Victim Finds No Justice in System : Court Orders Have Failed to Deter Woman’s Accused Attacker

Tamra Wimler has been forced to place her trust in a San Diego judicial system that has repeatedly let her down.

“When you’ve gone through what I have,� she said, “it’s hard to ever feel safe again.�

Last summer, she was kidnaped at gunpoint and raped in an abandoned warehouse in Chula Vista. Charged in the attack is her ex-boyfriend, Jerry Gallo, who, she had repeatedly warned officials, was harassing her and threatening her life.

It was only when Gallo was placed in San Diego County Jail under $500,000 bail in the rape case that Wimler, 26, finally believed she was safe.

But now, her fragile sense of security has been shattered once again.

A Superior Court judge recently slashed the bail to $75,000 and gave Gallo the opportunity to post 10% and walk out. Charges of drug possession against him in a separate case were also recently dismissed.

Once Gallo was arrested, Wimler and her friends called the jail daily to make sure he was still in custody. But when the bail was reduced, she wrote letters to officials criticizing the judicial system. Officials then agreed to call her if he was released from from the jail--just a couple of blocks from the downtown bank where she works as an administrative assistant.

Court Orders Failed to Keep Him Away

She found herself wondering why she should trust the judicial system now, after two written court orders failed to keep Gallo away. She questioned whether she should trust the system after police were called to her home but found themselves powerless to stop the harassment. She asked herself why she should trust the system after a judge lowered Gallo’s bail and renewed her worst fears that he would be released.

All she can do is sit and wait and hope they’ll call.

“If he gets out and I get killed, the blood is on their hands,� she said.

Under the Sheriff’s Department policy, victims must check daily with jail officials to find out whether their alleged assailant (among the more than 3,300 inmates in the six county jail facilities) has been released. That often means a 20-minute phone call in which jail officials, overburdened by a mammoth jail population, slowly check records to determine an inmate’s status. Jail officials say they get hundreds of calls a day.

And unless the victims call, they will not be notified.

It was this part of the judicial system that perhaps most upset Wimler. She recently wrote the mayor, the chief of police, the county district attorney’s office and a rape crisis center, protesting the policy and demanding that the system be changed to accommodate victims and witnesses.

“I believe the very least I should have is the right to a phone call,� she wrote in her Nov. 16 letter. “After all, the criminal has the right to one in jail.�

Agreed to Tell Her

County officials did agree to notify her if Gallo is released. Not so for the vast majority of other crime victims.

San Diego police statistics show that 50% of all women who are raped know their attacker. Because their assailants know them, these women worry constantly that he will return.

“I work with violence like this every single day of my life,� said Laurie Mackenzie, coordinator of the rape crisis program at the Center for Women’s Studies and Services. “I’m really aware of how the crime of rape affects a woman from the moment it happens to the rest of her life. It’s an ongoing fear.

“So yes, I think the justice system has to protect people.�

‘Domestic Problem’

Mardy Ellison, vice president of WATCH (Women’s Alternatives Through Christian Help), said, “The jails are already too crowded, and they’re going to see her case as just a little old domestic problem.

“So what else is she supposed to do now? Live in terror? She can’t trust the system. The system continually lets victims down. Continually. And nobody cares.�

Officials at the jail and in the district attorney’s office said they are trying their best to keep victims and witnesses well-informed.

Sgt. Steve Annibali, victim assistance project coordinator for the Sheriff’s Department, said his office recently surveyed victims to learn ways they could improve the system. One of the key suggestions, he said, was having the jail notify victims whenever inmates are released.

Special Cases Flagged

Currently, he said, only cases with special circumstances, such as Wimler’s, are flagged for jail officials to notify victims. In every other case, the jail is not even provided with the names of victims and witnesses.

“It’s purely numbers,� Annibali said. “When we’re talking about staff trying to operate in a facility that’s way over capacity, and additionally trying to notify victims, you can see right away that’s a big task to take on.

“So we don’t as a matter of routine notify all victims of all releases. But we’re looking at ways to do that. We’re looking at ways to do it on a more routine basis. Hopefully, in this age of computers, we could get this information and provide it.�

Dee Fuller, director of the victim/witness program for the district attorney, said her staff generally contacts about 2,000 victims each month to assess their needs. About 800 victims a month require some form of assistance, ranging from emergency shelter, food and clothing to monetary compensation for other living expenses, she said. But her resources are tight.

“We operate on a $500,000-a-year budget,� she said. “Much of that goes to salaries, and we’re not that well-paid.�

She added that her office closely monitors assaults with a deadly weapon and child molestations and attempts to keep these particular victims and witnesses up to date on the status of their cases. This includes the Gallo case.

“We’re doing everything we can within the system to keep her informed,� Fuller said.

Daniel Lamborn, the deputy district attorney who is prosecuting Gallo, acknowledges that if the defendant is released, “there’s no guarantee violence won’t be done.�

Should Gallo be freed, Lamborn acknowledges, it would be Wimler’s responsibility to protect herself if she feels herself endangered.

“If she recognizes any danger at all--if she sees him, even--she is to be on that phone to us to say he’s come around again,� he said.

In the meantime, he added, “We can’t get a bodyguard. We’d like to, but the county doesn’t provide for it. We can, however, provide the best police protection we can. We can assist her in moving, help with the financing of the move.

“But as far as hiding her in deepest, darkest Mexico and providing her with Arnold Schwarzenegger for a bodyguard, that’s not something the county provides for.�

Gallo, 35, a former financial loan officer, has pleaded not guilty in the rape case. He could not be reached for comment in the jail.

Nicholas DePento, Gallo’s attorney, said he does “not care to comment� about the case and does not want his client to comment. But he did say he considers it “a terrible thing to say� that Gallo would endanger Wimler or anyone else if he were released. DePento also said the $75,000 bail is still too high and Gallo should be granted a supervised release.

Robert Schatz, who had represented Gallo earlier, told a judge in San Diego Municipal Court that he is Gallo’s uncle and was willing to supervise his nephew if he could be released and allowed to live with him in Orange County. Gallo has been a San Diego County resident for 12 years.

Schatz also told the judge that the facts alleged in the rape case are “mixed up.�

Actions Questioned

“If you take them to be true, Mr. Gallo was acting like a Superman doing things that are totally impossible for a man to do for a short period of time,� Schatz said.

But Wimler has no doubts as to what transpired.

Originally from Santa Barbara, Wimler said she met Gallo in 1985 while vacationing in Phoenix, Gallo’s hometown. They moved to San Diego, and lived together from December, 1985, until she left him last November. She said she formally ended their relationship in February.

But it didn’t end.

Continued to Call

She said he continued to call her and say he had changed. She said he wanted to give their relationship a second chance. When she kept refusing, she said, he became belligerent, to the point of once warning her that “now it’s war between us.�

She said the harassment continued. “It got serious. He called me every day at work. Then he started following me.�

On May 8, she asked a Superior Court judge for a temporary restraining order keeping him away from her. “I am afraid for my life,� she told the judge in her application for the court order.

She alleged a series of incidents--that he had threatened her, chased her on the freeway, told her and others that he was going to kill her.

Distress Cited

She wrote in her application that Gallo “has caused me great distress, loss of work, loss of appetite and sleep.

“I have sought advice from a counselor and have spent many hours exploring my legal rights. I have been afraid to come home and have not stayed home without a roommate present. My heart stops each time I receive an outside call at work, and I constantly fear that he may be watching me.�

The judge granted the order on May 19, restricting Gallo from within 100 yards of Wimler, her family, her friends, her home and her work.

After the court hearing, she said in an interview, “He (Gallo) walked straight up to me. He said ‘I hope this makes you happy because this changes nothing.’ �

Repeatedly Called Police

She said the harassment continued. She said she repeatedly called police and the district attorney’s office, complaining that he was violating the court order. But she said police advised her that he could not be arrested unless he was actually caught by authorities inside the 100-yard limit.

One morning, she said, she was awakened when she heard someone prowling outside her home, and saw Gallo attempting to gain entry through a vent. She called police, and when police arrived he was standing near his car on the street. Gallo was arrested on suspicion of drug possession.

But Wimler said it incensed her that he was not also charged for violating the court order. Police at the scene had told her that when they arrived, he was standing outside the 100-yard perimeter.

“Their attitude was they had to catch him in the act,� she said.

Sought Extension

On June 1, she asked the court to extend the boundary limit to 500 yards. On June 18, the court extended the limit, but only to 200 yards. She said that, when the hearing was concluded, Gallo threatened her again as she was leaving the courtroom.

Then, she said, her car was vandalized twice. Then he followed her from work one night in his car, she said, attempting to learn her new address. She thought she lost him. She wasn’t sure.

She went on vacation. She returned a week later. Then the following occurred, according to a police affidavit and other court records:

On the night of July 6, Gallo walked into her Bay Park home. Armed with a handgun, he forced her into his car and drove to an old warehouse in Chula Vista. He raped her several times, she said. He showed her a briefcase that contained a whip, handcuffs and other devices.

“Gallo told Wimler he had spent $200 on sexual aids and that he had been planning on abducting her for three months,� San Diego Police Officer Terry A. Lange said in the affidavit based on his investigation of the case.

“He had planned on keeping her in the warehouse for three days, torturing her and performing various sex acts with her . . .

“He told Wimler that if she told on him and he went to jail he would have someone kill her, that it was already arranged . . .

“Gallo said he wanted to hurt her bad, that he could have killed her when he first started out, but, after he was halfway done, he started having feelings for her again and couldn’t go through with it.�

Drove Her to Hospital

Gallo then drove her to a hospital, where he left her and drove away. Hospital records show that Wimler had been raped and beaten.

Finally, an arrest warrant, with a bail recommendation of $75,000, was issued for Gallo. He was arrested in Phoenix on July 10 and charged with various offenses, including rape, sexual assault, kidnaping and burglary. He was returned to San Diego.

The bail was raised July 17 to $500,000 by San Diego Municipal Court Judge Robert J. Cooney.

In a July 22 hearing, Municipal Judge Raymond Edwards Jr. refused to reduce the bail requirements, noting the “previous encounters� between Gallo and Wimler and the still-pending drug possession charge.

On Nov. 16, Superior Court Judge J. Richard Haden knocked the bail down to $75,000 and also allowed Gallo to post $7,500, or 10%, and be released.

Unsure of Reason

Lamborn, the deputy district attorney, said he was unsure why bail was lowered. “We tell things to judges and we expect reasonable bail,� he said. “We give them all the facts. But nothing stops anybody, even a murderer, from getting out of jail if he can set up the bail.�

Lamborn notified Wimler of the reduced bail. “I went from finally feeling normal back to where I first started,� she said. “I was shaking. I couldn’t think straight. I had to fear for my life again.�

But then on this past Monday she was notified that the drug possession charge was dismissed, apparently because of a faulty arrest.

And even though Lamborn is now considering asking that the bail be increased again, it seems to Wimler that Gallo’s release is imminent.

“I think the system let me down,� she said. “People don’t realize it when you’re alive. They don’t want to face how close to death you actually came. And I could have very well been dead in a warehouse in Chula Vista.�