mental help, but she needed help.
Keep in mind, this woman broke.
I mean, she has PTSD to an extent.
Yes.
So some jurors think that she might actually not have been completely insane at the moment,
but they voted not guilty
because John got what he deserved, so they weren't going to punish her for it.
Good.
So even though some of the jurors were like, we don't actually believe she was temporarily
insane, we just think that he was a bad man and he got what we deserve, so we're not
going to send her to jail for it.
The public was pretty 50-50 on the verdict after the media coverage on this case because keep in mind everyone's first opinion of this case was
She didn't have an orgasm so she cut
His thing off. I know that's that is the hard thing is that first line and it was it was the first trial
And it was the first thing they read it was at the first hearing and so
The media ran with it. It's like no matter what is said and what is done,
your mind always goes back to,
but why did she say this?
So I think it was confusing for her
because she was a virgin before she met him.
And so in her mind it was like this is sex.
Like this is sex.
So in her mind it was like, well, why, you know,
why, why, why?
And she was saying he's abusive.
And also he always orgasms and he never lets me orgasm
Mm-hmm. Like she was trying to explain the rape. That was rape was he gets off and I don't yeah
And I think it just came off as like sexual frustration when in fact she was trying to explain. No, he rapes me
I he doesn't have time for me. It's just about him
So yeah, that's sad.
Some people think this case was feminist issues.
A lot of the men were like, no, she deserves to go.
You don't cut. I don't care what he did to you.
You don't cut that penis off. Like that's the, that's the line.
Wow. I mean, I disagree with that as well.
Me as well.
So the media coverage of this case really missed the point that
Lorena was a victim of domestic abuse, more on the penis. To be blunt,
John ultimately became even more of a celebrity because of this after the trial while Lorraine was
getting help from years of abuse in a hospital. John didn't receive any help for his issues and in
fact, profited off of the situation. He was invited on shows left
and right. He was asked to judge Lorraine look-alike contest that were going on
all around the country. He sold his underwear for money and people began to
celebrate his penis even more. It was around this point that John decided to join
the porn industry with his famous penis. Blasting to everyone that it was fully functioning
and doing just fine.
One of his videos, he has a partner whose name is Lorraine
and she basically portrays real life Lorraine.
Oh my gosh.
She's all innocent, the sex is violent.
That's horrible.
It's completely atrocious.
Yeah, that's so sad.
I hate this part of the story.
I hate this part of the story.
I hate this she suffered and healed while he profited off of his own abuse of his wife,
even mocking her while at it.
He beat his wife and is a celebrity for it.
So he tried her basically, right?
Yes.
So what about him, like for raping her?
It was that was the first trial. She tried him the first trial and he got off and you can't like do it again.
There's nothing you can do.
No. So then he tried her.
That was the second trial that was even bigger.
So he just, so then he just continued the profit off of it.
Like he said, for free, and nothing ever happened made porn famous went on tour.
Wow. Um, he signed.
Okay, this helps his porn film had its own screening in Hollywood.
Celebrities came, they walked the red carpet,
and then they all went in and watched John Rape Loraina
on his porn video.
I still can't get over that I have never heard
about this before.
I don't know.
This is crazy to me.
This whole thing is crazy.
This is the best part though.
He signed with a manager who eventually ended up
screwing him over taking all of the money that he made off of all of his porn, all of
his appearances, everything, and John filed for bankruptcy shortly after.
Well, that's that's karma. It's fine.
Yes. So John ends up moving to Vegas. He becomes a reverend. He performs marriages.
He goes in. He gets a penis extension, the
surgery goes wrong and he gets the new nickname Franken penis in the porn industry because
his penis was botched even more karma for this dude.
And not many years later, his life is falling apart, he's just working as a bartender, he
has no money, he's lost his celebrity, whatever.
And he's charged again with domestic violence against another woman. He sentenced to 60 days in
gel and he only serves 15 of those days. Because he died? No, no, because I don't know because that's
the justice. Oh, he only served 15 days and he got out. Yeah. Oh on his second domestic violence
That makes no sense in
1999 John receives probation after robbing a store in Nevada and
2003 he is sentenced to prison for breaking his parole shortly after he's arrested again on battery charges involving his new wife
He's arrested two more times for domestic violence again
with this wife, and then they eventually get divorced.
So, Lorraine worked on healing in the hospital,
and she was eventually released.
She kept a low profile.
She changed her name back to her maiden name of Gallo.
She founded Lorraine's Red Wagon Organization,
which helps prevent domestic violence
through family- oriented activities.
She has been in a long-term relationship with a man and they now have a daughter.
Oh, that's so good.
Domestic violence is dangerous and is a major problem to this day.
Police report that domestic violence calls are their most common and dangerous calls they report to.
And I've even heard your dad say that as well.
The his domestic violence calls were the scariest calls he ever went to.
Yep.
When a partner hits the other partner and gets away with it, it makes it easier
to then punch the partner the next time and then choke the partner the next time
and then eventually kill them.
Just escalates from there.
Most domestic violence murders happen after the partner has already left.
Just in case you're one of those people who are like, why didn't you leave?
Most of the killings happen after the woman has tried to leave.
That's why they don't leave.
Yeah.
Some of the news clips from this trial and media coverage
is appalling.
We went over that.
It's gross how they talk about domestic violence
and sexual assault.
And this wasn't that long ago.
I know we've made steps, but this wasn't that long ago.
Did Lorraine a snap?
Did the past events and years of abuse
and torment register with her while he was asleep?
And she felt helpless and like this was her only way out.
In the pressure of all her feelings and helplessness,
did she react in the only way she thought would help?
I don't know.
What I do know is that John Bobbitt was a bad man.
So is he still around?
Is he still alive just yeah, so in the four part series on Amazon that I watch they interview both of them
I like um like today him today her today the neighbors today the witnesses. What's he up to what's going on?
He just got in like a bad accident. I guess he heard his neck or something. He's
He just got in like a bad accident. I guess he heard his neck or something. He's broke. He's basically his headbag karma ever since. Yes.
She's doing good. She works at a Nelsalon still. Okay.
She says that talking about it has made it easier. Yeah. Kind of getting it off her chest.
She hates the fact that it was that her abuse and years of torment were made such a joke.
Yeah. But she understands it because of what she did.
She says, I actually understand that it's
comical that I did what I did,
but I don't quite understand why I did what I did still
to this day.
And she's like, so sometimes that hurts.
But she goes, I, and she says,
she goes, I did cut it off.
Like, that's, I did.
I don't remember it, but I know I did it.
I had it. And she goes, so I did. I don't remember it, but I know I did it. I had it.
And she goes, so I'm not denying the fact that it was,
I just thought I saw a video of her on like,
I think it was like Dr. Phil or with Steve Harvey or something.
And he's like asking her, so what did you do with it?
Did you think about it?
And I'm just like, she's a victim.
Yeah.
And at the time, she's just going along with it
because she's in the public eye
And what she's gonna say and the crowd is laughing at her and so she kind of chuckles along, but you can tell she's uncomfortable
Well in her mind, I mean look she's getting raped like it's the serious thing. Yeah, it's 20
It's not a joke. It's hell. It was her personal hell. I'm in granted like you said. I mean it is comical right?
Well, and that's it. I mean and she says that which is why I'm granted, like you said, I mean, it is comical, right? Well, and that's the beginning.
And she says that, which is why I'm okay talking about it
because she says, it's comical what I did.
Like, the fact that I cut off his penis is extreme.
But she doesn't know what happened.
So I'm here standing with Lorraine in the domestic abuse
is horrible, but you know, sometimes a man just gets
what he deserves.
Yeah.
And if that's the weapon that was hurting her, then I'm sorry.
Like, can't blame her.
I'm going to be honest.
I mean, I'm not justifying any act of violence.
It's not okay.
And she did have to go to the hospital for it.
And she says the hospital was horrible.
She's like, it felt like I was in prison.
I was half into Hill.
I was half into talk about things I didn't want to talk about.
But it was just like we were talking about. We were at dinner with some of our friends
and he was talking about, well, why? Like, why do people do it? I mean, that was her...
There's your why. There's your why. Doctors came in and explained it for you. Yeah.
Years of abuse and all of her family living, not near her. She's the only one here. She
immigrated here by herself. Fell in love with this young Marine. Got married was
a virgin was the first guy she ever loved and her life was horrible after.
Yeah. So. Wow. That was a crazy one because it wasn't a murder. It was a little
different than what we normally do. You know, it was just a case. It was a little different than what we normally do, you know?
It was just a case.
I think I enjoyed it a bit more than some of the murder.
Because no one died.
Because no one died.
So here's the thing, I know this case is pretty popular.
And honestly, I've heard of this case, but I didn't know the name.
If you had said Bobbitt, I wouldn't have known.
And so you might know this, you might not.
But I wanted to tell you this story so bad
Because I feel like you would like this story, so that's why we covered it. I promise I'm not next week
We'll do a story and not everyone's heard I swear
Yeah, I was just really wanted you to hear that one. Yeah, no, that was that was a good one. That was crazy
If I just want to say real quick if you or anyone you know is affected by abuse,
domestic violence, sexual violence, and need support, call the domestic abuse hotline at 1-800-799-7233,
or text love is in all caps to 1-866-331-9474. Remember you're not alone.
9474. Remember you're not alone. Agreed. Agreed, agreed, agreed.
Remember our $100 giveaway to Dozzy ties.
It's a big deal. Leave a comment.
Leave a review. Go on our social media.
Follow us, talk. We get some comments.
We get discussions going about these cases.
So if you ever want to add a comment
or about your experience with the case,
or you know, I remember I was doing this
when I heard about this case, go on,
leave a comment, follow us,
it's murder with my husband.
All of the links to the case sources are in our episode notes
as well as all of the links to our social media.
And I'll also be linking all of the information
for the domestic abuse hotline as well if you need it.
And please keep sharing it with your friends, family,
anybody you know, it's super helpful. And like my wife said with your friends, family, and you, but you know it's super helpful and like my wife said
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