Woman raped in prison waits for judgement

OGDEN — An Ogden woman raped by a prison guard in 2002 is waiting on a judge to decide on a possible $1.4 million judgment in her favor in a federal lawsuit against her assailant.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005 by Ogden attorney Randy Phillips, came in one of Priscilla Chavez‘s interludes when she wasn’t institutionalized.

Chavez, now 26, was raped by a Utah State Prison guard when she was 19. The guard, Louis Poleate, two weeks on the job, was fired and sentenced to prison himself in 2003 for the offense.

He has since served his time and put up almost no defense against the lawsuit, according to court records, which list his current whereabouts as undetermined. The prison was released as a defendant in the suit more than two years ago.

Last week Phillips argued without opposition for his motion seeking $1.4 million in damages from Poleate.

Judge Clark Waddoups in January of this year ruled in favor of the suit, finding Poleate violated Chavez’s constitutional rights to protection from cruel and unusual punishment.

Phillips declined to comment on the case before Waddoups issues a ruling on the motion seeking $435,332.50 in general damages for such things as lost income, pain and suffering and another $1 million in punitive damages.

The situation is complicated because Chavez was diagnosed with a battery of mental problems at age 14 — including, according to her lawyers in the past and her mother, Irene Chavez, of North Ogden, antisocial urges, post-traumatic stress disorder from sexual abuse as a child, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

“If there’s a settlement, and Priscilla is set for life, then I know she’ll be OK when I’m gone,” said the 63-year-old Irene Chavez.  “Someone would have to watch over the money. If Priscilla sees someone homeless, she’ll rent them an apartment.”

Her daughter was first sent to Utah State Prison in 1999, when she was 16 and living in Salt Lake County, on eight different cases involving assault on police officers, according to court records. Resolution involved a brief commitment to Utah State Hospital, the state’s mental hospital in Provo, before she was found competent to stand trial.

She is currently in the same predicament, in Utah State Hospital, where therapists work to restore her competency. The 5-foot-4-inch patient faces multiple counts of assault on a police officer, a third-degree felony, and two counts of assault on a health care worker, a class A misdemeanor, dating back to fall 2007.

Her competency hearing is set for Nov. 24 in 2nd District Court.