 Welcome everyone, and thank you for being here today. I am Christine Downs with the Denver Police Department. Every 68 seconds someone is sexually assaulted in America. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the first Wednesday is designated as Start By Believing Day, which encourages all to believe victims, survivors of sex assault. In a moment, you will hear from Mayor Hancock, District Attorney Beth McCann, Executive Director of the Blue Bench, Megan Carvajal, Forensic Nurse Program Manager at Denver Health, Michelle Metz, but first and most important, no offense to anyone else. But we have Amanda, and she's going to tell us her story. Thank you. Excuse me. My name is Amanda. So, where to begin? St. Patrick's Day. It started off as a day of fun, turned into one of the worst days of my life. I lost my phone downtown Denver, as well as my group of friends. Two guys agreed to help, but to them that meant leading me to a parking garage, taking their turns raping me, and running away. I was left alone, scratched, dirty, putting my pants on. I was so disoriented, I was crying and screaming for help. I couldn't figure out where the elevator was. Some citizens walking by came and helped me. They were the first to believe me. They helped me. They called 911 and stayed with me until the police arrived. I had to explain what just happened, but I wasn't making much sense. So I had to explain to the officer two different times. I was taken to the hospital under privacy protection. Due to the circumstances, nobody could know I was there. The staff at the hospital took care of me. However, since this was a rape case, I had to meet a same nurse. We went into a big private room, where she examined every part of my body, inside and out. What a caring, loving lady she was. Being vulnerable and showing her every bit of my body was one of the hardest things to do after just being violated. She believed me. She explained what needed to happen. She let me take my time and comforted me as much as she could. She gave me a pair of sweats to wear since they had to keep my clothes. While I was in the hospital, it was brought to my attention that my sister was calling looking for me. The staff couldn't tell her I was there. They took her number down, and I was able to call her back. Meanwhile, my brother-in-law was searching the streets downtown with a picture of me, asking if anyone had seen me. My mom died a month and a half prior to this happening. I remember she talked with me when I was younger. She told me if I was ever raped or anything happened to me, took call 911 right away. I feel like she's my guardian angel and helped me to stay strong during this. My stepdad came to pick me up from the hospital. My family believed me and did their best to comfort me. My stepdad went with me to the detective's office a couple days later. I did not know the two offenders' names, so I had to describe them. This information was put on the news on crime stoppers. I received a call one day. They found the suspects and arrested them. Someone called their information in. This is where the next part of the journey began. I wanted to press charges. These guys needed to know what they did wasn't okay. Also, I didn't want this happening to anyone else. Come to find out I was already the second known victim to Jacob. Apparently, he assaulted a 14-year-old girl before. She just couldn't go through the process. Understandably so. It's mentally tough to say the least. Knowing this, I really had to stay strong. I was assigned a DA, one of the most amazing ladies out there, Miss Maggie Conboy. She believed me, encouraged me, and helped kept me going when I didn't want to face reality anymore. There were several times I wanted to quit and give up. Maggie supported me either way, but she helped keep, excuse me, she helped me keep the courage to continue on. She was sensitive to my feelings and could even get me to smile. I was assigned another amazing lady, whom I'm forever grateful for, is victims advocate Jenny Johnson. She believed me and helped support me through the entire process. She helped give me strength, believe in myself, and offered support, love, and hope. Since there was two rapists, I had to go through two trials, as if one isn't hard enough. There was evidence, DNA, and people who believed me that went through the trials to testify. Each trial was a week long. I had my team and some family come with to support me on the day I testified, as well as accompanying me to hear the judge say the words guilty, as well as the sentencing days. I thought this was it. I felt beyond grateful for Maggie's hard work and dedication. Jenny continued to help support me. She suggested utilizing the blue bench as a resource. I felt my healing process could really begin. A couple years later, it was brought to my attention that the rapists were trying to appeal the rulings out of prison. Jacob and Joshua were both given 16 years to life. Unfortunately, Joshua had an awful lawyer guiding him. The man acted like a clown during trial, calling me several names, accused me of being a prostitute. This appeal was sent to the Supreme Court and granted. Joshua was out and I felt like we were back at square one. This meant a retrial, etc. I had two choices. Let him stay out and just carry on with life or stand up and fight again. Guess who didn't miss a beat, jumped right back into the rules and carried us through another trial. Maggie, Jenny by my side, in another phenomenal DA, Adrian Green. Another week-long trial, Joshua ended up taking a plea bargain. I'm sorry, but innocent people do not accept pleas like this. This trial really shook things up for me again emotionally. I received some extra help from the blue bench. Anyone I met from there was so kind, believed me and offered help. So much help, even Casey is here with me to help give her support. About a month or so ago, I saw Joshua at the gym. I still have a protection order against him, so he should have left. But he didn't. I made the gym staff aware. I reached out to Casey. Later in the day, I called the police to report it. The officer I spoke with was so kind and helpful. He listened and offered extremely helpful tips if this were to ever happen again. With that being said, I have received the most amazing support and care over the last 12 years. A village of strangers believed me and believed in me, which helped give me the strength and courage to be where I am today. Without my faith in God and incredible support system, I honestly do not think I could have gone through this. Thank you to everyone who believed me. It's empowering and humbling. It is so easy to shut down and not want to carry out the long emotional roller coaster. When people believe in you, it makes things a little bit easier. Thank you all for listening. I hope when other victims reach out, we can all believe them and help. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the strength. And thank you, Jenny and Christine, for reaching out and offering me this opportunity to me. Have a good day. Thank you, Amanda. And now I would like to call it Mayor Hancock. Thank you, Christine. And to Amanda, thank you for the courage and willingness to share your story. As a father of two adult daughters, as a grandfather, two-year-old granddaughter, and some 30-plus nieces and great nieces, your story resonated with me. And I'm grateful that you shared the story and several times you talked about people believing you and believing that that helped and was the most important thing that someone could have done when she confided and went through that very tragic incident. Denver has been proud to support the International Start by Believing Campaign since 2015. And I want to thank those who are here today. Of course, the Denver Police Department, Chief Payson, and the entire department, the District Attorney's Office, Beth McCann, who will speak in just a moment. Of course, Denver Health and the Blue Bench, who have been here every year outside of the pandemic, to make sure that we are reminded about this important position that we should all be in when we are confronted with someone who has gone through and a terrible, terrible tragedy. Raising the awareness is important. And while we say it's a campaign, it's more than that. We recognize it's also a shift. It's a shift from doubt to blame to believing and supporting. No one has the right to sexually assault another person. And it's our responsibility to bring awareness to the sexual assault and the importance of making sure that we start by believing. A loved one and friend is usually the first person a survivor tells about the sexual assault. Amanda had to tell some strangers in the parking garage and then the nurse. Our reaction, though, no matter who it is, in that moment is crucial to their healing and whether they seek support from loved ones or a professional. Support comes in many forms from going to the hospital or taking someone to the hospital and thank you for those good Samaritans, calling the police, reaching out to the Blue Bench or all the options, all the above options. No one should suffer in silence. It's important that we prepare ourselves for how best to react because, sadly, it's likely that we all know multiple people. We all know multiple people who have been sexually assaulted. And our reaction to their trauma can make a world of difference. So we invite people to go to Denvergov.org-slash-start-by-believing to learn what to say, what to do, and who to call if you are confided in. And remember our response. Our response can simply, can be as simple as I believe you. Denver starts by believing. I hope you do as well. I want to thank you again, Amanda, for sharing your story. Thank all of you for being here as well and for this important campaign. Please welcome to the podium District Attorney Beth McCann. Thank you all. And good afternoon. And thank you for joining us here today for the official start of the Start By Believing Campaign and Awareness Month. I want to thank, join the Mayor in thanking Amanda for her courage in coming forward and speaking to all of you today. It takes a lot of, a lot of courage and we really appreciate it. I also want to thank the Mayor and, of course, the Denver Police Department, Chief Payson, Denver Health Medical Center and our sane nurses who are so important when we are trying to prove these cases and the Blue Bench for supporting our victims through this arduous process. You heard from Amanda what it involves and it is indeed an arduous process. And I just want to take a moment to recognize Jenny Johnson who is here, who is the victim advocate, she's the head of our victim advocates, who helped Amanda and Maggie Conboy would be here, but Maggie is down the street doing her opening arguments in a first degree murder trial where a husband is accused of killing his wife. So otherwise I know she would be here to support you, Amanda. So it's interesting, during the early days and through the height of COVID, the Denver DA's office actually saw a significant drop in sexual assault cases that we filed. We attribute that to a decline in fewer people going out at night and being out and about. But, well, let me just give you the statistics. In 2018 we filed 163 cases of sexual assault and in 2019 128 cases. Case filings plummeted to 82 in 2020, and sadly they crept back up in 2021 when we filed 105 sexual assault cases and we believe they are continuing to rise. With filings on the rise it is meaningful that we gather today as civic leaders to say with one voice, when you tell us you are sexually assaulted, we will start by believing you. And we know how important that is as victims navigate the system with us. This campaign is really about inspiring people like Amanda to end their silence. With more than half of all sexual assaults going unreported, you, Amanda, represent the many victims that we support on their very personal journeys through healing and justice. Ultimately, if we are to hold sexual predators accountable for their past actions and prevent them from assaulting others in the future, people must report their abuse to our fine Denver Police Department and then stick with us as we go through this criminal justice process as Amanda did. That's the message that we want to get out today that we will support you, we will believe you, and we want you to report your situation and work with us as we go through the system because we will bring people to justice. As happened in Amanda's case, one through ultimately a plea agreement and one through a jury trial, we will proceed on these cases through the court system. So please, anyone who is listening who knows someone who has indicated that they have been the victim of sexual assault or if someone is the victim themselves, please do call our Denver Police Department and then we will proceed through the criminal justice system in order to hold people accountable. So thank you very much. I am now going to turn it over to Megan from the Blue Bench. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Megan Carvajal. I am the Executive Director of the Blue Bench. It is my honor and privilege to stand here with my partners in Denver to stand up for survivors of sexual assault in our community. At the Blue Bench, we always start by believing, and we know that three simple words, I believe you, can uplift and empower a survivor and support them on their healing journey. I believe that to support survivors and end sexual violence, we have to take individual action as well as work together as a community. Violence in any form, including sexual violence, cannot be eradicated without a community coming together. This is something that we must all do to make a difference, especially those of us who hold positions of power like my colleagues and I do, those of us here today. We can lead by setting an example. I am challenging each of us here today to live up to this ideal, day in and day out. Let's start by believing and make it more than a catchphrase, more than a month-long campaign. Together, we can build a more caring community that is supportive of survivors of sexual assault that works together to end sexual violence and challenges the positional power and control that we continue to uphold. I believe in us as a community. I believe that we can support survivors and end sexual violence. I believe survivors. Someone believed me and I believe you. And now it's an honor to introduce to you our friend Michelle Metz with Denver Health. Amanda, thank you so much. I know how hard it is to stand in front of all of these people, so I appreciate it too. I'm Michelle Metz. I'm the forensic nurse program manager at Denver Health, also known as SANE. And I have been part of this really important group of nurses as team since 2006. After sexual assault, victims have a choice to have a medical forensic exam with evidence collection performed. As you can imagine, the process can be challenging for a patient who comes in, on top of considering what just happened to them. This is why it's of the utmost importance that Denver Health, my team, and I start by believing our patients. Start by believing creates a safe environment so patients can come in and get the care that they need and deserve without judgment. Patients are in control of all aspects of an exam, including if they want law enforcement involvement at the time that they come in. While it's hard to... So I've been a part of this here since we've started doing this in Denver in 2015. And it's really difficult to give tangible evidence of whether or not it makes a difference, but I can tell you it does. From my own experience of seeing patients and the impact that I see from it. It's decreased barriers when it comes to conversations between our multidisciplinary teams, the general public. It's also decreased some of those barriers for communication when it comes to our patients who come in, speaking with just hospital staff or with members of my team, for both of them and also for their support systems. I can say firsthand that being believed makes a tremendous impact. I've heard this from patients even speaking to them later on, just saying, oh, and when I said something, I heard, I'm sorry that happened to you. I believed you. Let's make sure that you're taken care of. Denver Health starts by believing. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle. As I stated earlier, I'm with the Denver Police Department, which has a dedicated team of investigators and victim assistants who help these victims. They obviously make an impact, too. And we thank them for that work. We were able to do this based on this great team that you see in front of you and the people that are also here in attendance today. And we thank them for caring, recognizing the importance of it, and staying with us as we move through this through the many years we've been doing it. I also want to thank Amanda again. I don't think we can say it enough. I think you made an impact on everybody here, and I hope it will impact on anybody that hears your story because it is very important and to all those who support survivors. Everybody in this room has a direct impact, and it means so much to everybody involved. And lastly, as you're driving around town today, you'll see some teal buildings. Teal is the color. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it work, but my nails did. But Empower Field has always been a great participant. Empower Field at Mile High Stadium, Ball Arena, the Buell and the Elliott, the Performing Arts Complex, and the City and County building will all be teal tonight. And as we close, just remember it's as simple as I believe you. Thank you.