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Told through exclusive at-home interviews, as well as footage shot during a harrowing 2003 parole hearing, this candid documentary includes a shocking interview with Florence Holway, conducted on the bed where the rape took place, and shows how her rural life changed forever.
The night of the rape, Holway escaped her attacker, John LaForest, after he fell asleep on top of her, and made it to safety at her son's house a few miles away. Although the police captured the rapist in Holway's bed, the county attorney still felt there would not be enough physical evidence to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt. Holway was subjected to a rape test, and despite rectal and vaginal bleeding due to bruising, there was no semen present, and thus, according to the laws, no physical proof that she had been raped.
Instead, LaForest was offered a plea bargain, made without Holway's knowledge or consent, that did not include all five charges brought against him: rape, sodomy, breaking and entering, assault and false imprisonment. By pleading guilty only to rape and sodomy, LaForest was able to avoid a trial and potentially receive a lesser sentence than if Holway was able to have her day in court.
Holway felt she had been victimized twice - first by the rapist, then by a flawed judicial system -- and in an attempt to force a trial, took her case public by going to the press. The Associated Press picked up her story, buried in the back of a cautious local newspaper, and before long she became a national public figure, telling her story to anyone and everyone willing to listen. Her community rallied around her, as did the rest of the nation, but local authorities wouldn't budge in their refusal to have a trial.
Although she admits her emotional scars will never heal, Holway, now 89 and confined mostly to a wheelchair, takes solace in the fact that her outspokenness ultimately helped usher in change. The New Hampshire legislature formed an ad-hoc committee to review the laws regarding rape, and has since changed the definition of "rape" by broadening the scope and not requiring semen as physical evidence; brought longer sentences for convicted rapists; and made it mandatory that victims be notified about potential plea bargains, and accept them before they are carried out.
The stirring documentary culminates at a 12-year parole hearing for LaForest, where Holway confronts her attacker face to face, and challenges the parole board to keep him locked up. Despite having twice attended the prison's sex-offenders program, the parole board does not believe LaForest fully understands the impact of the crime he committed, and they deny him immediate parole.
A year and a half after Holway's appearance before the parole board, LaForest was moved to a halfway house and work program. Within two months, he was accused of harassment by a female employment agency worker, and has subsequently been placed back in prison to attend the sex offender's program once again.
Holway continues to live alone in the same rural farmhouse where the rape took place. An avid painter, she has slowly rekindled her love of life and painting. Holway has made good on the promise she made to herself during the attack. By spearheading a tireless crusade to change rape laws, she has helped other victims, as well as herself, obtain a measure of justice.
A RAPE IN A SMALL TOWN: THE FLORENCE HOLWAY STORY is produced by John Hoffman; directed by Jeffrey Chapman; edited by Juliet Weber; producers, Charlene Chapman and Jeffrey Chapman; directors of photography, Maryse Alberti and Ken Van Sant; original music by Joseph Vitarelli. For HBO: executive producers, John Hoffman, Gaby Monet and Shelia Nevins.
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