BEAVERTON -- A municipal judge found a 19-year-old woman guilty Friday of filing a false police report after she said she was raped by three young men.
Even though the woman never said she lied or recanted her story, city prosecutors say they took the unusual step of filing charges against her because of the seriousness of her accusations. ...
Beth at My VRWC:
There are just way too many things about this story that make no sense at all to me. When a judge without a clue calls the perps “boys” and decides he doesn’t believe the girl because of the testimony of a criminally delinquent mother (with a child-molesting boyfriend), what sense is to be made of it? When alleged victims end up being charged with making false reports because they don’t “act traumatized enough,” how many more victims are going to be afraid to report sexual assault?
Shakespeare's Sister:
A 17-year-old girl went to police at the urging of her friends after she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including her boyfriend. The men testified that the act was consensual. After reviewing all the information and statements, prosecutors decided they didn’t think they could prove a rape allegation, and so declined to prosecute the case.
Instead, they prosecuted the victim for filing a false police report. Yesterday, she was found guilty.
The victim has never recanted her story. Instead, the decision was based on the judge’s opinion that the three men were more credible, in part because a police detective and the victim’s friends testified she did not “act traumatized” in the days after the incident.
In cases like this, people tend to draw their own conclusions, based on what’s reported, filling in the blanks in a way that satisfies one’s judgment. What are you thinking right now? That maybe it really was a false rape charge? That maybe the victim was just vindictive? That there had to be some reason that the judge found her guilty?
Let me give you some more information—something that is only a possibility because The American Street’s Kevin Hayden has known the victim nearly her whole life. He attended the trial. ...
Here is the link to Kevin Hayden at The American Street, which unfortunately isn't working for me at the moment.
More at Night Bird's Fountain, Pam's House Blend, Pandagon, and Alas, a Blog:
The Judge seems to believe that there is a typical way in which all rape victims act, and that if a woman fails to act that way, she must be lying. But that's nonsense. There is no "rape victim script" that every rape victim follows. Essentially, this woman has been convicted of a crime for failing match the judge's stereotype of what "legitimate" female victims act like.
Judge Ackerman has sent a message to rape victims in Oregon: If the judge doesn't think you're weepy enough, emotive enough, hysterical enough, whatever enough, then he might just convict you of a crime. There's every reason to think an asinine ruling like this will deter rape victims from reporting rape to the police. ...
Please visit these posts, for links to more. This is a disgrace.
