My names Dylan Pardo and I am 19 years old. I always had a fairly 'normal' life. Went to school, bickered with my two sisters and gave my mom who raised us gray hair. My mom always told us girls not to talk to strangers and as always she was right. When I was 14 years old my friend Bethany(this is not her real name she prefers to keep it private) and I went to go see a movie that had just come out my mom knew we were going and that when it was over we'd go back to Beth's house. Well we still had about thirty minutes until the movie started so we just hung out until then. While waiting three guys came over to us and introduced themselves with there first and last name and seemed relatively nice. They asked us if we wanted to go to a party and assured us that they could drive us back in time for when Bethany's guardian was supposed to be there. Neither of us had actually been to a real party and figured what could go wrong. So we accepted the invitation and got in the car with our new so called friends. When we got there Bethany started taking shots trying to act "cool." I on the other hand was afraid my mom would somehow find out and be extremely upset with me so I opted for a Dr. Pepper that one of the boys had opened and given to me. Well I seem to only remember about 20 minutes after that. We had thought nothing could go wrong and we were invincible but the worst was about to happen. The next thing I remember is being held down in bed one guy holding each arm and one guy on top of me and I tried so hard to fight and get them off me. I just kept screaming to stop because it hurt so badly. Then I blacked out again. Yep, I was 14 years old and had gotten raped by 3 guys because I didn't listen to my mom and talked to srangers. Thankfully one of the boys at the party knew it was wrong and called one of his friends, Ashley, to come help him get us out of there. So Ashley brought her boyfriend and another couple with them to save us. She got into my phone and called Beths guardian and my mother. They wouldn't tell my mom where the party was I think in fear of getting in trouble or getting others in trouble so they dropped Bethany off first and then went to take me home. I was laying down in the back on someones lap coming in and out of reality. I vaguely remember them talking about celebrities and out of nowhere said "well you wanna know whats worse, I think I lost my virginity to a guy I don't know." When I got home my mom being a nurse knew what had happened as I kept just crying in pain. She took me down to a local hospital where she signed me in for a rape kit to be done. Well the triage nurse went and told the doctor I was there for alcohoal intoxication so there plan was for me to sleep it off. Everytime my mom tried to make a fuss to the triage nurse that a rape kit needs to be done she would just ignore her. Finally the doctor came in and when my mom told him what I was in there for he apologized and said that the hospital doesn't do rape kits there. So we wasted 4 and a half hours there which most date rape drugs only stay in your system 4-6 hours so we just lost our evidence. So after going to another hospital they inform us that the SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) nurse is out of town so we waited another 3 hours until she showed up to do my rape kit. During my rape kit they found my vagina had been torn, I had a laceration on my back, little scrapes all over my body which we think is from trying to get away and bruises had also started to form on my chest and well as finger marks on my wrists were I was held down. I don't remember the next two weeks when people ask me to describe how I felt the only answer I can give is numb. Two guys admitted to having sex with me when the cops came the next night one of them even made a statement in the police report saying "I fucked the shit outta her." The other guy Jerome said he didn't touch me but there was no way I would've been able to consent to anyone. When the DNA came back from the rape kit only one guys DNA showed up and that was Jeromes. So he went into custody and we waited for trial. We had a number of trials until the judge finally decided he was guilty on five counts of rape: three were on a 12 year old (who was a family friend and decided to tell when she heard about me) and two were on me. Even though he plead guilty he was let free with probation due to a pre existing law 'Deferred Entry of Judgment' which in such cases, the juvenile is placed on probation from one to three years. Upon successful completion of probation the records are sealed and the conviction is dismissed. At this time I was 16 years old and my rapist was just let free!! I had severe depression and PTSD. I just wanted to live my life but I couldn't stand the fact that he just got a slap on the wrist for raping two people! So I decided to do something about it. First off we started out by contacting the Alliance against Family Violence and Sexual Assault and they helped us in putting signs up at the hospitals that don't offer rape kits. Then the decision was made that somehow something needs to be done. So I went on our local news stations sharing my story just to get out the fact that rape does happen no matter how smart you think you are. Inga Barks who is a local A.M radio host heard about what I was doing and had me on her show she being good friends with Senator Roy Ashburn got us in contact with each other. Ashburn and I then worked together to get this law changed so no one else would have to go through what I did. Ashburn and I went to Senate a total of four times but I spoke to Senate twice. I was also contacted by Sean Hannity from "Hannity and Colmes" on Fox news to be on the show. Then I was on Sean Hannitys radio show. During this time I would go to events the Alliance would hold and would speak to girls to let them know its okay and it can only make you stronger. One time while airing on the Inga Barks radio show this girl called in she was 23 and had been raped and she was so sad she believed it was all her fault and so I spoke with her and she kept up on listening to me whenever I spoke on tv or radio stations. The following year at "Take Back the Night" an event held by the Alliance she was the guest speaker! I was so amazed that I could help someone so much to get back there life. Then in 2006 while spending the night at my best friends house I get a call at around seven P.M from Roy Ashburn telling me that my law had just passed and it will go into effect January 2007 and he also informed me it would be known as "Dylans Law." I couldn't believe what just happened, I thought to myself did I really just get a law changed? I'm only seventeen years old and I just helped every woman who lives in California. So now the law requires the presiding judge to state for the record their rational for granting Deferred Entry of Judgment. The requirement for justification will serve as a deterrent to the excessive use of such a lenient sentence.
