CHILLING video captures the moment a teacher and sex offender reveals her sick relationship with a disabled patient before her arrest.
Teacher Anna Stubblefield was convicted of aggravated sexual assault after engaging in a relationship with Derrick Johnson who was unable to speak or move without assistance.
The story between Stubblefield and Johnson, aka DJ, inspired a new Netflix true crime documentary, Tell Them You Love Me.
They met in 2009 when DJ's, brother, John, was one of Stubblefield's philosophy and ethics students at Rutgers University's Newark, New Jersey campus, according to The Direct.
Stubblefield, then 41, believed "a person's intellect — and the degree to which he or she is 'disabled' — could be as much a social construct, as much a venue for tyranny, as race, gender or sexuality," according to The New York Times.
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She started to work with DJ, a Black man who couldn't speak, suffered from cerebral palsy, and was unable to move without help.
Stubblefield started to work with DJ, who was 30 at the time, and his family using facilitated communication.
Facilitated communication is "a technique that involves a person with a disability pointing to letters, pictures, or objects on a keyboard or a communication board, typically with physical support from a 'facilitator,'" as defined by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
The sessions were initially supervised, but as they became more frequent, Stubblefield started to go to DJ's home, where he lived with his mother and caregiver, Daisy.
After spending time with Stubblefield, DJ learned how to communicate through a keyboard and computer screen.
He was also eventually able to take a college class.
By 2011, the teacher and student had begun a romantic relationship and planned to tell DJ's family.
The Memorial Day announcement was teased in the documentary trailer.
"We all sit down and there just seemed to be this awkwardness," John said.
"She grabs Derrick’s hand and on the keyboard comes up, 'We are in love.'"
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Daisy chimed in saying, "She said, 'Yes, we have made love.'"
She raped my brother.
John Johnson
She added that Stubblefield said DJ is "a man in every sense of the word."
Stubblefield told DJ's family she planned to leave her husband and children for him.
Daisy and John, shocked by the news and confused about how it could be possible, reported Stubblefield to the police.
SENTENCED TO PRISON
Stubblefield was charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault in 2013
The court ruled they would not allow any submissions about facilitated communication, as the process "was not recognized by science," as reported by Yahoo News.
Stubblefield continued to testify that their relationship was consensual despite his lack of communication.
"I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he wasn’t capable of consent,’" she said in court, according to The New York Times.
"I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he wasn’t someone interested in reading books and talking about them. He was my best friend."
Daisy testified that her son "didn't have the capacity to engage in physical or emotional intimacy," and therefore didn't and couldn't consent to the relationship, StyleCaster reported.
Her case went to trial in 2015.
During the trial, DJ's brother gave an emotional testimony saying, "She is not Sandra Bullock and this is not 'The Blind Side,'" according to NBC affiliate WCAU.
"She raped my brother. She tried to supplant his life with some version of life she thought was better."
However, in another report by the outlet, Stubblefield said she did not rape DJ, arguing he could have banged on the floor to ask her to stop.
She was eventually found guilty and convicted of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Her actions were “a perfect example of a predator preying,” Superior Court Judge Siobhan Teare said before pronouncing her sentence, according to WCAU.
In October 2016, DJ and his family were awarded $4 million in a civil lawsuit against Stubblefield.
She was granted a retrial in 2017 and pled guilty to a charge of criminal sexual contact, crediting the time she had already served.
Stubblefield served only two years of her sentence before being released.
She is now divorced and lives a private life in New Jersey.
DJ is still in the care of his mother.
NEW DOCUMENTARY
The true crime documentary, Tell Them You Love Me, premiered exclusively on Netflix on June 14.
It described the film saying it, "explores the controversial relationship between a professor [Anna Stubblefield] and a nonverbal man [Derrick Johnson] that leads to a trial over race, disability, and power."
Netflix also described the documentary as "scandalous."
Those in the US without a Netflix subscription can also rent or buy the film on Apply TV.
