On April 28, 2004, Johnson filed a tort claim notice against the county, expressing her intent to sue for its negligent supervision of Stephens which resulted in her rape.

While Johnson was still incarcrated, The Oregonian ran an Octostory about StephensвЂ™ post-release supervision, in which Melissa BittlerвЂ™s father said he was considering legal action. Johnson attended StephensвЂ™ court proceedings in July 2003. While she was in jail, the Multnomah County District AttorneyвЂ™s Office told her that Stephens was her assailant in the 1997 rape. On December 30, 2002, Johnson began serving a jail sentence that lasted until October 20, 2003. One of those articles included his photo. In December 2002 both The Oregonan and Willamette Week newspapers ran several articles critical of the stateвЂ™s post-release supervision of Stephens. On July 28, 2002, The Oregonian reported that Stephens had failed polygraph tests while on supervision. A Jarticle indicated, however, that Stephens had been on parole since his December 1996 release from prison. On May 31, 2002, The Oregonian reported that вЂњStephens had вЂbeen under high-level supervision and undergoing sex offender treatmentвЂ™ before his most recent arrest.вЂќ The article quoted a Multnomah County Department of Community Justice spokesperson as saying it was вЂњvery difficult for the supervising officers to realize this killer was one of our individuals on parole.вЂќ Again, the article did not mention Johnson or that Stephens was on parole supervision in 1997. When Stephens raped Johnson he was under post-prison supervision for three attempted kidnappings he had served six years in prison. A story in The Oregonian newspaper reported StephensвЂ™ вЂњarrest for the rape of a Portland woman and similarities to the rapes of other victims.вЂќ The article described details of earlier rapes, which matched the details of JohnsonвЂ™s rape, but did not mention her name. Johnson was not initially informed that DNA had established that Stephens was her rapist. PLN has previously reported on the Bittler case. DNA tests linked him to JohnsonвЂ™s rape, the rapes of three other young girls, and to the highly publicized 2001 rape and murder of 14-year-old Melissa Bittler. More than four years later, on April 29, 2002, Ladon Stephens was arrested on charges arising from a different rape. In November 1997, 14-year-old Akilah Johnson was assaulted and raped by a stranger. The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a lower courtвЂ™s grant of summary judgment against a teenage girl who was raped by a violent parolee. Share: Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on G+ Share with email

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