https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/bq48b4/woman_who_is_suing_the_mormon_church_after_being/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app

Anyone have inside info on this?

It is an active lawsuit, why would anyone have information about it? The cult will try to cover this up as much as possible if she wins.

It's McKenna Denson. Apparently, a couple of people are trying to intimidate her.

The alleged attacks, and their details are not part of the lawsuit pending against the church. It's extremely unlikely that a judge would allow mention of them in front of the jury hearing the case, if it got that far. And voir dire conducted by the defense would no doubt seek to eliminate potential jurors who'd heard about the alleged attacks.

I use alleged because even though I want her to win, I don't automatically believe everything she has to say. Could the two physical incidents (the poisoning and the battery) have taken place? Yes. But as to how or why, (mostly why) no one can say, which she candidly admits.

But we've heard enough stories here on RfM to have a much easier time than perhaps most people in believing that there are crazy ass mormon men who would think themselves justified in Doing the Right Thing for ghawd, country and church.


Here are the details she supplies:

SALT LAKE CITY -- The woman suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alleging she was raped at the Missionary Training Center said she believes someone is trying to intimidate her into silence.

In an interview with FOX 13, McKenna Denson revealed a series of attacks that police in Colorado are investigating. She believes they are a result of her high-profile lawsuit.

"I think the attacks are all related to my case against the Church," she said. "My life is pretty normal besides that. I don't have any enemies that would try to poison me, torch my car, snap my wrist."

Denson said on Jan. 30, she made breakfast for her daughter and took her to school. When she got home, she made breakfast for herself and drank a glass of orange juice.

"I had to call an ambulance," she told FOX 13. "Somebody came into my home and put Drano in my orange juice."

Denson said she didn't drink a lot and was released from the hospital. A few days later, someone set fire to her car while a friend was visiting. A neighbor's surveillance camera captured a flash in the early morning hours. A police report provided to FOX 13 shows police seized the burned vehicle and containers with liquid inside them.

About a week later, Denson said, she caught a man lurking in her front yard. It was dark, but she said the man was wearing a hoodie.

"I jumped off my front porch. Don't ask me why I did this, but my first response was, 'What are you doing?'" she said.

As she chased after him, Denson said someone tackled her from behind and took her to the ground. She suffered a broken nose, wrist and finger.

Denson said after each incident, she went to police. The Pueblo Police Department confirmed to FOX 13 they took reports for all three incidents, which remain under investigation.

But Denson said without suspect information, detectives do not have much to go on.

"I have no name, no identity of who was behind the recent attacks," she said.

Denson also would not say who she believed might be behind the attacks.

"Even if I were to speculate, I have absolutely no idea. I have no proof. I have no evidence," she said.

Denson is currently suing the Latter-day Saint church and Joseph Bishop, who ran the faith's Missionary Training Center in Provo when she was a young sister missionary in 1984. She accuses Bishop of raping her in a basement room and the Church of covering up other allegations of misconduct against him. Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered the Church to disclose to Denson's attorneys any other names of people who have leveled sexual misconduct accusations against Bishop.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in 2020.

Denson acknowledged in the interview with FOX 13 that some might not believe her, but she said he was speaking out because she believed shining a light on it might prevent future incidents.

"The more vocal I am, the safer I am. I believe that," she said. "I might be wrong, but that is my belief. So talking about the assaults that have recently happened -- when no one knows, people are free to do whatever they want to do. But when there is a spotlight on it, people are more afraid they might be caught."

Since the incidents earlier this year, Denson said she has taken steps to protect her personal security. She said she also has no plans to stop speaking out about her lawsuit.

"When I went public, I was fed up with what was happening with this particular case involving Joseph Bishop," Denson said. "I am not OK with that. I am not OK with the Church covering up sexual abuse, covering up rape, protecting their name above survivors. I'm not OK with the pain and the shame victims and survivors suffer. They need to own it, they need to apologize and they need to go through and make policy changes so people are safe in the Church."

I'm going to add what should be obvious about Denson and a lot of other victims of abuse but what gets lost sometimes in discussions here.

Anyone who read the court documents will know that Joseph Bishop asked the incoming women missionaries if they had been sexually abused as children. He then invited them into his office for group meetings and then for one-on-one sessions.

Why did he do this? Because children who have been molested generally suffer from long-term damage, including a damaged sense of self, an unhealthy doubt regarding their own judgment, a pathologically strong desire for the approval of authority figures, and a lack of healthy physical boundaries. Somehow Bishop knew this: he knew that the victims of childhood molestation were the ones whom he could seduce, manipulate, and use. He brought women like Denson to himself because she was highly likely to be available in a way that healthy women are not.

An additional attraction of such women is they are often confused about themselves, moral standards, etc. The likelihood that such people will have messed up their own lives with bad relationships, bad habits, bad behavior, and shifting views on moral questions is exceptionally high. The upshot of this is that when one encounters a person who was molested as a child and then abused as an adult, it is often a simple matter to find all sorts of other problems in her more general record.

To look at the record and say, "nah, she isn't credible" is foolish because her various transgressions are part of the syndrome. Take anything she says at face value? No. Seek evidence. But don't assume that because she isn't a fine upstanding woman she is dissembling. To do that is to triple the damage from the original molestation, which sets her up for abuse as an adult and also for rejection by people who think only a fine upstanding person can truly be a victim.

Childhood molestation creates a lifetime or, through others, lifetimes of damage. That doesn't mean that someone like Denson if fair game for predators like Bishop.

You need to listen to Part 2 of the Sean McCraney interview with her. She tries to quickly explain away five other incidents in the dossier.

One where she was pregnant with her youngest child (the child of a boyfriend) and alleged to have swallowed razors while eating a cake at a restaurant. And the doctor at the hospital couldn't see anything and sent her home. So she called a friend's husband who was a doctor, who told her to go to an OBGYN as an emergency. And that her exhusband told police or CPS that she self injures and lies because he's an abuser and liar.

One where she lied on her mission in DC and said she had been raped. Yes, you heard that right. Because she says she had a panic attack and wanted to get away from her companions.

One where she still claims a neighbor POISONED HER ORANGE JUICE and her daughters also drank and "lost time" and he raped her. Police found nothing, they could not prove he put anything in the orange juice (and the rape kit found nothing). This is a serious one where she accused him of rape and drugging her girls.

One where she's going on trial in October for identity fraud because an ex boyfriend says she used his identity to get an apartment. She's says she will win, no problem. (But there's information out there that police had enough evidence to arrest her and they have an audio of her impersonating him to get utilities signed up in his name. I guess we will see)

One she claims the child she gave up for adoption was a date rape by an LDS police officer she dated. But she explains that she doesn't really blame him because she gave him mixed messages so she's not mad at him.

She's also died 3 times and had near death experiences in heaven each time.

Just saying

Oh, I understand what you are saying. I'm simply averring that when kids are abused, they grow up with serious problems of the sort Denson exhibits. So if "character" is a precondition for justice, we are stating in effect that victims of molestation will never be full and equal citizens. It's a bit like saying rape victims should not be afforded full legal rights if they wore tight clothing or had had multiple lovers in the past.

Now, applying that to Denson, I think everything she says needs to be taken with a grain of salt (as is true of any other plaintiff). I would not accept anything anyone says unless it is collaborated by independent evidence.

I think a number of things Denson has said are evidenced. Joseph Bishop acknowledged not only abusing her but abusing others. Her bishop admitted her contemporaneous report. The police report too contains information that supports parts of her claim. Other things are subject to verification but blocked by the church, including the records of interactions with Asay and Monson and others, the names of other women who accused Bishop, etc. So let the courts open those things for discovery and we'll see what they say.

I'm convinced that Denson is a deeply troubled woman with a history of lying who is telling the truth about much if not all of the Bishop interaction. Her questionable history means that her account deserves meticulous scrutiny, but the notion that bad character implies incredulity is one that ostensibly went out of fashion at the end of the Anglo-Saxon era. Substantially we are not yet at the point where crimes are evaluated on evidence rather than character, but we've made considerable progress.

I thought Drano was a very strong based as it contains lye, while orange juice is somewhat acidic.

Is it possible to spike OJ with Drano and not have the concoction dripping off the walls and ceiling?

Perhaps I have been watching the Law and Order marathon too long.

Your post influenced me sufficiently to seek the answer to 'what happens if you drink Drano'?

First, it is unclear how she was able to ID Drano as being what was mixed with her OJ.

The NaOH (lye) will burn the crap out of human tissue if not sufficiently diluted: "Drinking strong alkali can seriously damage the inner lining of your mouth and gullet = esophagus, or not if it was diluted enough. White patches are where the alkali has caused burns in the mucosa = inner lining."

https://www.quora.com/About-ten-years-ago-I-drank-Drano-or-something-similar-Both-then-and-now-I-seem-to-have-no-physical-effects-from-this-Is-this-possible

There are photos in the above article.

Since no permanent damage is indicated in the article, it means that there was no 'burning' of the tissue. The Quora answer concludes with this: "So it seems either you didn’t really drink it (just stopped short when it entered your mouth and vomited it out) or it was very much diluted."

Meaning that if there was Drano in the OJ, it wasn't enough to do any permanent harm.

As for the "I was tackled from behind" while chasing a guy I found in my yard incident, it means two people were involved. Which means a conspiracy. And why, if they were willing to poison her, didn't they take advantage of the situation when they had her outside, in the dark, on the ground, helpless?

Sometimes being a cynic is lonely work.

Not enough acid in juices to make a reaction. In fact, many lye based soaps are made scented by adding lemon, orange, lime,pineapple, etc. juices. Unless they had it chemically analyzed, it would be hard to say Drano. Plus, no one would take more than a sip before they spit it out. I'm doubting her story.

She seems to be undermining her own credibility right and left. Maybe she’s being paid to act crazy, but no matter. No way she’d prevail in court.

I feel bad for the attorney who took her case. Nice double win for the church, eh?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2019 07:05PM by babyloncansuckit.

There is only the court of public opinion with regard to the allegations she making regarding the personal attacks she's suffered since filing the lawsuit.

That lawsuit is grinding its way to the courthouse steps and will see if they actually do seat a jury. I believe that the defense has requested said jury. There are advantages and disadvantages. You can bet that self-declared experts on jurors/juries are being lined up by both sides. I would expect the defense to have the advantage simply based on numbers. I'm betting (based on a 12-person jury) that it's going to go 50/50 mormon/nonmormon. I don't know what Utah's rule is on how many jurors it takes to find for the plaintiff. It's seldom required that a civil verdict be unanimous, but rather that a set majority figure be reached.

Here's a thing about these 'we're fighting over money' civil squabbles: Each side is waiting for the other to blink. Take it as a given that the church has made an offer, and that the plaintiff has made a demand. We don't know how far apart the two figures are. But as it gets closer to the start of the trial, the numbers generally begin to move closer together.

California has MSCs, mandatory settlement conferences. This is an informal meeting at which the plaintiff(s) and counsel, along with the defense attorney and the money man (insurance person) must be present. In CA they are held about 30 days out from the scheduled trial date. The manner in which the MSC is held is personal to the judge. Some judges go at it hammer and tongs, brow-beating when appropriate, pleading when appropriate, all in the hope of clearing the calendar by getting them to settle. Other judges could care less about clearing the calendar. They're there to judge...

I'm curious as to who has the final defense decision on a settlement figure. In the insurance racket, it's all about authority, meaning what's the largest check you can write on your own. If you can settle a case for within your authority, no one will question you. Need more authority, go to your supervisor. As the figures get larger, you climb higher in the chain of command for authority.

What is the chain of $ authority in the church, and who sits at the different levels? A KM attorney might have some low level $ authority, like in my story. In retrospect, I don't think a KM attorney could write a million and a half dollar check on his own. But somebody could authorize it.

No prayers, no revelations, no faith, no hope and no charity are involved.

Wish I had a ring side seat.

I had a friend in junior high who was up in the canyon with some other friends. They found a can/bottle of Drano and one of the girls put some down the back of my friend's pants. She has horrible scars down her legs. She had to have plastic surgery and injections into the scars for a long time afterwards.

I tend to believe this woman about what happened in the MTC. Doesn't shock me at all. Like someone else said, she should be careful what she is doing right now.

I want her story to be true too, just as I wanted the church to be true. But piling on drama after drama is too much. Why is she straining credulity to its breaking point? I agree that the church’s smear campaign was underhanded. But she is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. She’s wiping out on the wave of metoo.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I want her story to be true too, just as I wanted
> the church to be true. But piling on drama after
> drama is too much. Why is she straining credulity
> to its breaking point? I agree that the church’s
> smear campaign was underhanded. But she is
> snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. She’s
> wiping out on the wave of metoo.

This. Here's to #metoo dying the death it deserves.

> This. Here's to #metoo dying the death it
> deserves.

Because rape is a good thing.