**TRIGGER WARNING** (as per the subject material of this petition etc.)
Hello everyone!
First off, thank you SO much for the kind words and support that all 134 of you have given to me at this point. Thank you for sharing my story and seeing the urgency in this situation. It makes me feel hope that we can stop my abuser from being granted the expungement he is seeking.
A new court date has been set for Friday April 8, 2022 - which is great news!! It means that despite my ex having filed this back in October 2021, and me not hearing about it until ONE week ago... we have a little time to garner more support and fight this! Please keep sharing my story, please talk about it and encourage others to as well. I've seen how social media has saved people in situation's similar to mine and I know we can do it if we stay adamant in our statement that DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OFFENDERS DO NOT DESERVE EXPUNGEMENTS!!
If we are successful in this, I hope to turn my page into a hub for other victims to bring me their stories who are looking for justice and help. I would love to bring my experiences to others and see other victim's hold the power in these situations where power is often taken from us.
Look for a video update on here very soon (within the next day or so).
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PS: I've had some very horrible comments left on my page and posts in the past day... it can be assumed that my ex has found out about this petition and is likely retaliating in a way he assumes will not get him in trouble, since all eyes are on him. I've seen a couple of "free my boy Keith" and "Let me hear Keith speak" comments... which are most likely Keith, his family or his friends. He knows that he can't message me now, because I won't hesitate to file another Order of Protection** against him the second he threatens me or my children again.
**I had to drop the last Order of Protection (unfortunately) during my daughter's adoption, since his demands for discontinuing his sudden threatening pursuit for my vulnerable oldest child were I had to drop the OP & give up child support. I very reluctantly dropped the OP and made it clear that I still wanted it in place/won't hesitate to refile for one if needed - I was scared at the time, because his lawyer was arguing that Keith shouldn't have to live with "one mistake"... despite that "one mistake" actually meaning 6 long years of severe psychological and physical abuse... and my baby was not something that I could gamble on - there was NO chance I was letting that violent abuser and rapist get ahold of, so I took the first option I could to protect her - I risked my life to protect her back in 2014 and I will never not prioritize protecting my children.
I saw close to no justice in this case:
- $400 Restitution, never saw - applied it to a "child support credit"... which then the court didn't assign Keith child support until my daughter was almost 3 years old, and after that Keith came for my child with the intention of forcing me to drop that OP/Child Support Order (Neither he, nor his family, ever cared about my baby before, then or now... as shown when he tried to kill that baby and me back in 2014 and again in 2018-2019 when he harassed me via Facebook, dragged me through court knowing I was 7, 8 and 9 months pregnant with my 2nd child, and then again only a week after I gave birth).
He only cares about $$$ and his family only cares about their "image".
- Originally pursued the charges of Torture, Aggravated Assault (with a deadly weapon), Felony Imprisonment and Domestic Violence... but of course while I was in the Hospital in a trauma unit, they gave him a Plea Deal for just the Felony Imprisonment and Domestic Violence that he plead GUILTY to. He still did all of the things that in most other states would make him ineligible for Expungement... he still did them to me and I still suffered the trauma of it all, despite whether the court officially said he was guilty or not. My videos show him racking a gun and waving it around, my videos show him threatening me with rifles, a shotgun and a pistol. My videos made it clear that he intended to kill police officers if I called the cops and he is shown on video loaded the high-capacity mags/banana clip in preparation for the blood bath he anticipated when he realized that I had gotten ahold of the phone and he believed I had called 911 while he had left the room for a minute. I knew he would shoot me. I knew he would shoot cops. That's why I tried to ride it out and preserve as much life as possible. That's why I tried to get evidence this time, so I could protect myself later. Keith Robert Watson is a sick human being. He made my traumatized self load the guns into the attic in the spare room so they would be hidden, and if found - he hoped it would appear like I touched the weapons to clear him in some sort of manner.
- I had little to no support during all of this, aside from a few friends and family members. I was publicly victim shamed and blamed in the comment section of internet news media and outlets... being told:
"Should have wrapped it up before sticking it in her"
"Should have taken birth control"
"That's what you get for being easy/a slut/a whore"
"She just wants child support"
"She just wants to trap him"
"She should have just left him"
"She should have called the cops"
"She should have text 911"
"She should have gotten an abortion"
"What did she think living with a man unmarried"
"What did SHE do to make him so mad"
"I bet she provoked him"
"He was young"
"He
.... see the pattern here ?
A whole lots of "she should haves" and a list of possible "excuses" that other mean deemed as acceptable for why he could have hurt me... but not a lot of anything in the way of calling him out for his heinous crimes.
My response to all of that now:
1) Nothing I could have done would make me deserving of abuse.
2) Nothing he did had an excuse.
3) I did try to text police, but it was not active in 2014 I found out, and honestly - it's a good thing that I couldn't contact the police or I might not be alive to type this petition today and families might be mourning the deaths of 1+ police officers right now.
4) Keith constantly sexually abused me and forced me to do things against my will. He didn't care about consent, if he actually knew what it was. Keith frequently forced me to have sex with him without a condom because "it felt better" and was constantly buying me Plan B afterwards and would watch me take it. Yes, I was on birth control, he took me to all of my appointments. I was pregnant multiple times in our relationship, because of what he did to me and I can't even remember the exact number of miscarriages I had as a teen. Keith would stick parsley inside of me, beat me and force me to take Vitamin C in high amounts to try to end pregnancies.
5) Keith actually forced me to have an abortion at 17 or 18 (I don't remember) because it was believed I was farther along and wasn't going to miscarry this time, so he drove me to somewhere in Downstate Michigan, Lansing I think, and put me through a very a similar situation to the 2014 one (with the exception that he beat me much worse in that case, possibly because he didn't have guns to threaten me at the time).
* I remember asking the Nurse for a photo of the baby (they force you to have an ultrasound/might be a law) before the abortion procedure - and the nurse/practitioner laughed in my face and said, "If I was there... why would I want a picture of a pregnancy I was trying to get rid of". That was awful to experience. Don't use this as an anti-abortion movement btw, I'm pro-choice and always will be... the problem is, is that I didn't have a choice here. I was forced by Keith Robert Watson.
.... Sorry, my brain is on fire with everything going on. I hope what I'm writing makes sense... but if it doesn't, well... it feels good to get this off my chest. I wish I was strong enough to do this sooner, but maybe it's not too late now.
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I also want to remind everyone that this petition, my page and all related content are SOLELY for the purpose of education, awareness and intended to promote safety for the public. I am speaking my truth and sharing my story, which is all well within my right.
This campaign for justice is in NO way a call for any sort of vigilanteism and I do not condone violence in any manner, with the exception of situational and appropriate self-defense.
I ask that everyone remains strong together in all forums I open up and that we continue to diligently call out the great injustice that is happening here, where I the victim, must once again go through dealing with the painful and traumatic experiences that Keith Robert Watson of Traverse City, Michigan put me through. I must once again stir up the many things I've worked so hard to leave in my past... but I must do it for me, my children and the public who otherwise would be left open to be blindsided by this abuser. If this man can seal (HIDE) his violent past and possess weapons that he used to threaten my life and the life growing inside me... that is dangerous. What happens the next time something or someone upsets him? What danger would he possess to the community in which he lives in or any community he should choose to visit? How safe would his neighbors, co-workers and relationships be if he was able to live without a publicly viewable record of his violent and dangerous offenses?
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE should NEVER be excused.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE records should NEVER be expunged or sealed.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE records should be freely available to the public.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE is a crime that TRAUMATIZES & KILLS people.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE offenders should NEVER be allowed weapons.
Stand for and with victims and survivors of domestic violence.
Hear our tired and traumatized voices and assign appropriate punishments to violent people.
There should be NO "clean slate" for people like Keith Robert Watson.
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Media: I added the Facebook Group for emergency updates/media/videos that aren't postable here.
Feel free to comment, share and ask questions there!