Tornado | EP 5 | Saskia's Story

On December eighteenth, twenty eighteen, Mike Levinngood was charged with rape. The prosecutors spent the next year building the case against him. They were going to a jury trial, and the state wanted a conviction, so they ran toxicology, consulted with experts, combed through online chats, and analyzed every moment of the dozens of videos they were able to track down. In the end, they gathered over thirty videos Mike had filmed without Saskia's consent. In many of them, she was completely

I wanted him to be in jail, and I felt like testifying against him and holding him accountable would get me back some of my power.

But if the jury questioned Saski's story, Mike could walk free. For Ashley inder Firth, the lead prosecutor on the case, it was nerve wracking.

This isn't a scenario where it's a fifty to fifty and we got to get it to fifty one percent.

The jury has to believe it beyond a reasonable doubt.

In the final lead up to the trial, Ashley had to pass the case off to another colleague.

I had to go out on returnity leave.

She was pregnant with twins and they came early in the months after they were born. She practically lived in the nick.

Yew and I was sort of, you know, really not thinking about work.

But this case was an exception.

The day before Mike's trial was set to begin, Ashley was in the hospital. She was at her baby's bedside when her phone rang. It was Rebecca mcvittie, the prosecutor who took over Saski's case. Ashley answered right away.

She knew how much I cared about it, and she called me to make sure I was okay with what she was.

Going to do.

I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, Season five, Episode five, Tornado. Saskia had just started working again after taking a year off to manage her trauma. That morning, she was sitting in a conference room talking with her fellow social workers, but the only thing on her mind was tomorrow's trial. She was expecting a call from the prosecutor to let her know what time to be there the next day. Instead, she got a message saying there was news.

And I said, I had to excuse myself, and I went into the psychiatris's office because it was a bigger room, and I went and sat on the chair and was kind of shaking and just waiting to hear what happened. How we were proceeding.

The minutes crept by. Then, after what felt like an eternity.

I got the call saying that he made this plea deal and they wanted to accept it.

Mike was pleading guilty. He would serve time and be on the sex offender registry for life, but.

He only had to plead guilty for one count of rape. And it kind of felt like it discounted all of the times, all of the deceit, all of the manipulation. It was like it came down to one incident.

For a year, Saskia had been preparing to take the stand to make Mike answer for what he'd done to her in video after video. Now she learned there would be only one charge and there would be no trial.

I felt that my chance to speak my truth was gone, and my emotions all the lead up to that just kind of drained out of me in tears.

The decision to go to trial wasn't hers to make because the prosecutors don't represent Saskia like attorneys would in a civil case. They represent the state of Maryland and its citizens as a whole, and they had to be realistic with the instructions given to the jury. Would they convict? Remember, the law wasn't on Saskia's side. Force was required to prosecute spouses for rape.

But the force was minimal because she was completely incapacitated.

That's Debbie Feinstein, head of the Special Victim's Division at the State's Attorney's Office in Montgomery County. She supervised the case.

We could see on the videos that he had moved parts of her body, and we planned to argue that was force.

What do you have been successful?

I don't know, because it's not conventionally what someone thinks of when they think of force.

The burden of proof was incredibly high. Any doubt as to whether Mike's actions come instituted forcible rape could throw the whole case out the window. He could walk free. The state's attorneys also had to think about Saskia. They were aware of Saskia's alcohol use, her dependence on prescription medications, her mental health history, and her dad's mental health history. These were all things that a defense attorney would use to turn a jury against her. Here's Ashley, the original prosecutor.

They're going to be throwing out these things about this person to try to undermine their credibility, and that is a really hard thing for victims to deal with, and it makes it harder for us to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Everyone at the state's attorney's office believed Saskia, they'd seen the evidence this woman had been raped, but their belief in Saskia and their certainty that this was a crime wasn't enough to ensure a conviction. As Debbie told.

Us, unfortunately, mental health still has stigma around it that can impact a juror.

It shouldn't, but it does.

With all of this in mind, when Mike said he was ready to take a plea. The prosecutors said yes, with a plea deal, they'd avoid the risk of a jury acquitting Mike. They'd get a guaranteed guilty. When Ashley, the original prosecutor, got the news, I.

Was really glad to hear it.

Given all of the complexities with this case, I thought that him pleading guilty was the very best thing that could happen. I told my colleague that I was very pleased with what she had been able to work out.

So the decision was made. There would be no trial, but Saskia would still get her day in court because after Mike took the plea, he had a sentence in hearing. At this hearing, Judge Jill Cummins would determine exactly how long Mike would spend behind bars. Saskia walked down the center aisle into the courtroom with her sister, brothers and friends by her side.

We were just all so excited for at least this piece of this terrible process to be behind me and behind us, and for him to at least be taken away in shackles for doing what he did.

The courtroom was emptier than she'd imagined it. It was just a handful of spectators, some attorneys, some clerks, and the judge. Sitting at the front of the room where the jury would have been were twelve vacant chairs. Saskia, her friends and family took their seats in the gallery.

We're just pretty dead, silent, waiting for the case to be called and waiting for Mike to be brought in.

And then the doors opened. In walked Mike. Saska's friend Bridget recalls seeing him that day. He was wearing a suit and brand new white sneakers. At a glance, he was put together, but the outfit didn't fool her.

He looked gaunt, and he had lost a lot of weight from stress. And that's only because he knew he got caught. You would think that you would put your head down or just have some level of remorse or shame, and he didn't. He looked straight at me and then looked straight ahead.

It gave me chills.

Mike took his seat next to his two attorneys. The sentencing hearing was ready to begin. What we're about to play for you are real excerpts from that day.

Falk from Fast one three Bods zero six thirty staying around as Michael Paul Leving didn't been.

A morning all.

The hearing began with a statement by one of Mike's defense attorneys. He was determined to get the minimum possible penalty for his client, and he pulled out every stop to make that happen.

Every scene has a passed and every sinner has a future, and Mike, the great parts of him will continue and dominate for the rest of his life in this particular case. Regarding the conduct here, mister Leavenood' every sands that he is unacceptable, and I'm very confident as I stand here today that he has internalized that.

The attorney had witnesses prepared to testify to Mike's strong character, and he had letters from Mike's family, friends, and coworkers all saying the same thing. Mike was a good man and kind to others.

He has been empathetic to others. He has been non self centered. He's been a giving person and an excellent dad, and an excellent employee and friend to dozens throughout his life.

On top of that, Mike had been given a psych evaluation. It's commonly done in criminal cases to help inform sentencing decisions. Mike's evaluator said he was a low risk to society. He wasn't a danger to other women. As Mike's attorney argued, this crime was a misstep in an otherwise perfect life.

When you get in the mix of the tornado and whirlwind of pornography addiction or pornography fixation, however you want to characterize it, it kind of twirls you out of control at certain moments. And again, there's nothing that takes away in anything that I'm saying on his own responsibility, in his own agency and his own free will. What I do think that this was part of this kind of hailstorm or tornado is the best thing I could

Mike's other attorney also made remarks, and of course he brought up the marital exemption.

Much of the most offensive behavior in this case was actually this legal under the law right, which has no bearing on whether or not it's moral, appropriate, desired, or right. But as it was, this case was difficult because incapacitation is not a grounds of sexual assault. With your spouts in Maryland, and the hours of footage that were presented by the state were largely of somebody.

Incapacitated, and then he snuck in another argument, there were also.

Hours and hours of footage of mutual, completely different conduct that was sexual in nature and was pornographic. It was completely within their marriage and completely within the two of them, and purely for their own private and join them.

I want to underscore what's happening here. Mike was pleading guilty. According to his lawyers, he took full responsibility for what he did to Saskia. He was sorry. But in the same breath, Mike's defense team was trying to discredit Saskia. They were trying to convince the judge that Saskia did consent in hopes of getting Mike less time. This was all one big misunderstanding. You'll hear the judges take on that later in the episode, but for now, back to Mike's attorney.

Mister Leventhood was in a committed marriage. He did not ever cheat on her, did not in any way stray from loving her. His commitment to her was real, and the things that he shared with her were real. However, perverse and raw and misguided and based on so many

With that, he asked to judge to give Mike the lowest possible sentence, and then it was the state's turn. The prosecutor, Rebecca mcvittie, stood up before the judge.

This is a familiar situation for the court in the sense that we have a defendant that, during the light of day, in all regards, is looked at as a contributing member of society, somebody who is lovable and likable, and that is exactly the aspect of the defendant's personality that allowed miss Inwood to fall for him, to love him, and to trust him. But these types of crimes, is the court seen over and over again, are not committed in the light of day. They are committed in darkness

That is not a tornado.

That is a year of perpetuating discontinualb betrayal of trust over and over again with the person he was supposed to protect the most.

Rebecca then described the contents of one of the videos Mike took. Because the charges on paper could never capture what was in those videos, it feels important to Saskia and to us for people to know the extent of Mike's crimes. But if you'd like to skip hearing these details, you can fast forward one minute.

In one of the videos, with the state provided.

To the court, Miss Inwood is a sleep unconscious, however you'd like to say it. About fourteen minutes into her being unconscious, she pushes the defendant away and it looks like she mounts the words stop. After that happened, the defendant continues to perform sexual acts with her, including digital penetration of her vagina, inserting sex toys in her vagina, and at the end you see that he just leaves the camera on while she's unconscious.

In that bad.

There is no doubt that over the course of the year, the defendant waited till she was unconscious to get online and chat and exchange pornographic videos for tokens or coins or payment of some sort. He perpetrated every woman's fear by taking her voice, her choice in the matter, and he left her powerless to protect herself.

Finally, Rebecca brought up the psych evaluation, the one given to Mike, where the psychologist concluded that he was a low risk to society. She said there was one thing missing from that assessment.

Deem and his sex offender evaluation was actually never given a copy of these videos. He was given descriptions by the defense as to what these videos entail. It is a dramatic difference from reading the words on the statement of charges to watching that betrayal, that abuse, and the disturbing act that the defendant chose to record.

And with that, the prosecutor concluded her argument. She asked the judge for the maximum possible sentence under the Plea agreement for Saskia. The speech was validating.

It was like, yes, we've had to go through this painful process, but we didn't doubt that he was guilty.

The prosecutor sat back at her desk, but before Judge Cummins could make her set dancing decision. There was still two people left to hear from.

Her sister would like to speak, and then this would like.

To be heard absolutely.

Saskia and her sister Marisa had prepared victim impact statements. It would be Saskia's one chance to address Mike on the record, and it would be her only opportunity to show the judge who Mike Levinngood really was. Marisa stood up and addressed the court.

Michael leaving good. You have no shame.

You sit here and deny your wrongdoing in the face of irrefutable evidence that you're a rapist. We her family and friends, we know what you did.

She truth clearly.

I know when it all started, even before the date was shared today, because she was deteriorating mentally visibly right before our eyes. And we have no explanation as to why I went with her with you sometimes to multiple doctors and hospitals trying to find out what was wrong with her. No one could answer how she could get well. I recall vividly one night shortly after her mother died, which I will share the That date was September thirtieth, twenty seventeen, right before the videos began.

When, despite drinking no more than anyone else, she was.

Suddenly and surprisingly so incapacitated that she could not walk. Everyone was so concerned what had happened. She was signed one minute and then not the next. We thought about taking her to the hospital, but he was so calm, always in charge, always in control, less concerned than others, and reassured me personally that she would be fine, that he was there to take care of her. And now I have to wonder, based on that date, did you drug her that night or did you just encourage her

Well you felt how powerful to be able to do this.

Without anyone knowing, to be able to pull it off time after time, and then put on your good husband mask during the day and rape the rewards of a beautiful home and a loving wife, your honor. Even now I feel my words are probably lost on him. He has only been concerned about himself and his consequences and his future life. Don't let him displaced lame onto his victim.

Don't let other husbands or wives think they can do whatever they want to their spouses.

Ensure that all people know having effect with an unconscious person is called rape, even when you're married to them.

Thank you, Rol, Thank you Mam.

Then after Marisa, it was finally Saskia's turn. With her paper shaking in her hand, she walked up to a table between the prosecution and the defense. Her body was towards the judge, but really she wanted to deliver the speech to Mike.

I knew not to expect any empathy or remorse, and I think that drove me even more. The only thing that I can get is for him to have to sit with what he did to me.

Let me start by shame. There's not enough jail time for you that will make me feel safe or give me back what I had before you. Victim, ximy, you deserved a maximum possible sentence. He pretended to be a loving husband, and yet you were my attacker.

I posted pictures and videos of your crimes against my body.

On the Internet for people to watch.

I suffered embarrassment and a shame that I don't deserve.

I never deserve it.

What makes you stick to my stubmach to think about the hours and hours those images being launched by strangers.

Maybe the worst part.

Was when I woke up to catch and filming me, and then to finally see evil in your eyes.

And that's exactly what I saw. No remorse, no caring, no sympathy, a cold and empty man. And at that point I knew and no amount of money, a.

Personal discomfort which stopped me from pursuing justice.

So if you were not able to pray on other vulnerable women, you pretended to support me through my ups and downs. Number one flitting on that you were using me. I had no idea that the cause of my misgy was lying in the bed.

Next to me.

You deserve to go to jail with the people who are real dangerous to society. You're a dangerous person who prays on vulnerable and trusting people.

Your sexual predator, Michael Loving Good.

You took away my ability to feel shape and to trust mebody moholeheartedly.

It took away from me my happiness and I'll never be the same because of the able.

Thank you. Misson one.

After Saskia Mike was offered the last word. This would have been the moment to take accountability or to apologize. He chose to say nothing. At last, it came time for Judge Jill Cummins to deliver Mike's sentence.

As very familiar with the statement of charges, knew what you were accused of. I'm very familiar with the facts of the case, but intellectually knowing the facts of the case is very different from watching those videos.

Judge Jill Cummins had been prepared for a full criminal trial. She'd presided over the case for months, hearing all kinds of motions and pre trial arguments. At this point, she knew the case well. Much of the time, at sentencing hearings, judges give brief explanations of their decision. Some judges give no speech at all. Judge Jill Cummins was no such judge.

Mister Lovinggood, what I will tell you is I've read every letter that everyone has submitted on your behalf, your letters from your daughters, your coworkers, your friends, your ex wife, and everyone has the same impression of you as a fine, outstanding person. But interestingly, with the exception i'd say of your ex wife, your friends, your coworkers. They don't know what happens behind bedroom doors and what people do in

Emotion to everything.

I'm very familiar with the facts of the case, but intellectually knowing the facts of the case is very different from watching those videos. Not easy to watch those videos at all.

The judge had only just seen those videos in preparation for the sentencing. They shifted her entire understanding of the case.

It was clear to me that force was exercised in those videos. It was clear to me that mss Enwood was comatose, not asleep, but comatose unconscious.

Absolutely, it was clear to me that you.

Were enjoying yourself, that you weren't just taping this on the laptop. It looked like you had to have on some I couldn't describe it anything other as like a GoPro video thing, taping as you were maneuvering yourself and her. You added semestra cameras there.

For camera angles.

So reading the statement of charges and knowing the statement of charges was one thing, Watching those videos was something completely completely different. What was clear to me was that was no consensual behavior. It was disturbing and the life that you had led. I do not diminish that your education, your success that you've had in the business arena, but you have victimized miss Mwood.

The damage done to her is probably irreparable.

Knowing that those videos are out there for the world to see.

Then the judge addressed the psych evaluation.

After watching those videos.

The very first question in my mind was to doctor Dean watch those videos when he rendered his evaluation. And MS mcvidio answered that question for me this morning and it was no, he didn't.

Watch those videos.

So I now definitely take doctor Dean's evaluation with the grant assault knowing that he didn't see the videos to understand the conduct that makes up these charges.

And I did have some concern when I read the evaluation that there did.

Seemed to be some lack of acceptance or responsibility on your part or the crime that you pled guilty to. And as I read this evaluation. I didn't take this as you were saying that I was wrong, I shouldn't have done this. It was we started down this path and she told me that when she passed out, I could do whatever I wanted to her. That's not someone who's sang I know what I did was wrong. That's someone saying, well, she said I could do whatever I

In this case. Mister Leventhood, you are a predator to miss Inwood.

Mister Leventhood, you have received the benefit of a FLEA agreement.

Your guidelines are four to nine years.

She's referring to the sentencing guidelines per second degree rape. If the case had gone to trial. These are the instructions the judge would have used to ensure fair sentencing.

Your attorneys in the state have negotiated a very good range for you based upon those guidelines, so as to count one second degree rate. I'm going to send you to fifteen years suspend all but eighteen months.

Suspend all but eighteen months. The judge believed Mike's crimes warranted a fifteen year sentence, but his defense team had struck a deal with the state. As part of the plea agreement, they decided on a maximum amount of time Mike would spend behind bars eighteen months. Eighteen months is a magic number in Montgomery County. It meant that Mike would go to county jail instead of state prison. Saskia first heard that number on her call with Rebecca, the prosecutor.

I can't tell you how wrong that felt.

Her sister, Marisa, tried to help her see the positives of the plea.

We try to focus on the guilty plea. You know, he's a sex offender for life. These are big deals, but it didn't feel equivalent to like what he'd taken from her. He deserves more time, and it was a slap in the face that he didn't get more time.

The prosecutors knew Saskia wanted Mike in prison for life, but victim's perspectives are only one element that they weigh in making plea agreements.

We're constantly balancing how are we going to hold the offender accountable for what they did, how are we going to try to help the victim get some closure on the criminal case? And then public safety, what are we doing in terms of protecting the public from this offender.

To the prosecutors, eighteen months plus a guarantee that Mike would be on the Sex Offender Registry for life was a win. On that day in court when the judge handed down the sentence, Marisa was moved.

Oh God, that was just an amazing That was amazing. I feel like the judge just saw, you know, the judge saw everything. Even though we knew he was going to get eighteen months, we knew that was going to be the outcome.

We knew we were going to have a.

Chance to speak and to tell him you did this, and we know you did this. I didn't realize that there was going to be that huge validation.

Here's Saskia.

I remember the attorneys and him whispering something to each other, and he got up and the bailiff went to meet him.

Mike was handcuffed and led out the front doors.

And my friend Bridget tried to snap a photo.

Before Mike could get away. Saskia's friend Bridget pulled out her phone.

I just wanted to record him getting handcuffed and walking off so that I could show Saskia he is where he needs to be, and I wanted her to be able to see that, so that she could have that replay in her head and not have all these terrible memories replay in her head. I had pulled my phone up and I thought I was being inconspicuous, but he looked over at me and was like, your honor.

You're not supposed to take photos or videos in the courtroom. Saskia's other friend, Colleen remembers Mike's reaction, well.

He looked around frantically for the judge to help him. His dismay at everyone watching him and recording him in the violation that he expressed was very ironic.

Saska wishes this moment of seeing her perpetrator taken to jail would have fixed everything.

I thought it would heal a part of me. I thought it would heal me feeling like a helpless victim.

She thought she'd be relieved. Instead, I just had anger and hatred.

I had sadness and loss for the person that I thought he was, but that person died.

Saskia had a lot of healing to do, but that healing had to happen beyond the courtroom. For perpetrators, jail or prison can be a final destination, but for victims, that jail sentence is just the beginning. It's something Ashley, the prosecutor, often tells victims.

The result of the criminal case can't be the beyond and end all. Even if we win and get every single count. Somebody that you loved and cared about and married is going to prison for a long time. That's hard too. Or there's an acquittal, you've internalize that a jury didn't believe you. So the criminal justice system can be a part of your healing, but it can't be all of it because it's not going.

To do it.

Finally, Mike was in jail, but having him behind bars didn't mean he was out of Saskia's life.

He was smart enough to know that this was gonna now be a family law case.

The criminal matter was finalized, but the legal battle wasn't over, not by a long shot. On the next episode of Betrayal.

She was really repressed.

There was don'cuse on her part more than I. When she starts drinking, she doesn't stop.

I felt it goes on the twilight zone. The fact that the judges were even listening to these things was blowing my mind.

For resources on sexual violence, visit RAIN dot org slash betrayal. That's r ai n N dot org slash betrayal. You can also get free confidential twenty four seven support through Rain's National Sexual Assault Hotline. Just text Hope to six four six seventy three or call one eight hundred sixty five six hope. You are not alone. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal team or want to tell us your story, email at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That is Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com.