Editor’s note: This article mentions sexual assault.
Witlee Ethan may finally get some semblance of justice.
Next week, the state Senate may take up a bill that includes certain rights for sexual assault survivors. It’s taken Ethan years to get this far.
Ethan reported in Nov. 2021 that she had been raped in Jan. 2020, according to a Cornelius Police Department incident report. Immediately after the incident, she had a sexual assault evidence collection kit done anonymously, commonly called a rape kit, but she only filed the report identifying herself to police the following year, she said.
When she went to the Cornelius Police Department, they didn’t seem to believe her, she told Carolina Public Press. Once they obtained the rape kit in early 2022, police took 110 days — 65 days past the legal deadline — to send the rape kit to the State Crime Laboratory, she said.
The state lab found male DNA in her rape kit in January 2023, but Ethan was told her case was being closed in April 2023. Police did not bring her perpetrator in for questioning, and they did not get his DNA for a comparison, she said.
A day later, she decided to write a bill.
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The Cornelius Police Department did not respond to questions about the case prior to publication.
If approved, the bill would allow sexual assault survivors to request information about the location and testing status of their rape kit. They would also be able to request written notice 60 days before their rape kit is set to be destroyed and have the right to ask to preserve the evidence longer. Survivors would be allowed to have an advocate or support person to accompany them during court proceedings. Finally, the attorney general would have to publish a clear list of victims’ rights online and distribute it to hospitals.
It’s not everything Ethan wanted; it’s not even close. But over the course of the past six years, Ethan has made scores of phone calls to attorneys, the police, lawmakers and anyone who might be able to help. She’s heard “no” more often than not. To finally hear a “yes” would send a message to her perpetrator: “You didn’t win.”
Witlee’s story
Ethan says she was sexually assaulted at a location in Cornelius over a period of more than 10 hours on Jan. 6, 2020, according to the police report.
She told CPP that the attacker was a man she had met on a dating site, who held her hostage and assaulted her many times.
Shortly after the man released Ethan, she got a sexual assault examination. But at the time she was in survival mode and wasn’t ready to file a police report.
“I knew it would automatically be ‘he said, she said,’ and I just still wasn’t in a state where I could be interrogated and made to be like this is somehow your fault,” Ethan said.
In November 2021, she did officially file a police report. Ethan said police told her that when they spoke with the man about the accusations, he lawyered up and was not brought in for questioning.
By April 2023, the Cornelius police got her tested rape kit back from the state lab. Male DNA was found inside. Still, Ethan’s case would not move forward. The Cornelius PD chose to close it, and the Mecklenburg County district attorney’s office did not take it up.
Ethan felt like law enforcement assumed she was lying, and didn’t take her seriously.
“I don’t think that the police are getting the proper training on how to interact with victims and survivors,” she said.
Legislative hurdles
Ethan knows she will likely not ever get full justice in her case. Nonetheless, she’s fought tooth-and-nail for the past two years for a small piece of justice, not only for her, but for millions of other sexual assault survivors.
In mid-2024, Ethan got in contact with Skye David, staff attorney for the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault. It was too late in the year to file a bill for the 2024 session, so with the help of David, Ethan focused on getting meetings with lawmakers across the aisle and chambers to drum up support for the 2025 legislative session.
Eventually, Rep. Allen Buansi, D-Orange, agreed to draft the bill. At first, it was much broader.
Under the original bill, when someone reported a sexual assault, they would be assigned a victim advocate to work with law enforcement on their behalf and accompany them to court proceedings. Suspects would immediately be brought in for questioning and law enforcement would collect a DNA sample from them, by warrant or a district attorney order, if necessary. Law enforcement officers dealing with sexual assault cases would have to undergo trauma-informed sensitivity training on how to interact with victims.
It would have required further review before accused perpetrators could file defamation suits against victims to try and protect victims from retaliation. It would also bar survivors’ medical, mental health and sexual history from being used to discredit them during these proceedings.
Finally, it included several provisions dealing with rape kits.
Buansi brought several stakeholders to the table, including CASA, the North Carolina Department of Justice, the Conference of District Attorneys, rape crisis centers and sexual assault nurse examiners.
What resulted from those conversations was a series of sexual assault victim rights:
- Victims can request information about the location of their rape kit, and whether it has been tested;
- Victims can request written notice of the destruction of their rape kit at least 60 days in advance;
- Victims can request that their rape kit be preserved longer as evidence;
- Victims may have an advocate or support person present during court proceedings; and
- The attorney general must publish a “plain-language” list of victims’ rights online and distribute it to hospitals.
“They stripped it bare, pretty much,” Ethan said.
Buansi told Carolina Public Press that if he had it his way, the bill would include much more.
“One thing that I’ve said at the outset of that process is that the bill itself, it’s a start,” he said. “It’s not the end of what all needs to be done to empower survivors and victims to bring people to justice who commit these sorts of crimes.”
He can’t quite remember what the opposition was to some of the abandoned provisions. Ethan recalled concerns over violating the due process rights of perpetrators, and the amount of work it would take to implement some of the changes.
“I was like, can we at least give them something, because I know I had to keep calling, and I had to keep trying to wait for answers,” she said. “I even called the State Crime Lab, and they’re like, we can’t talk to you, you have to talk to the police, and it’s like, well, what do you do if the police won’t talk to you?”
Eventually, the sexual assault victims’ rights provisions were added to a bill, House Bill 771. In April 2025, it passed the House easily, in a 111-3 vote. Then, it got stuck in the Senate Rules Committee for a year.
Awaiting hope for sexual assault survivors
Ethan’s bill wasn’t a priority, she was told. It wasn’t going to make it in the 2025 session, and the 2026 session would be mostly focused on the budget and amendments. There probably wouldn’t be interest in moving her bill forward.
“I think there’s a larger issue with bills that are good ideas that are passed by the House that are not moving,” Buansi said. “And then, on the flip side, on the Senate side, I know that there have been some good bills passed on the Senate side that haven’t moved on the House side.”
So, Ethan decided to focus on drumming up support for her original bill, which she is now calling the HOPE Act, to refile in 2027.
In a twist of fate, things changed last month. Her bill was added to a different bill, House Bill 308, which passed the House last year and is now in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Rules Committee approved the bill, which also includes a series of other criminal law provisions.
Ethan said she’s been told lawmakers will vote on it next week.
Still, nothing is guaranteed. Before she can celebrate, she has to jump over a few more legislative hurdles.
First, the Senate has to actually vote to pass the bill. Then, the state House must approve the changes made to the bill since the last time its members voted on it, including the sexual assault victims’ rights provisions.
If they do, the bill will go to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk to sign. If they cannot agree, a small group of lawmakers from each chamber will get together behind closed doors to negotiate a final version, which may or may not include the sexual assault victims’ rights provisions.
This is a stepping stone for Ethan. Whether she succeeds or not, she plans to fight for her bill again next session.
“I’m just hoping and praying that my story will help do that — protect and save as many lives as possible — because then it just makes it a lot easier to accept that this happens,” she said. “Because the wrongs have been righted and something good came from something so bad.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated based on new information that became available to clarify aspects of the timeline.
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