A former Jane Doe is going public in support of a lawsuit that alleges New York officials mishandled a rape complaint against a top New York official decades ago.
As a legislative director working for then-Assemblymember Susan John in 2003, Rikki Shaw said she ended up at a bar with Michael J. Boxley -- Chief Legal Counsel to then Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Shaw, who is now 45, said these kinds of networking nights were common, with lobbyists, politicians and co-workers often meeting up after hours to talk shop.
“This is when the work got done, this is when things were decided, what bills were going to be done. I mean yes the votes officially take place on the floor but what bills are going to make it to the floor, what bills are going to make it to committee, like that’s decided, or it was after-hours at these meetings,” Shaw said.
Shaw says, by this point, in June 2003, she knew Boxley. She knew that he was a powerful man and that much of the Assembly’s business flowed through him. He also knew her. By that time, Shaw said she had rejected several of Boxley’s romantic advances.
“It was like walking this fine line of kind of like knowing that he was interested in me, but also needing to get my job done, so having to be polite and kind of deal with the unwanted, ya know attention, but still do my job.” Shaw said.
That night at the bar, Shaw said she ended up venting to a lobbyist friend about a recent break-up, before Boxley noticed and approached her.
“I started like crying and he said to me ‘Shaw, it’s time to go,’ and I like thought, oh, I’m acting inappropriately,” Shaw said.
The last thing Shaw says she remembers that night was discussing where Boxley’s car was.
“I wasn’t drunk, but then I was blacked out, and I don’t remember and then the next thing I remember was waking up throughout the night with him attacking me and crying and telling him to stop and then I would blackout again and then I would wake up and it was so horrible,” Shaw said.
Shaw says the assault occurred on June 10th, 2003. The next day, on June 11th, she was tested at a hospital with a rape kit, and then an arrest warrant for Boxley was released.
On June 12th, Boxley would be removed from the state Capitol in handcuffs for allegedly raping a then 22-year-old New York State Assembly legislative aide – Rikki Shaw.
Facing multiple rape charges, Boxley pleaded guilty to one count of sexual misconduct – a misdemeanor – and was sentenced to six years of probation, a $1,000 fine, and he had to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported in 2004.
Shaw has not publicly admitted to being the aide until now. She is coming forward because she says she wants to support an ongoing case, first filed in 2023, that also relates to Boxley’s behavior decades ago – and the New York Assembly’s response to that behavior.
The lawsuit has been filed by Elizabeth Crothers, who was the Chief of Staff of former Republican Assemblyman Pat Manning. Court papers detail that in 2001 – two years before Shaw’s case – Crothers reported her assault, submitting a formal internal complaint to the Assembly, alleging that Boxley had raped her.
A subsequent internal investigation ended in no finding of innocence or guilt.
Now, Crothers is suing New York State in the Court of Claims over Assembly Speaker Silver’s handling of her report, the investigation and the ostracization she experienced as a result.
Silver was convicted on corruption related charges in 2015, and, in 2022 he died while serving a more than six-year sentence.
Crothers’ suit was filed in 2023 under the Adult Survivors Act, which provided victims with a one-year lookback window to file lawsuits in cases in which the statute of limitations had passed.
Aaron Stark, the attorney representing Crothers, says Silver held a press conference announcing an investigation and saying he had full faith and confidence in Boxley after Crothers submitted her report.
“What that did was signal to everyone in the Assembly that Michael Boxley was innocent and that Miss Crothers was not to be taken seriously, that she was basically to be ostracized. The assembly, certainly at that time was completely controlled by Speaker Silver,” Stark said.
Michael Rizzo is the attorney defending New York State on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General.
Rizzo has filed a motion of summary judgement requesting the case be dismissed.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General said the office typically represents the state in such cases.
Shaw, who was working in the Assembly when Crothers submitted her report, says she is going public with her identity to help Crothers’ case. Shaw said she wonders if her experience could have been different if Crothers’ report had yielded a stronger response.
“They already knew, that they had somebody that was assaulting women, and when Elizabeth had come forward, there was this concerted effort to silence her,” Shaw said.
Shaw says she is planning to testify if the Crothers case goes to trial.
Stark says he will soon file an opposition to the state’s request to dismiss the case.
“Once we file a response, the court of claims judge will look at those and make a determination whether or not the case is going to go forward we certainly, very strongly believe that it will and then we will be looking at an upcoming trial most likely,” Stark said.
For now, the request for summary judgment to have the case dismissed has been neither approved or denied.
Michael Boxley has declined a request for comment.
