Assault transformed a mortgage broker into an advocate for victims' rights.
Saturday, March 5, 2005

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/03/05/sections/news/news/article_431427.php

By GREG HARDESTY
The Orange County Register

ORANGE – It was shooting time, and Deborah Courtney politely excused herself to reapply her deep pink lipstick. She headed to the ladies room, black Prada purse in hand.

She arrived at the indoor shooting range in a black suit and wine-colored blouse, patterned black nylons and black boots with 4-inch heels.

Sort of the stylishly functional business look she had the day she was raped nearly five years ago.

The brutal sexual assault transformed Courtney into one of Orange County's most tireless advocates for victims' rights and a well-known Second Amendment activist who supports the right of women to defend themselves by using firearms as "equalizers."

Her lipstick reapplied, Courtney pulled some neon-pink earplugs out of an Elizabeth Arden cosmetics case and wrapped her manicured fingers around the barrel of "Rock,'' her 9 mm Glock.

"Oh, I forget to breathe," Courtney told instructor T.J. Johnston after firing at a target 15 feet away at Evan's Gunsmithing World in Orange.

"Inhale as you bring (the gun) up, exhale and then fire," Johnston corrected her.

Courtney relishes her role as a "girly girl" shooter in a male-dominated arena, but her aim is dead serious.

In addition to pushing to strengthen Megan's Law by requiring that information on convicted sex offenders be posted on the Internet, she advocates making it easier for Californians to obtain concealed-weapons permits.

"This is about much more than me becoming proficient in firearms just for the hell of it," said Courtney, a 44-year- old mortgage broker.

"This is about empowering women to be able to defend themselves, rather than becoming victims of crime.

"Sometime I get angry that I have to spend all this time doing (advocacy), but God puts good people in bad places sometimes to see how they handle the adversity, and to see if they will rise up to the challenge of helping others."

The Orange County Register does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Courtney granted permission for this story. Her desire to put a face on female victims of violent crime has won kudos.

"She truly has a passion for changing the way victims are traditionally viewed, and her entire paradigm is turning victims into victors," says Judi Fouladi, a criminal-defense attorney who met Courtney through the Aliso Viejo Republican Women Federation.

"Deborah's entire focus is assisting those who are primarily in a psychological state of extreme emotional trauma, and giving them a sense of hope and the future."

The air was thick with the stench of gunpowder when Courtney put her Glock back into her black nylon range bag, next to her gun belt with the rhinestone-flower buckle.

'GOD's PLAN'

Courtney used to believe in karma, but not anymore.

"What the hell did I do to deserve being raped?" she said as she drove her Mercedes E320 to a Garden Grove City Council meeting recently to speak about a "Victim's Bill of Rights" she is pushing with Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange.

"Now I believe it was all part of God's plan," said Courtney, sporting a new diamond stud in her left nostril.

The future victim's rights advocate was adopted into a well-to-do family in La Habra.

Courtney's father is retired from the printing business. Her mother, who died two years ago, focused on raising her and three brothers.

Firearms weren't a big part of Courtney's life, although she shot squirrels with BB guns while growing up and has gone with boyfriends to the desert for target practice.

Just two days before she was raped, Courtney visited a gun store.

She had become fearful of showing houses in remote areas - a fear fueled by childhood memories of a movie about a real-estate agent getting raped and killed.

"I honestly thought you could just go in and buy a gun," said Courtney, who was surprised to learn about a 10-day waiting period. She did not buy a gun that day because of a required test on firearms safety.

On April 8, 2000, just before closing time at 5 p.m., a parolee and twice-convicted rapist, Douglas Lee Hopper, walked into Carbon Creek Realty in Brea and schmoozed with employees. Soon everyone left except Courtney.

The exterior of the office was set up to look like an open house, and Hopper had been to other open houses that day looking for a victim, police said.

He attacked Courtney in a room, holding a box cutter to her throat.

Courtney said she focused on remaining calm during the 10-minute rape as she thought of ways to kill Hopper, who was wearing an electronic monitoring device.

A few minutes after the rape, Hopper was arrested. He is serving two life terms for the rape - his "third strike" - and the sexual assault of another real-estate agent in Fullerton in 1999.

Courtney said that if she had had a gun that day, she would have defended herself.

She now owns three guns and recently finished an instructor-level course at a "medium advanced" rating.

PREPARED

Courtney would like all women to embrace guns as tools for self-defense. She bristles at the term "gun nut," preferring "gun enthusiast."

She wants women to be prepared when bad guys attack.

Shortly after Courtney was raped, her fiancé left her, partially blaming her for the attack, she said.

Courtney felt disconnected from the criminal-justice process, believing only the rights of suspects are emphasized.

Enter the Victim's Bill of Rights, a concept presented six months ago to lawmaker Spitzer by Patricia Wenskunas, 35, of Irvine, who survived a murder attempt.

The plan calls for having victims of crimes presented with a card explaining their rights as victims and listing agencies to call to guide them through the justice system.

The thinking is that since all suspects are read their Miranda rights, why can't victims be reminded of theirs?

Courtney, Wenskunas and Spitzer are going city to city, making presentations before Crime Victims Week in April.

So far they are seven-for- seven, with city councils in San Clemente, Laguna Woods, Orange, Garden Grove, Laguna Niguel, Rancho Santa Margarita and Westminster agreeing to support the plan in concept or outright.

"I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me," Courtney told members of the Orange and Garden Grove city councils on a recent weeknight. "I'm asking you to help the other victims who will come after me."

Driving back home, Courtney talked of her dashed plans of marrying and having kids.

She hopes that still will happen. For now, Courtney, a Cal State Fullerton graduate who grew up wanting to become a TV "weather girl," is watching her back.

Said Fouladi, her friend: "You don't want to go knocking on Deborah's door late at night."