John Wayne Bobbitt (born 1967) and Lorena Gallo (formerly Bobbitt; born May 15, 1969) are an American former couple whose marriage received international press coverage in 1993 when Lorena severed John's penis with a kitchen knife while he was asleep in bed. His penis was successfully surgically reattached. Lorena, who had immigrated to the United States from Venezuela, alleged that John, a bar bouncer and former U.S. Marine whom she married on June 18, 1989, had raped and abused her for years. John was charged with rape later in 1993 but was acquitted and subsequently starred in two pornographic films. The next year, Lorena was acquitted of assault by reason of insanity and went on to start a foundation for domestic abuse victims and their children. The couple divorced in 1995.
Attack Lorena severed her husband John's penis on June 23, 1993, at their home in Manassas, Virginia. Lorena stated in a court hearing that, after coming home that evening, her husband had raped her. After he then went to sleep, she got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. She then grabbed an eight-inch (20 cm) Ginsu carving knife on the kitchen counter, returned to their bedroom, pulled back the bed sheets, and cut off his penis. After this, Lorena left the apartment with the severed appendage and drove away in her car. After a length of time driving and struggling to steer with one hand due to holding the penis, she threw the penis out a window into a roadside field on Maplewood Drive. She eventually stopped and called 911, telling them what she had done and where the penis could be found. John's penis was found after an exhaustive search, and after being washed with antiseptic and packed in saline ice, it was reattached in the hospital where he was treated. The operation took nine and a half hours. John went on to star in two pornographic films in the 1990s, and stated in 2018 that his penis was "back to normal".
Arrest and trial When Lorena was arrested on June 23, 1993, she told the police, "He always have [sic] orgasm, and he doesn't wait for me ever to have orgasm. He's selfish." This conversation with Detective Peter Weintz was tape-recorded, and the transcript was read later in the trial by Mary Grace O'Brien, the Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney who was prosecuting Lorena. During the trial, the Bobbitts revealed details of their volatile relationship and the events that led to the assault. Lorena stated that John sexually, physically, and emotionally abused her during their marriage, claiming that he had flaunted his infidelities and forced her to have an abortion. Her defense attorneys, including Blair D. Howard, maintained that John's constant abuse eventually caused Lorena to "snap" because she was suffering from clinical depression and possibly post-traumatic stress disorder due to abuse. John denied the allegations of abuse; however, when he was cross-examined by Howard, his statements often conflicted with known facts. Lorena testified that John had raped her and physically battered her on multiple occasions prior to the evening of the incident, that they lacked financial stability, and that John stole and spent her own income. The prosecution conceded that John had demonstrated a history of abuse toward his wife, which created a context for the assault. Expert witnesses for both sides testified that "he had mentally and physically battered her; that the abuse was escalating; and that, by 1993, she lived in constant fear of him." The defense strategy emphasized Lorena's action as being a mix of self-defense and temporary insanity constituting an "irresistible impulse". One expert witness testified that, "Lorena believed and was immobilized by John's threat that 'I will find you, whether we're divorced or separated. And wherever I find you, I'll have sex with you whenever I want to.'" John was later acquitted of marital sexual assault by a jury of nine women and three men. He gave multiple versions of what had happened that evening in question, relating at various times to police and to the court that "they had not had sex; that Lorena had tried to initiate sex, but he had been too tired; that they had had sex, but he had slept through it; and that the sex had been consensual." After seven hours of deliberation, the jury found Lorena not guilty by reason of insanity caused by an irresistible impulse to sexually wound John. As a result, she could not be held liable for her actions. Under state law, the judge ordered Lorena to undergo a 45-day evaluation period at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, after which she would be released. In 1995, John and Lorena finalized their divorce.
Aftermath
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