DALLAS _ For one night, the nightmares faded and Isabella Fletcher slept peacefully.
That was in February after a civil jury awarded her $32 million and determined that two high school football players assaulted her in the wet grass outside a party in Carrollton when they were all freshmen.
She doesn't expect her former Hebron High classmates _ now 21, like her _ will ever have the funds to pay. But she told The Dallas Morning News that the support of those 12 Denton County jurors could jump-start the healing she's needed since that Sept. 28, 2012, party and the relentless bullying that followed.
"It wasn't the be-all fix-all at all. But it was a pinch of healing," the former cheerleader said, sitting at a conference table in her attorney's Dallas office. "I have this recipe for worth that I'm trying to cook up for myself; that was a pinch that made it a little better."
What are the other ingredients? She isn't sure yet.
The News does not typically name victims of sexual abuse. But Fletcher wanted her name published. She tearfully told her story because she wants women who've been raped to know they aren't alone. She wants to reclaim her story. She wants to stand up for herself.
The News is not identifying the football players Fletcher said raped her because they have not been charged with a crime and they were juveniles at the time.
A Denton County grand jury previously declined to indict the men. But Fletcher's attorney, Charla Aldous, said she sent the man's testimony to the district attorney's office, encouraging prosecutors to take another look.
Denton County First Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck said prosecutors aren't ready to make a decision.
"I think we are looking at it, but we are a long way away from any decisions," she said.
If prosecutors pursue charges, the men would be tried as juveniles because of their age at the time _ unless a judge ordered them to stand trial as adults.
One of the men could not be reached for comment. He did not show up for the trial and doesn't have an attorney. The other released a written statement.
In it, he reiterated his testimony from the trial and in a deposition: that Fletcher willingly lost her virginity that night when she had sex with both boys at the same time. His attorney, Carrie Garcia Sanders, said he is considering appealing the verdict.
"We maintain that mutual consent was given during the events of that evening. Plaintiff did not have any eye witnesses saying that she was too drunk to consent before the encounter occurred, medical record, toxicology report, or any other evidence," the statement said. "The verdict was based on speculation and sympathy, which is improper. We are considering our options, including an appeal."
The man acknowledged in his testimony that Fletcher was intoxicated, more so than he was. At the time, he said in a video-recorded deposition in December, he'd never seen anyone so drunk. He testified in his deposition that it was not OK to have sex with someone who was intoxicated and Fletcher "probably would not have" had sex with them had she been sober.
"I don't think I did anything wrong," he testified in the deposition. "I think what we did was consensual."
He also said that if he encountered someone else as drunk as Fletcher, he would have sex with her. "Because looking back on it, she was really not that drunk," he testified in a deposition.
