Rape victim might go to jail for....

[Sarah Valentine]

Lawyers for the two boys dropped the motion to charge her with contempt of court. They say it's not because of public pressure

*sniff sniff* Smells like bullshit.

[Greenday]

*sniff sniff* Smells like bullshit.

It would just be petty BS to charge them and I think the lawyers know it's not worth their time to do this. Plus it does make them bad so it's a decent PR move.

[LexiaFira]

found another article if it hasn't been posted already
upworthy's take on it

[Seifer]

I think the reason their names were supposed to be kept private was due to them being underage. It's the same with how cases are sealed for minors - your age plays a huge role in how the courts treat you. If the boys were 18 and legal adults, I doubt it would have been an issue.

Even if that's the case, the victim never agreed or signed a contract saying she wouldn't discuss the case. If she never agreed to it, they can't force her to abide by their decision - SHE's the victim, and she has the right to talk about what happened to her.

Edit:

Ack, nevermind. So it was a gag order. Either way, I'm glad she isn't being charged.

Edit Edit:

Also, holy fuck, this gem:

Chris Klein, an attorney for one of the boys, said publicizing their names may create problems for them in the future.

BOO HOO, the rapists are going to have problems in the future because they RAPED SOMEONE. Where are my tissues? I'm crying a river over here.

[Nyoibo]

I don't know how true this is in the US, but at least in South Australia, while there are a great number of rape/sexual assault cases put forward, very few of them end up with a conviction.

2% are convicted.

[wolfie]

I've read some pretty awful comments blaming her for her rape because she drank herself unconscious. If she hadn't been drinking, she wouldn't have been vulnerable, but such victim-blaming is disgusting and undeserved. This girl has a ton of courage to come forward and I'm glad her family is supporting her.

That's one thing that bugs me. Imagine the following scenario:

It's a bad neighbourhood, late at night. A brand-new Mercedes pulls up to the curb. A man gets out, wearing an Armani suit and Rolex watch. He's drunk. Some punk sticks a gun in his face and demands his wallet.

While the victim in this situation would probably get a few comments along the lines of "what a moron", nobody would say "it's not really a robbery - he was asking for it" - why should things be any different for a rape victim?

[Ginger Tea]

Chris Klein, an attorney for one of the boys, said publicizing their names may create problems for them in the future.

BOO HOO, the rapists are going to have problems in the future because they RAPED SOMEONE. Where are my tissues? I'm crying a river over here.

I've got a job application from an Ian Huntley, why does that name sound familiar?

[siead_lietrathua]

While the victim in this situation would probably get a few comments along the lines of "what a moron", nobody would say "it's not really a robbery - he was asking for it" - why should things be any different for a rape victim?

in my personal experiance, i have never seen someone say a person deserves or was asking to be raped. BUT i have seen people say "what a moron" for the people that put themselves in dangerous situations where they could be assaulted.
so, to reverse your question, why is calling the drunk getting physically assaulted an idiot fine, and calling the drunk that got sexually assaulted an idiot victim blaming?

[BlaqueKatt]

in my personal experiance, i have never seen someone say a person deserves or was asking to be raped.

It happens a lot, heck Jodie Foster starred in a movie about a very high profile case about it back in 1988-the accused-heck the "slutwalks" were in direct response to a toronto police officer saying "if women don't want to be raped, the first thing they need to do is stop dressing like sluts"
in raction to an 11 year old girl being gang raped by 17 males-
"i'm not blaming the 11 year old girl, nothing excuses what those boys did. Im just saying her parents should have taken an additional step to protect her by dressing her sensibly."-Kathleen Passidomo florida

heck it's all over the internet*

*those are merely the first of numerous links.

get a few comments along the lines of "what a moron", nobody would say "it's not really a robbery - he was asking for it" -

why is calling the drunk getting physically assaulted an idiot fine, and calling the drunk that got sexually assaulted an idiot victim blaming?

no one said it was fine, it just doesn't happen as much as it does to victims of sexual assault, and there is a huge difference between calling someone an idiot and saying they deserved it/they were asking for it.

If I walk naked down a dark alley, I am probably an idiot for many reasons(especially if there's broken glass present), if I am sexually assaulted in that alley I did nothing to deserve it, the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

[siead_lietrathua]

i think (with cases like this) it bugs me that by saying "this person was drunk or high, in an unsafe enviroment, and that contributed to the series of circumstances that they were a victim of" gets someone slapped with victim blaming. and it bugs me because if we can't say "hey, doing this can result in you getting hurt/assaulted, here's an example" to OTHER people they may jsut keep putting themselves into those situations.

and ya, i have had that conversation with a coworker that was a minor. "maybe you shouldnt go to that house party with some guy that jjust came in the store. it might not be safe for you." / "pfft, nothing will happen" / "but that stuff does. (example)"/ "you cant blame the girl for that though!" / *sigh*

[Shangri-laschild]

i think (with cases like this) it bugs me that by saying "this person was drunk or high, in an unsafe enviroment, and that contributed to the series of circumstances that they were a victim of" gets someone slapped with victim blaming.

I think there is a difference between saying that and saying that it's all her fault or that she obviously wanted it. Did she maybe not make the best judgement call? Could be. Doesn't mean that she deserved it or that it was less of a horrible thing than if she was sober and walking down a safe street during the day. So there definitely is a difference between the two statements.

[bainsidhe]

I think there is a difference between saying that and saying that it's all her fault or that she obviously wanted it. Did she maybe not make the best judgement call? Could be. Doesn't mean that she deserved it or that it was less of a horrible thing than if she was sober and walking down a safe street during the day. So there definitely is a difference between the two statements.

I agree. What's also terrible is how many people seem to believe the boys shouldn't be severely punished (if at all). It sickens me, because these comments make it sound like the attackers couldn't help themselves. Or that it wasn't a big deal getting raped. The lawyers are so concerned the attackers will have their future ruined by this, while ignoring the fact this girl has been having nightmares and will be traumatized for years to come.

[Zaiida]

I know of a multiple decade , multiple generation child sexual abuser who got off with a 2 year probation and no order to stay away from kids. He did it again and got away with it.

I also know of someone who blew .06, just over the .05 limit here and he lost his license for 3 years and was on probation for 2 years. He had nothing else on his record except a couple of parking tickets. He ate a dessert with alchohol and 2 beers in an hour and he got a heavier punishment than that of a multiple child abuser. (not agreeing with drink driving, I have lost family members to drink drivers)

I know both people in these stories and I was a victim of one. I had the abuser charged and all I got was "He's too old and he deserves our sympathy. You are young, you'll get over it, it's no big deal. Put on your big girl panties and grow up". I did grow up and I did what any other SANE grown up would do and stepped up to the plate at 12 because all the adults in my life were sympathetic to this asshole. Sympathy for him ran so high that my uncle, after abuser was convicted, left his 4 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER with it...alone....weekly....for hours. He knew. Everyone knew but the sympathies lied with him. Never me. Never his many victims. Sadly it is common.

I agree. What's also terrible is how many people seem to believe the boys shouldn't be severely punished (if at all). It sickens me, because these comments make it sound like the attackers couldn't help themselves. Or that it wasn't a big deal getting raped. The lawyers are so concerned the attackers will have their future ruined by this, while ignoring the fact this girl has been having nightmares and will be traumatized for years to come.

I fought for over 2 years and he gets off with a pathetic plea deal I wasn't even informed of and he started stalking me and getting family members to harrass me. The Law did shit. Nothing changed I just knew to run faster when I saw him coming. I tried, I really did. I did everything 'right', everything legal. HA. It's all designed to be as fast as possible, not fair as possible. It's all about how much is it going to cost so they take the cheaper options like plea deals. It doesn't matter what the victim wants, what the victim needs. I heard many a story almost identical to mine at my schools growing up. It's frighteningly common and pushed aside like it's dirty. Bravo to this woman for standing up.

Experiences like this have left me deeply sad and disillusioned in the system and I feel strongly for anyone who gets embroiled in it either by choice or by unfortunate circumstance.

[Jester]

I find it disgusting that fuckheads like WILL FREY III and AUSTIN ZEHNDER could rape a girl at a party and feel like they have any right to sympathy from anyone.

I applaud the victim for having the balls to violate the court order and name them as she did. I agree that she DID violate the law, and may have to face the consequences for it. I also see that she knew this quite clearly, and accepted to potential punishment for her actions as a fair trade for naming her attackers publicly. Bravo, darling....bravo indeed.

Is the law right? In general, yes it is. In this case, no it is not....but this law does more good than it does bad, as many others here have noted in various ways. But as it turns out, the lawyers for Frey and Zehnder dropped their motion to have the vicitm charged with contempt of court, and she is no longer facing those consequences. So justice did, in fact, prevail. But even if she had been charged, I would hope that a judge would see it for what it was, and perhaps find her guilty of contempt--and sentence her to a $1 fine, and a day in jail...suspended. I would have no problem with that. Just saying.

It'd be pretty unconstitutional to put her in jail for this.

It would be both constitutional and legal. It would be WRONG, but it would not be unconstitutional. Judges have every right to put gag orders on ongoing cases, and this case was ongoing. And if the victim signed on to the plea deal (not saying she did, merely saying if), then she would have no legal right to violate the attached gag order down the road.

This is precisely a first amendment case, as the government is limiting what she can say, which is not allowed.

Actually, it is. As much as I am a First Amendment and free speech junkie, the First Amendment is NOT absolute in its protection of free speech, and judges do have the legal and constitutional right to issue gag orders in active cases.

The only person who can remove your first amendment rights is yourself. She wasn't part of the plea bargain deal so she isn't accountable to it.

Again, not true. She was part of the ongoing case, as the victim, and the judge issued the gag order, presumably to all participants in the case. Totally legal. If, once the case was closed, the gag order remained in place against the victim's will or desire, and she had not signed on to it, then yes, this might in fact be a First Amendment case. As it stands...not it is not.

But can he really issue a court order prohibiting anybody from speaking about a certain topic, forever?

Can a judge issue a gag order in an active case? Yes. Totally legal.

Can a judge issue a permanent gag order in a case once it is closed? If all the major parties involved in the case sign on to such a deal, yes. And it would also be legal.

By the way, the judge in this case was a woman, not a man. So I am trying not to say "he," as not all judges are men, and clearly this one was not.

Except that her lawyers are fighting it in court.

Which is their job, just as it is the perpetrators' lawyers' job to defend their clients to the best of their ability, including filing a motion to hold the victim in contempt of court for violating the gag order. Personally, I find the victim's lawyers far less noxious for fighting the consequences of her actions than I do the perps' lawyers doing the same for their clients.

That being said, how can so many people say they got away lightly if they are yet to be sentenced?

The victim herself thought the perps were getting off light, because their plea bargain allowed them to plead guilty to crimes that would not punish them as much as other crimes they could have been charged with.

"Give the boys a break", stuff like that?

I'd love to.

Which bones?

And she's aware of the consequences. She saying "bring it on" in a roundabout way to a court system who is more interested in protecting the criminals than the victims.

Roundabout way? Oh hell no. She said it quite directly and quite bluntly.

I've read some pretty awful comments blaming her for her rape because she drank herself unconscious. If she hadn't been drinking, she wouldn't have been vulnerable, but such victim-blaming is disgusting and undeserved.

She is guilty of bad judgment in that she drank herself unconscious at a party.

A teenager. Drinking. At a party. And passing out. Shocking behavior!

Oh, wait, no...that is pretty much standard!

That being said, many of us, as teenagers (and even older adults) have done just that. Were we stupid for doing it? Probably. Were we displaying bad judgment? Almost definitely. Were we deserving of unwanted sexual attention and/or sexual assault? No. Nor was the victim deserving of her assault, nor of the publication of the pictures of her assault by her assaulters.

The lawyers for the perpetrators wanted their clients' names to remain out of the public eye, because they were worried about potential future backlash and the possible harm their client's reputations might suffer.

Well, I personally hope Will Frey III and Austin Zehnder continue to have their names mentioned as lowlife fucktards who assaulted a defenseless unconscious woman because they are too dickless and nutless to get women in any other way. And I hope a whole lot of people kick their asses for it. And then kick their asses again for being such disgusting douchebags that they published pictures of the assault online. Fuck them, and fuck their reputations. I hope their dicks fall off in a slow and painful way.

[Jester]

The latest is that the lawyer for one of the attackers is claiming that the victim "ruined" his client's life, and that he has had to move, lost his college scholarship, gotten death threats, and various other things, all because the victim revealed his and his buddy's names.

To which I say: Fucking serves you right, you fuckwits. My only question: was it Will Frey III or Austin Zehnder that had their life ruined?