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Advocates help victims through trying times
National Crime Victims Rights Week ended on Saturday. Since 1981, the week has been designated as a time to focus on victims of crimes and celebrate progress made in serving them.
In Fauquier County, one key program for crime victims is offered through the Commonwealths Attorney's Office, where Barbara Consentino is the victim/witness coordinator.
Consentino acts as an advocate for victims and their families and for witnesses in criminal cases. Among other things, she serves as an escort to court appearances and pre-trial meetings. She makes notifications of court dates and the case status, offers crisis intervention and provides referrals to other community services and programs.
According to Franklin Smith, both Fauquier County Detective Amy Ressler and Consentino had a significant role in aiding his sister, BJ Harlan, during one of the most difficult times of her life.
Two men raped Harlan — who had ovarian cancer — after burglarizing her Linden home last September. Timothy Scott Lowery and Kenneth Roland Jenkins II were arrested on numerous felony charges. They each pleaded guilty earlier this year and received lengthy prison sentences.
Ressler kept the family posted during the investigation, Smith said.
“Once the acute phase of the investigation wound down, Barbara Consentino's role became more important. She did a good job balancing the reality of the situation and providing support,” Smith said.
Harlan lost her battle with cancer two days after Lowery was sentenced. She was 54.
On the day of Jenkins' sentencing hearing, members of Harlan's immediate family and friends gathered in a conference room at the Commonwealths Attorney's Office to share her story.
From the time she was a young girl, she never thought of herself as a victim, they said. She was always a survivor.
Harlan was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11. The disease affected her eyes and caused kidney damage. Over the years she endured three kidney transplants and a pancreatic transplant.
“BJ was just positive [naturally]. She didn't consider being positive first. It was not something she did, it is who she was,” Smith explained.
Harlan's mother, BJ Smith, said her daughter had a lifelong interest in art and attributed her passion for painting to the fact the she painted WSB murals in Atlanta while she was six months pregnant.
“She got used to the smell of paint,” added Harlan's friend, Jane Whitney.
Harlan also loved animals and had a wicked sense of humor. Both traits were reflected in her paintings, which had titles like “Holy Cow,” and “Udder Nonsense.”
With her zest for life, Harlan made lots of friends, according to her father, Frank Smith Jr.
“When we visited her she took us into town and everyone she ran into was someone she knew,” her father said.
In fact, her family said Harlan knew her attackers. But the family isn't holding a grudge.
“Anytime you hate someone, it's you that you are hurting,” BJ Smith said.
E-mail the reporter: abogdanovic@timespapers.com
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