She Was My First Marital Rape Client

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on April 5, 2025

Marital rape was legal in Alabama until 1993.

Two months after I graduated from the University of Alabama’s law school, I gave a speech at the Southeastern Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc.  In my July 31, 1973, speech, I paid a tribute to my mother, my three sisters, and my female cousins, all of whom were trailblazers and all of whom had blocked for me on the playing field of life since childhood.  

Because of my lifelong exposure to these powerful women, I revered strong, smart women who were trailblazing in America’s male-dominated society.

My law practice for the next 46 years would be dedicated to leveling the playing field for women and Blacks in Alabama and elsewhere.  Throughout my career, I would use law as a tool to uplift the downtrodden members of society.

She was the Victim of Marital Rape

It was the Spring of 1976 when I got a call from my first marital rape victim.  I am withholding her name for privacy reasons.

The woman called me from the Sand Mountain area in northeast Alabama and asked for an appointment to see me about a divorce. Days later, she drove to my Montgomery office on the day of her appointment.  

She was an attractive, middle-aged woman who was tired of being raped and physically abused by her husband. He was a high-ranking officer in the Alabama State Troopers. 

She was my first white divorce client.  She was very professional and courteous, but deeply wounded as a woman. 

Even though I had only been practicing law since 1973, I already had a statewide reputation for standing up for women’s rights.  My legal work in the women’s rights movement started immediately after I passed my Alabama Bar exams in September 1973.

Divorce cases was one of my specialty areas for the first ten years out of me law practice.  I only represented women in these cases.

In my divorce cases, I tended to crucify men who did not financially support their children, as well as those who physically abused or raped their wives.  I showed no mercy for marital rapists.  The more abuse my divorce clients suffered, the harder I worked to crush their abusers.

I perfected creative ways for jailing physical abusers on criminal charges and contempt citations.  To me, this was the only behavioral modification technique that worked quickly and effectively.

In Alabama, marital rape would not become illegal until 1993 when the state legislature repealed the marital rape exemption that prevented husbands from being charged with rape for sexual acts committed against their wives.

Meeting My Client’s Husband

As a courtesy, I contacted my client’s husband (who worked in Montgomery) and asked him for a meeting before I filed her complaint.  He obliged me, but he did not want to meet in my office.  Instead, the husband came in his unmarked State Trooper car to pick me up from my office. 

During our drive around downtown Montgomery, the husband, who was armed, threatened to “fuck [me] up” if I represented his wife.  He called me an “arrogant, uppity nigger” who was getting out of my place.  I listened to this man’s racial slurs and profanity-laced rant, without saying much. 

When my client’s husband finished driving me around, he let me out in front of my office. As I exited the car, I leaned in and told this man I would see him in court.  His face turned fire engine red.

My client gave me authorization to file the divorce complaint.  I loaded the husband down with a detailed divorce complaint and a ton of simultaneously filed discovery requests. 

I also filed a simultaneous motion for an emergency restraining order to keep him away from my client during the divorce proceedings.  The Order was quickly granted after her husband failed to show for the hearing.

For the next three weeks, I subjected the husband to a Blitzkrieg technique I would later call “laser litigation.”  It broke him right away and he agreed to the divorce settlement my client wanted.

My client was elated.  Her physical abuse ended from the moment the husband met me in Montgomery.  I did not care about his racial slurs or threats of physical harm, which I had experienced from so many white police officers, white attorneys, and white judges before I met him.  I just wanted my client’s dignity and freedom restored. 

We secured her divorce, her dignity as a woman, and her freedom in record time.

Epilogue

My client’s case (and others who were similarly situated) went a long way toward ending marital rape in Alabama.  Word of her case spread quickly within the ranks of Alabama’s law enforcement community. 

She was an extremely brave woman.  It was an honor to represent her.

I stayed in touch with my client, via phone calls, for many years.  I will never forget her courage and commitment to ending marital rape for women in Alabama.

I ended my divorce practice in 1983 because it was skewing my view of the institution of marriage and making me increasingly hostile toward married men who emotionally, physically, and sexually abused their wives.  I was beginning to take great pleasure in punishing these abusers, which I knew was not right.

Ten years later, Alabama ended a husband’s legal right to rape his wife.  Hopefully, our society, in its quest to "Make America Great Again," will never go back to that place in time.