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August 23,
2001, To Susan Snyder
Subject: "Woman seeks blind justice..."
Thank you for your article on Sunday, August 12, 2001 titled "Woman
seeks blind justice from courts." I became familiar with
Anya Duke's struggle with the Clark County court system last year, in
July and August 2000.
I thought your article was excellent in reflecting Anya's endurance
and strength, her determination to have her case heard in spite of
insurmountable obstacles aligned against her. As a citizen, I
would have liked to hear more about these obstacles, who and what they
are.
We're now in the new millenium, we're supposedly the strongest
country in the world, and are said to enjoy the greatest freedoms and
rights of any other people on earth. We have more lawyers
per capita than any other nation. We have the ACLU! Who could
ask for more. So why, then, does a blind woman have to spend
her life savings, with over 300 pleadings herself, struggle bitterly
like Sisyphus for over seven years in an uphill battle, expending all her
energy against a system that punishes her for trying to be
heard. And this is called a "justice" system.
Where is the outrage? How has this happened? How could
we have let the system of law deteriorate into such a mockery of
citizenship? Have lawyers and judges no
conscience?
Why should any citizen in this country have to go through what Anya
Duke has gone through just to have her case heard? What kind of
a sick system is this and who is going to fix it?
Betty J. Butler
September 18, 2000
Dear Judge Saitta:
After reading the commentaries of Vin Suprynowicz on July 30
and August 13, 2000, I am deeply grieved. I believe not only
that Anya Duke was robbed of justice by a woman in a black robe, but
that judges in the state of Nevada are not fit to be addressed as "Your
Honor." (The word "honor" means "honesty or integrity in one's
beliefs or actions, a source of credit or distinction, high respect as
for worth, merit, or rank.")
The
Mission Statement of the Eighth Judicial District court
reads:
The Court is a forum for
dispute resolution built on a foundation of
personal integrity, equal and informed access and
fairness, by a team committed to efficient, timely,
and innovative services for our
community.
According to the information published in the newspaper, the
foundation of "personal integrity" and "equal and informed access and
fairness" has crumbled and disintegrate with your help. Presumably,
your "innovative service" was to prohibit Mrs. Duke from mentioning that
she was visually impaired, blind, or disabled. Where in
the law are you directed to prohibit a plaintiff from presenting
her case?
You were given the opportunity to demonstrate honor and integrity
in protecting the right of a citizen to have her case
heard fairly and equitably by a jury. In my opinion, you
have not only insulted Anya Duke but all the
citizens of Clark County by failing to uphold the principles
of fairness and honesty. Then you further insult the public's
intelligence by proclaiming that you are just following the
law.
Upon what "valid legal motion" was this case dismissed? It is
apparent to me that in "your court" the scales of justice are
balanced in favor of those with money, power, and
influence. One doesn't have to go to medical school to
know what good health is. One doesn't have to go to law school
to know what justice is. One doesn't have to be a scholar to know
when our public servants are serving themselves, not the
public.
The public put you in the District Court and I hope they will
see fit to take you out.
Tell the veterans of this state and the families who buried
loved ones killed in military service what our sons and
brothers and fathers fought and died for. They thought they were
defending freedom and justice for people like Anya. Did they die so
that Nancy Saitta could deny Anya Duke a fair trial before a jury of
her peers? Did they fight to defend judicial tyranny? Did
they die so that the "law" could be used to batter
and crush defenseless people, after depriving them of their life
savings?
When did you put your life on the line to defend liberty and
justice in America, Mrs. Saitta?
I believe you are simply more interested in your career and the
approval of your peers than with justice for those who appear
before you. However, the ancient saying is still in
effect: "You reap what you sow." As you have judged
others, so will you be judged."
Your conduct in the courtroom makes it obvious that more effort is
needed to publicize cases like Anya's - this case needs national
publicity so everyone can see and hear how justice is done in
Nevada. I will take every opportunity to spread the word of what I
believe is an outrageous miscarriage of "justice". I can
understand why you became defensive and did not want to explain your
position to a journalist.
I pray that God will open your eyes. As the Bible, the
original law book, says, you can have eyes and still not see.
What good will it do you to gain the whole world but lose your own
soul?
Sincerely, Betty J.
Butler
WORKING TOGETHER TO ATTAIN
FAIRNESS | 
