Pro Se Rape Defendant Questions Accuser, Prompts Prosecutor's 'Court of Terror' Remark
An alleged rapist on trial in Seattle is acting on his own behalf, presenting a defense that has allowed him to directly question his alleged victim.
The scenario has the court in an awkward position, in which it is balancing the rights of the defendant with those of the alleged victim.
The confrontation has led to dramatic moments.
When the accuser took the stand, King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Julie Kays attempted in vain to block the line of sight of defendant Sankarandi Skanda.
Skanda simply shifted positions so he could watch his accuser’s face, according to a detailed coverage of the exchange by the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Skanda reportedly claims that he and his accuser were engaged in a long-running affair and that the woman had asked him to kill her husband. But the Post-Intelligencer reports that there has been scant evidence to support his claim, which prosecutors have dismissed as baseless.
Skanda is accused of breaking into the accuser’s Wallingford home and raping her at knifepoint while her children slept nearby. Skanda is also known as Frank Antill. He used that name until, while serving prison time for a similar assault in Idaho, he converted to Hinduism.
According to the Post-Intelligencer, when Skanda began asking questions on topics that the court had previously barred, Prosecutor Kays objected.
She argued, “This is a court of law, not a court of terror for him, and I can’t help but believe he is getting off on terrorizing this woman again. He is thumbing his nose at this process and he’s using it to terrorize this woman.”
Under Washington state sex offender law, Skanda, if convicted, would be subject to an indefinite term of confinement.
