Texas Woman Loses Rape Case Against KBR

A woman who brought a high-profile rape case against military contractor KBR has lost her suit. A jury in Houston yesterday rejected Jamie Leigh Jones' claims that she was drugged and raped by several KBR firefighters while working in Baghdad in 2005, reports the Houston Chronicle. One of the firefighters she singled out in the suit said the sex was consensual, and the jury agreed. Jones had been seeking an estimated $114 million in the civil suit.

"I was going up against a monster," she tells AP. "I'm devastated. I believe I did the right thing coming forward." Adds her attorney: "It's a shame that Jamie's entire personal history was dragged before the jury when her rapist's criminal history, including violence against women, was suppressed from them." The case took so long to get to court because Jones' KBR contract required that sexual assault allegations be resolved through arbitration. In 2009, partly because of this case, federal lawmakers made made it illegal for US contractors to include that stipulation. (More Jamie Leigh Jones stories.)