Jamie Leigh Jones (born 1985) is a former employee of KBR, an American engineering, construction and private military contracting company. During her employment, KBR was a subsidiary of

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...

from 1962 to 2007. She is notable for accusing then fellow KBR employees of drugging and gang-raping her on July 28, 2005, at Camp Hope in Baghdad. A federal grand jury investigated her claims but issued no indictments. Jones filed a civil suit against KBR and one of its former employees. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants, finding that the sex between Jones and the employee was consensual, and that therefore no rape had occurred, and that KBR did not defraud her. Her case was one of those showcased in the HBO documentary '' Hot Coffee'' to show how mandatory arbitration from an employee contract restricts access to court systems, even in criminal cases.

Jones' allegations

Jones began working for KBR as an administrative assistant when she was 19 and started working in Iraq on July 24, 2005. According to Jones, on July 28, 2005, one of her fellow KBR employees offered her a drink containing a

date rape Date rape is a form of acquaintance rape and dating violence. The two phrases are often used interchangeably, but date rape specifically refers to a rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between ...

drug, although a subsequent blood test did not detect any

date rape drug A date rape drug is any drug that incapacitates another person and renders that person vulnerable to sexual assault, including rape. The substances are associated with date rape because of reported incidents of their use in the context of two p ...

s. Jones says that while she was unconscious, several men anally and vaginally

gang raped Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...

her. She reported that when she awoke the next morning, she "found her body naked and severely bruised, with lacerations to her vagina and anus, blood running down her leg, her breast implants were ruptured, and her pectoral muscles torn" – which would later require

reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition. Description Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implicat ...

. Upon walking to the rest room, she passed out again. The doctor who examined Jones gave the

rape kit A rape kit or rape test kit is a package of items used by medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following an allegation of sexual assault. The evidence collected from the victim can aid the criminal rape investigation an ...

used to gather evidence from Jones to KBR/

security forces, and three hours later they turned the kit over to the U.S. government. According to Jones, in early 2007 a spokesperson at the State Department told her that photographs and doctor's notes were missing from the kit. Jones alleged that KBR officials locked her in a trailer after she informed them of the rape and would not permit her to call her family. In her account, after a day of being locked in the trailer, a sympathetic guard gave her a cell phone and she called her father. It is then known that her father contacted

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Ted Poe ( R- TX) who contacted the State Department. Agents were dispatched from the

U.S. Embassy in Baghdad The Embassy of the United States of America in Baghdad is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. Ambassador Alina Romanowski is currently the Head of mission, Chief of Mission. At , it is the lar ...

and removed Jones from KBR custody. A 2006 investigation from the federal

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

found that Jones was not locked in a trailer by KBR, and that she was placed in a "secure location" before being returned to Texas.

Congressional testimony

On December 19, 2007, Jones testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Robert Scott ( D- VA) stated that the DOJ "seems to be taking action with respect to enforcement of criminal laws in Iraq only when it is forced to do something by embarrassing media coverage." In a 2007 interview, Ted Poe, a former Texas judge, stated that the United States has jurisdiction over U.S. contractors when they are accused of committing a crime against a U.S. national in a federal enclave. Jones testified again before the Judiciary Committee on October 7, 2009, concerning Senator

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

's amendment to the FY 2010 Defense Appropriation Bill, to restrict contracts with companies that use

mandatory arbitration An arbitration clause is a clause in a contract that requires the parties to resolve their disputes through an arbitration process. Although such a clause may or may not specify that arbitration occur within a specific jurisdiction, it always bind ...

in their employment contracts. This measure was passed by the Senate, prompted by her case.

Civil lawsuit

On May 16, 2007, Jones filed a civil lawsuit against the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, KBR and former parent corporation

, and one of its former employees (one of the firefighters who had allegedly raped her). KBR asked the court to compel arbitration based on her employment contract. On September 15, 2009, the

5th Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * Mi ...

, in a 2–1 decision, ruled that Jones' lawsuit could proceed in court. The trial began in the Southern District of Texas on June 14, 2011. Jones' attorney argued that KBR had known about widespread sexual harassment but had ignored it because the remedy was too expensive. The defense argued that Jones fabricated her story of being drugged and raped because she was embarrassed about the consensual sex and wanted to get out of her year-long contract with KBR three days after she arrived. Jones' first attending physician testified that Jones had not suffered damage to her breast implants or chest during the alleged attack. KBR's lawyers also brought out that on two prior occasions Jones had reported being raped and that she had taken medication for

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

, depression, and

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. Victor Scarano, an independent psychiatrist appointed by the court, concluded that Jones had

narcissistic Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

and

histrionic personality disorder Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive attention-seeking behaviors, usually beginning in early childhood, including inappropriate ...

based on the reports and depositions. On July 8, the jury returned a verdict that rejected all of Jones' claims, finding that the sex between Jones and the employee was consensual and therefore no rape had occurred, and that KBR did not defraud her. Jones said, "I just thought that the physical evidence would help. I guess the fact that my entire life was on display and (his) wasn't made a difference." Bolen, a KBR spokeswoman, said, "The outcome of this jury trial as judged by her peers is the same result that the State Department got in 2005; that the Justice Department found in 2008. We are deeply gratified that the justice system has worked." KBR later filed a motion to recover more than $2 million in attorney fees and court costs. In the motion KBR states that Jones' hostile work environment and rape claims were fabricated and frivolous. In a subsequent ruling, the court held Jones liable for KBR's court costs of $145,000, but also determined that the case was not frivolous and therefore she was not liable for KBR's attorney fees.

Personal life

Jones met aviation mechanic Joseph Kallan Daigl, a member of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, in 2005, They married in September 2006.

References

External links