A victim of sexual assault is suing San Mateo County and its District Attorney’s Office, accusing them of retraumatizing her during the prosecution of her case and failing to protect her rights as a victim. In a recently filed federal civil lawsuit, Carrie Banks alleges that the very institution that was supposed to hold her attacker accountable instead subjected her to victim-blaming and marginalization.
The lawsuit, filed against the County of San Mateo, its District Attorney’s office, and its Probation Department, addresses alleged violations of Banks’ rights during the criminal prosecution and rearrest of her attacker.
In July 2021, according to a San Mateo Sheriff’s report, Fernando Altuna Mendoza, an acquaintance of Banks, allegedly followed her home from a bar, entered her house without permission, and raped her while she was unconscious in bed.
According to the sheriff's report, Mendoza later confessed to the crime on tape and wrote an apology note. The San Mateo County District Attorney’s office charged him with two felony counts of rape and two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object. Altuna Mendoza pled not guilty.
In late 2023, prosecutors offered a last-minute plea deal to Altuna Mendoza on the eve of his trial. The lawsuit contends that Banks was not consulted of the plea deal until it was too late to change it, violating her rights as the victim of the crime.
Banks is not contesting the negotiated plea deal itself, which is a common practice in the criminal justice system, particularly where prosecutors have broad discretion. Instead, her lawsuit targets how she was treated during the entire process. She claims that her rights under Marsy’s Law — the California Victim's Bill of Rights — were violated. The law guarantees crime victims the right to be treated with dignity and respect, to be informed of key developments, and to have input in the criminal justice process.
In the complaint, Banks further alleges that the defendants violated her due process and equal protection rights and engaged in discriminatory conduct by failing to properly involve her in critical stages of her case.
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“Not only did this guy do whatever he wanted to me, so did the DA's office, the probation department, victim services, rape trauma.”, said Banks. “Like all of these people just made it so much worse.”
Aaron Zisser, Banks’ attorney, argues that the way she was treated was emblematic of a broader failure by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office to take sexual violence cases seriously.
“If they had taken Carrie seriously, I think the outcome would have been different,” Zisser said.
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In the complaint, Banks describes a series of incidents in which she was excluded from the legal process, discouraged from participating in court proceedings, and even blamed for the crime.
"It’s prototypical victim blaming, shaming the victim, sort of engaging in stereotypes about how women should behave,” Zisser said. “And if they don’t behave that way, then they’re blamed for what happens to them.”
Banks lawsuit also alleges that the prosecutor's office has a pattern of minimizing sexual violence cases and treating victims with disregard. They reference a recent investigative report by NBC Bay Area, which found that between 2018 and 2023, 26% of sexual violence cases in San Mateo County resulted in plea deals for non-sex-related offenses.
Banks says the DA’s office focus is more on securing convictions, regardless of whether they accurately reflect the nature of the crime or the needs of victims.
“The message inside these agencies was clear,” said Zisser. “We don’t care that much about this type of crime, and we don’t need to listen to these victims.”
In an interview with NBC Bay Area earlier this year, Assistant District Attorney Shin-Mee Chang, who is also named in the lawsuit, acknowledged that Banks was notified about the plea deal at the last minute but justified it by saying that the trial attorney had found issues with the tone of Altuna Mendoza’s confession. Chang acknowledged that in hindsight, they should have asked for a continuance to allow for a more thorough discussion with the victim.
Altuna Mendoza was rearrested two months after his sentencing for a DUI, a violation of his probation, and sentenced to 6 months in jail. In her lawsuit, Banks claims that the SMCDA and Probation Department failed to communicate with her, disregarding her rights to be informed about key developments, such as the rearrest and the release of the defendant before and after sentencing.
For Banks, the emotional toll of this experience has been profound. She says the mistreatment during the prosecution has added to the trauma she already endured from the attack itself.
“There are a lot of days that I don’t get out of bed,” Banks said. “I’m not productive anymore. It’s affected my mental health.”
She says that if this happened to her—someone who was actively trying to participate in her case—what might happen to other less involved victims?
“I have to fight because I got to fight for the next little girl this happens to,” Banks said. “So that she’s not sitting here for the rest of her life having problems, wondering why she didn’t matter.”
While the County of San Mateo has declined to comment on the pending litigation, Zisser believes Banks’ experience highlights a larger nationwide issue within the criminal justice system—one that the Department of Justice is now seeking to address with new standards and guidelines. Earlier this year, the DOJ issued a national guide for law enforcement and prosecutors to ensure that survivors of sexual violence are treated with sensitivity and respect throughout the legal process
