Ypsilanti teen who was stabbed then left for dead tells her story
An Ypsilanti High School student stabbed at least 20 times by her boyfriend and left for dead behind the school last February, may have saved her life by playing dead, WDIV reports.
In an on-camera interview, Joy Jordan said her attacker, Cortae Kelly, slit her throat. "I just felt like my throat would open and I thought I was about to die." She said she thought that if she pretended to be dead, he might stop.
Jordan also talks about the taunting she endured at school and on Facebook from Kelly's friends, who blamed her for the attack. She now goes to another school.
Prosecutors said Kelly had an intimate relationship with Jordan, and after she told him she might be pregnant, he lured her to a dirt trail in a wooded area east of the school about a half hour after classes let out. There, he pulled a knife and stabbed her at least 20 times, making statements about the pregnancy during the attacks. Kelly was sentenced to 18 to 60 years in prison for the attack.
Comments
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:40 p.m.
I posted this once already. Not sure why it was removed since it's a completely valid post. If you want to file a complaint against the lawyer, the Michigan Bar Association has a form - <a href="http://www.agcmi.com/pages/RequestInvestigation.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.agcmi.com/pages/RequestInvestigation.html</a>
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:41 p.m.
Hmmm.... must have not refreshed the page I guess... The earlier post is still here. Ok, my fault.
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:28 p.m.
Sorry, make that David Goldstein, and his email is goldstein.law@hotmail.com
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:25 p.m.
To file a complaint for his behavior - <a href="http://www.agcmi.com/pages/RequestInvestigation.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.agcmi.com/pages/RequestInvestigation.html</a>
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:22 p.m.
The lawyer's name is Goldstein, and his email is David Goldstein.law@hotmail.com.
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:27 p.m.
Sorry, make that David Goldstein, and his email is goldstein.law@hotmail.com
SarahJane
Wed, Oct 19, 2011 : 3:58 p.m.
I think Attorney Goldstein lost his case with the comment that she was not an innocent victim because she was having pre-marital sex. His client was also having pre-maritial sex - so I guess he wasn't innocent either and found guilty as he should have been. I am continually amazed at the double standard that still exists for pre-marital sex.
tinkerbell
Wed, Oct 19, 2011 : 1:03 a.m.
Kudos to Judge Brown who gave Kelly some serious time.
Anonymous
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 8:46 p.m.
A defense attorney's job SHOULD be to get justice and protect their client's right to a fair trial. It SHOULD NOT be "just to get the client off," or "to get the best deal possible." If the client is guilty, then they DESERVE to go to prison. Shady / underhanded techniques, loopholes, technicalities, and blaming the victim are HEARTLESS and EVIL tactics. That's NOT the definition of a "fair trial." It's as simple as that.
jgold47
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 6:26 p.m.
The defense attorney was just doing his job. His job is to get his client off, or get him the best deal possible. Thats what he gets paid (or in this case probably doesnt get paid) to do. If you were in trouble, trust me, you would want him or someone like him defending you. Its not his place to pass judgement on the defendant, thats for the jury, the judge (and apparantly the commenters on a2.com) to do. I cant imagine its easy to sleep at night defending people like this, but that is exactly what defense attorneys are hired to do.
tinkerbell
Wed, Oct 19, 2011 : 1:02 a.m.
They can do it without making vicious attacks on victims. Michael Vincent is one of Washtenaw's best attorneys. And he wins his cases without slamming the victim
LRF
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 5:12 p.m.
The filthy lawyer that tried to defend the criminal on the grounds that the victim was at fault for her promiscuity should be sent to prison too. Maybe then he could be there to take the place of the female for Cortae. At least they wouldn't have to worry about him getting pregnant.
AstroJetson
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 3:12 p.m.
The defense attorney is David I Goldstein - longtime A2 attorney whose office is on Hogback Road.
tinkerbell
Wed, Oct 19, 2011 : 12:59 a.m.
He is a terrible attorney!
pegret
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 7:32 p.m.
Shame on him.
TrappedinMI
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 2:32 p.m.
Joy, you are a strong, strong young woman. I know there is something big out there for your future! I cannot believe some of your peers are victimizing you again. I have a feeling (or hope) they will be extremely regretful some day! I am so sorry.
jns131
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 2:11 p.m.
What comes to mind is witness protection. This happens with the federal government. I wonder if she is under this program. Wow what a thing to live with. How can someone be so popular and yet be such a monster? I hope she does well in the new area she is in. Good luck.
jns131
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 1:58 p.m.
I am not surprised by this. Our culture is so numb to the all the brutality that we do not take for granted the life that is. I just saw a small video feed of a child who was ran over twice by the same vehicle and no one did anything and the child was hit again by a truck. Sad fate we leave our children in and the sad state we live in. Glad to hear she is recovering. The child in China will not.
Jim Knight
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 1:40 p.m.
Comments about AnnArbor.com moderation guidelines can be left on this thread: <a href="http://annarbor.com/about/annarborcom-conversation-guidelines-comment-moderation/">http://annarbor.com/about/annarborcom-conversation-guidelines-comment-moderation/</a>
A2anon
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 12:53 p.m.
roadside, huh? Did you watch the video? I'm calling the lawyer out on his unbelievable comments. I can't believe he can even get away with saying that stuff.
Angela Todd
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 11:54 a.m.
This is sick. BTW, I am continually offended at all of the censored remarks to the paper. Perhaps someone would comment about what kind of remarks are removed. I would really like to know. MY remarks? Again, MY remarks is that this is a sick person who would do this thing. Angela Todd, Ann Arbor resident.
Laura Stimpson
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 10:29 a.m.
@roadsidedinerlover, OF COURSE a2anon was being sarcastic, and they made that pretty obvious. What's "sick" was that OBNOXIOUS argument made by the defense attorney. I understand that it's his job to try to defend the heinous act committed by his client, but blaming the victim should NEVER be part of the strategy.
JADE
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 6:48 a.m.
The number one cause of death for a pregnant woman? The baby's father. Feel free to look up that sick statistic. Says something more about men than Ypsilanti High School.
John of Saline
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 6:14 p.m.
Men in general? Seriously? You'll jump to make that generalization?
jns131
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 2 p.m.
It was mentioned a while ago here about why he did the terrible deed. He wanted to have a future and not be stuck. I say think before you act and wait. That deed can wait until marriage. This is going to be a long trial.
roadsidedinerlover
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 3:49 a.m.
@A2anon Are you be sarcastic or making a chavinistic remark about this victim? Just because she was having premartial sex, does not mean she deserved being stabbed!!!! What a really sick comment!
pegret
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 1:23 p.m.
The sick comment was made by the attorney, and that's what A2anon is referring to. Check out the video...his comments are appalling.
pseudo
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 1:50 a.m.
that report is one of the reasons I don't watch local news. a) I am very glad to see that Joy is recovering. b) Mr. Kelly's will rot with his long-time imprisonment. What happened here was terrible. Terrible! Equally terrible is that things like this happen far more than we'd like to admit. The over-blown nature of characterization of an entire community based on this single incident was sickeningly off base. Popular boys and victimized girls are in every school and violent abusive behavior that goes with that combination is in every highschool. I have to question why this story singled Ypsilanti out. A couple examples <a href="http://www.wwmt.com/articles/branch-1395787-rape-mich.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.wwmt.com/articles/branch-1395787-rape-mich.html</a> <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/11/update_prosecutors_to_dismiss.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/11/update_prosecutors_to_dismiss.html</a> Don't for a minute think 'we don't have that problem here'...you do, you just haven't seen it.
jns131
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 2:03 p.m.
It will always be the boys club. Girls are pure and innocent and then they seduce a boy and everything goes to heck and a hand basket. Look at what they did to girls 300 years ago. A for adultery. But yet does the boy get one? Nope. Sad. It takes two to tango and one nite to make a baby.
A2anon
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 12:01 a.m.
Holy cow -- that lawyer!!!! She's not an innocent victim? Because she was having premarital sex? Are you serious???? So, she sort of, maybe just a little, deserved to be stabbed 20 times??
Thomas
Mon, Oct 24, 2011 : 12:23 p.m.
The lawyer's name is David Goldstein and his email is goldstein.law@hotmail.com
pegret
Tue, Oct 18, 2011 : 1:22 p.m.
I agree A2anon. And I would like to know the name of that attorney. Unbelievable.
A2Monty
Mon, Oct 17, 2011 : 11:56 p.m.
Wow. Unbelievable story almost sociopathic. I sure am glad my kids are not at Ypsilanti HS. Certainly happy that Joy is doing OK. I hope she reads this because there are a lot of people who care and love her and realize that a victim is a victim which you most certainly were. Peace to you and prison to Cortae.
Elizabeth Scott
Mon, Oct 17, 2011 : 10:51 p.m.
Ypsi High... You have a culture and climate issue, here. Any time one of your children is brutally and nearly fatally attacked, and the rest of the student population turns against her for "snitching," there's a problem. This needs to be a priority moving forward, otherwise you create a culture where no one feels safe.