And he slammed her on the ground and then he’s like

將她「砰」一聲摔到地上 說:

Get this little bitch and go take care of her

「把這小賤人拿走 去搞定她」

Take care of your daughter

「看好妳女兒」

It was another day at the office with another defendant

對我來說 這只是又一個和被告在法官辦公室裡的普通日子

It felt like there was sort of an audible gasp

似乎現場每個人都倒抽了口氣

I watched the judge do something that I don’t think they do very often

我親眼目睹難得的法外開恩

So here’s a story of this judge in Oklahoma City

這是個在奧克拉荷馬

Who had a profound moment of conscience

轉瞬間的良知判斷 改變一切的故事

My names Kenneth C. Watson. I’m a district judge here in the Oklahoma County

我是肯尼˙華森 奧克拉荷馬郡的地方法院法官

But the story’s part of a much larger story that our colleague Alex here has been reporting

我們的同事艾利克斯一直在追蹤更多祕辛

My name is Alex Campbell and I’m an investigative reporter at Buzzfeed

我是艾利克斯˙坎貝爾 在Buzzfeed(註: 美國網路新聞平台)擔任調查記者

So I’ve been reporting this story for about 6 months

我報導這個故事大約半年了

I’ve been looking at cases around the country where mother is put in prison for failing to protect her children

試圖尋找有沒有身為家暴受害者的媽媽 因為疏於保護兒女

Even though she herself was abused

而入獄的先例

The laws are different in every state and the penalties are different

法律、刑罰都因州而異

But basically, the whole idea is that

但基本上

If you knew your child was being abused and you weren’t able to prevent– get the child out of that situation

如果對孩子遭暴知情 卻無法解救他

Then you should go to prison, too

那媽媽也該去坐牢

Now how long you’ll get put away will depend a lot state to state

刑期多久 因州的不同而相差迥異

In New York, it might be up to a year; in Oklahoma it’s up to life

在紐約可能是一年苦牢 在這裡卻是無期徒刑

So the story began with a woman named Victoria Phanhtarath

故事要從一個名叫維多莉雅˙凡塔瑞的女人說起

Victoria was sentenced to prison after her boyfriend killed her 3-year-old daughter

在男友殺了她年僅3歲的女兒後 維多莉雅啷噹入獄

Even though she was essentially a victim of her boyfriend, too

縱使她本人也是受害者

Judge Watson presided over Victoria’s hearing when she agreed to a plea bargain

法官華森主持了她的聽證會 她同意認罪協商(註: 類似坦白從寬，承認輕罪以便減輕刑罰)

And even when she entered the plea of guilty, I don’t remember anything about her or about the plea

她進入認罪程序時 我其實不太記得這個人或她的答辯

Though, I don’t hear much about the facts in an agreed plea

被告的供詞中 我沒見到太多犯罪事實

Hers was an agreed plea

以下是認罪協商的內容

So it was just another day

只是平凡無奇的一天

It was another day at the office with another defendant

又一個和被告在檢察署的普通日子

In the fall of 2014, Victoria’s abusive boyfriend Freddy Mendez beat Victoria 3-year-old daughter Alexis to death

2014年秋天 佛萊迪˙曼德把維多莉雅3歲的女兒毆打致死

So here’s a reading from Victoria’s testimony during Freddy’s trial when she describes the murder

這是審判佛萊迪時 維多莉雅對於謀殺的證詞

Freddy is still spanking Alexis and I go get my son

佛萊迪一直拍打愛麗絲 我去找兒子

And I come back and he’s sitting there and he pushed and he kicked her across the room

我回來的時候 他就坐在那裡 把愛麗絲從房間這頭踢到那頭

All the way to the window. And he kicked her

又把她踹到窗邊 狠狠踢她

Is he saying anything to her?

過程中他有說什麼嗎?

He’s cussing at himself. He’s getting pissed off and he’s kicking her and he’s hitting on the chest

他一直罵髒話 他很憤怒 不斷踢她、捶打她的胸口

What’s he saying

他罵了什麼?

He’s… You fucking little bitch

他說...妳這該死的小婊子

He’s sitting there cussing and kicking her and hitting her

他坐在那裡咒罵 踢她、揍她

I told him, “you need to calm down” why doesn’t he go outside

我叫他去外面冷靜一下

My son is trying to cause he can hear Alexis crying and screaming

我兒子想看發生什麼事 因為他聽到愛麗絲狂哭叫

And he’s trying to look and I’m covering up his eyes

他想看出什麼事了 我摀住他的雙眼

And he’s sitting there kicking her and pushing her around the room

他坐在那裡踢她 把她踢得滿房間跑

And I’m sitting there yelling at him

我坐在那對他大吼

And he picks her up after he’s hit her on the chest, kicked her in the stomach

他舉起愛麗絲 打她胸口、踢她肚子

And she’s flinging around the room across the window

她被踢得到處亂滾、拎到窗戶外面

And he picked her up and he slammed her

他掐住愛麗絲的咽喉 把她拿起來

When he picked her up, he picked her up by the throat and her face

甩了她耳光

And he slammed her on the ground and then he’s like

再把她丟到地上

Get this little bitch and go take care of her

「把這小賤人拿走 去搞定她」

Take care of your daughter

「看好妳女兒」

So when Victoria testified in Freddy’s trial, she was already in prison

維多莉雅為佛萊迪的審判作證時 已在獄中服刑

The plea deal she’d agreed to was for a 35 year sentence for enabling child abuse

她因為放任男友家暴 而被判刑35年

When Victoria testified during Freddy’s trial, he caught everybody off guard

她為佛萊迪的審判作證時 法官的裁決出乎所有人意料

We have a girl who’s already made a plea. She’s in the penitentiary

她已經同意認罪 也在反省了

We don’t know anything about her but the circumstances in this case

我們對這個人並沒有很深的認識

And she’s the first, the second, third with this

但她可能是此案唯一目擊人

And she gives us a detailed description of what happened and how it happened

她說出了所有細節和來龍去脈

And here’s is one of the many stories Victoria told about how Freddy had abused her prior to the incident where Alexis was killed

這些都還只是女兒死前 佛萊迪動手的冰山一角

What happened?

發生了什麼事?

Well, he starts… We start getting in the argument and he starts grabbing me and starts punching me in my face and punching me in my eye

…他開始…我們開始吵架 他抓住我 往我臉上揮拳、打我的眼睛

And he shoves me to the pool. I try to get out

把我推進泳池裡 我掙扎著爬出來

And he shoves me back in the pool and starts hitting me and dragging me around

他又把我推進去 然後開始打我 把我推來撞去

And I’m screaming and crying at this moment

當時我又哭又叫

And he tells me to shut up and finally he gets Alexis in

他叫我閉嘴 最後他把愛麗絲帶進屋內

We go inside the house because the baby’s sleeping

我們進到屋裡 寶寶睡著了

Ma’am, is this the first time Mr. Mendez has put his hands on you in a manner like this or has it happened before?

凡塔瑞女士 這是曼德先生第一次對妳施暴嗎? 還是之前就發生過?

It’s happened before

之前就發生過

Did you tell anybody about that?

妳有告訴誰嗎?

No. –Why not?

-沒有 -為什麼?

I was already in a domestic abusive relationship and I was embarrassed

我覺得被家暴很丟臉

I mean, there were tears in the jury from the member of the jury because it’s heart wrenching

陪審團裡有人哭了 因為這太讓人心痛

She continued relating details of this particular incident

維多莉雅繼續揭露本案細節

So you told us what he did, what happened next?

妳已經說出他的惡行 之後還發生什麼事?

Well, I go upstairs and we’re still arguing. And the kids are in the room

我們上樓去 依然在爭吵 孩子們都在房間裡

He continues to hit me and beat me in the room

他繼續在房間裡對我拳打腳踢

What room?

哪個房間?

In his bedroom upstairs in the far back

一個樓上很後面的房間 他的臥房

And we’re arguing in the closet

我們在衣櫃裡爭吵

At this time, I have been shoved all the way into the closet because I’m screaming and crying loud

當時我尖叫、大哭 所以他把我拽進衣櫃裡

What happened next?

然後呢?

He starts punching me and hitting me, telling me to shut up

他開始打我、揍我 叫我閉嘴

And then he demands me to go make him a sandwich

然後叫我去弄三明治給他

And I’m covered. My clothes are wet at this point

我全身都濕透了

So he sends me downstairs to go make him a sandwich

他叫我下樓做三明治給他

The DA having heard that, I could see he was being affected by her testimony

地方檢察官聽到後　我看得出來他相當震撼

We at this point think we have seen it all

現在我們覺得這就是故事全貌

But things happen which give you a different perspective on life

但有些事會讓你對生命有不同看法

And I think what happened with Victoria and would’ve happened to Victoria was something that neither one of us had expected

我認為已經發生和原本可能發生在維多莉雅身上的事 我們當中沒人能想像

Even before the jury came back, I went out and I talked to the DA

陪審團回來前 我和檢察官在外頭談了一會

And I basically told him that I don’t have any authority to do anything at all in this case because its an agreed plea

我告訴他我沒權限可以更動什麼 因為這是認罪協商

I said if you can get your office to agree to let me modify this

我說如果檢察署同意我更改判決

I will do it. I’ll set this on my docket to modify it

一切就沒問題了 我必擇期更改

So the prosecutor agreed and a new hearing was called where the judge would be able to change Victoria’s sentence to a length that he thought was more fair

檢察官和聽證會讓法官得以縮短維多莉雅的刑期 改為較公平的處置

I gave it a lot of thought before I heard anything additional

在聽取外來意見前 我思考了很久

I knew that a modification was in order

我知道更改判決勢在必行

Cause that was what I had suggested.

所以我才提出此要求

I just didn’t know how much

只是我不確定刑期究竟該縮短多少

And the more I heard, the more I was convinced that she needed to be out

當知道的越多 我更確定她的處罰過重

Judge Watson modified Victoria’s sentence from 35 years to the 2 years she had already served

法官華森把原本的35年刑期改成維多莉雅至今已服的刑期－2年

And she was set free

然後將她釋放了

I was also there for this hearing

聽證會當時是什麼狀況?

It felt like there was sort of an audible gasp as I recall

我記得現場清晰可聞的抽氣聲

I watched the judge do something that I don’t think they do very often

我親眼目睹難得的法外開恩

Which is look at an inmate who’s been sentenced to 35 years in prison and set her free after only 2

重審刑期35年的階下囚 讓她在只服了2年刑期後就獲釋

I spoke to the district attorney office recently and they were not expecting her to be set free

我和地檢署談過了 他們沒料到維多莉雅能出獄

And that they were under the impression that her sentence would be reduced to 20 years and they seemed okay with that

他們覺得維多莉雅少說也得蹲個20年

I don’t think they were pleased with the judge’s decision

他們對法官的判決很不高興

When I thought about her spending the next 35 years locked up in all-women’s prison just…

想到她接下來35年都要困在女子監獄裡 就讓人…

I wanted to know, I wanted to find out what I could do. What I could do to make it better

我想看看…我想知道我能做什麼 是否有轉圜餘地