Julia Maynor was just a child when her adopted grandfather started sexually abusing her. After years of abuse, Raymond Earl Brooks was finally put in prison. Sadly, Brooks was freed after a short time, and that’s when Julia’s father exacted “frontier justice.”
Julia Maynor, who is now an adult, waived her right to anonymity in hopes of explaining what happened to her, so people can understand her father’s actions. Raymond Earl Brooks, Julia’s adopted grandfather, was convicted of sexually abusing young Julia for years. Brooks had adopted Julia’s mother, making Julia his adopted granddaughter.
“Brooks adopted Julia’s mother at birth, and the woman knew him as her father until she was 21, five years after Julia was born,” New Zealand Herald reported.
Brooks was sentenced to five years for the sexual abuse but served only a short time. “(Brooks) took my innocence away and only served like 18 months, and now I suffer daily from what Raymond did to me,” Julia said. “I can still remember his smell, which is awful to me. I overcame my PTSD, but now I have had to relive it all over again.”
According to the New York Post, Julia was just 8 years old when the abuse started, and it continued for four or five years. “I don’t remember when it exactly started happening but I know it was for a very long time,” Julia recalled. “It was long enough for me to think it was completely normal and made me feel that he actually loves me in a different kind of way than my mother and father loves me.” Learning this must have devastated the dad.
Showing a different kind of love for his daughter, Jay Maynor, Julia’s father, drove his motorcycle to Brooks’ house after he was released from prison and fatally shot him. Sadly, the abuse survivor blames herself for what happened. “Julia said something to her father about the abuse that enraged him, sending the man on a quest for revenge,” The Post explained.
“I haven’t seen Raymond in years,” Julia told AL.com. “It was just something I said out of anger to my father.”
Knowing a trial would further traumatize his daughter, Jay Maynor took a plea deal in the slaying so his daughter Julia, who Brooks molested from the age of eight, wouldn’t have to testify during a lengthy trial. In return, he got a 40-year sentence.
“An Alabama man who pleaded guilty to murdering his daughter’s sexual abuser accepted a 40-year prison sentence to protect the woman from having to testify at trial,” AL.com reported.
The abuse survivor said she believes the prison sentence is unfair for a man who was just trying to protect his children. The sentence leveled against Brooks, too, was unfair, she claimed but in a different way.
“Basically he took it so that I didn’t have to relive the molestation and also be on the stand in front of a bunch of people talking about and bringing back memories of the molestation,” Julia Maynor said. “My father was protecting me… like a father should do. He is an amazing father — actually the best. He loves us so much.”
Julia’s mother, Cindy Hudson, said she understands Jay’s motive for killing Brooks, but added, “I do feel that God’s the only one who’s supposed to take someone that’s supposed to punish anybody.” Meanwhile, Julia Maynor is still dealing with the lasting effects of child sexual abuse that have carried over into her adult life.
“Me and my husband are now going through a divorce because of it. I have completely pushed him out of my life,” she said. “I am back in the same mind state that it is wrong, even though we are married and have three kids, it’s wrong. I keep making him miserable with my miserable life.”
Julia knows her dad is facing the consequence of revenge, but she said if someone attacked her children, “I would do it with no questions asked. No matter how many years I would lose, I would do it.” Others seem to agree. Jay Maynor’s supporters have set up a Change.org petition for his pardon or clemency which has over 23,000 signatures.
