Why Should Good God-Fearing People Have to Worry About the Rights of Them?
Prima facie this case is wildly insane. I don’t care who, or what, your business might be - cops don’t deserve free blowjobs, just because. Add to that the attempt to intimidate the witness, also apparantly entered into evidence, I cannot fathom why this dirty (former) cop isn’t behind bars.
But according to this article, this scum got off, completely. It’s not right. It’s an abuse of position, and he should be sitting in jail for it. It’s certainly not enough that he’s no longer a cop.
That he got away with it because his lawyer could play the jury and make them think that a stripper has no rights is just even more disgusting.
It’s times like this that I really wish we could change jury selection criteria. At the very least.
The story really is appalling. It looks like the jury basically decided that a stripper has no right not to consent to a sexual assault. The verdict doesn’t even make sense. It looks like jury nullification by a jury of dirty old men. It sets a frightening precedent. I guess it’s now legal for cops to rape strippers in Orange County.
The only point that I disagree with you on, Dio, is that I was thinking it’s jury nullification by judgemental old farts.
I remember all the years of work that had been done to make the legal spadework stick, that a woman has an absolute right to refuse sexual advances, no matter her clothes, position in life, work, location, or even choice of entertainments. Then I see a verdict like this, and I have to wonder if there has been any real change since the fifties, after all.
It’s not just judgmental old farts, btw. It’s also clueless young whippersnappers.
Every semester at my university a large group of us goes in and does the Rez Project, which is an education session about sexual orientation, gender identity, and consent issues for new students living in residence. Now these young, educated people, male and female, who generally regard themselves as progressives or at least fairly cool, and who have been accepted into one of Canada’s best reputed universities, often have just the most clueless beliefs about consent and sexual assault - “asking for it,” etc.
matt_mcl, I tend to think of the term ‘old fart’ as being without allegience to gender, age, or socio-economic class. It’s a way of thinking, and one can be a fifteen year old girl, and still be an old fart.
I’m plugged into the mental health community, and been in group therapy with people who have been raped. It’s sad to see some of the thinking that comes up regularly. Even from those who have been victimized. And then further victimized by using these out-moded standards to sit in judgement on themselves, because those are the attitudes they’ve grown up with.
What bothers me most about this particular case is that I’m afraid it would only take a case or two like this, or even the media circus that was either the Kobe Bryant rape trial, to bring the whole concept of ‘she was just asking for it,’ back into play for the whole of the US judiciary. Precedent is a very powerful thing.
I had a mental image in my head of this happening somewhere in the midwest or the south, and then I read THREE times to get it that it happened here in Southern California.
Sometimes having your ignorance fought and ideas challenged as to what the rest of the world is like makes ya sad.
How did this happen HERE?!
Faruiza, I think you’re doing a disservice to the midwest and the south. Then again, I’d have thought that this would be a slam-dunk conviction anywhere in the US. If for no other reason than worry about what other group the cop might think has no rights.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. “Bad” and “Wrong” just havent’ got enough letters. “Judgemental” is too easy. Somedody’s got to come up with a new word for the level of mental and moral motherfuckerness these guys showed.
…a cop…not even a regular guy…a cop…married…giving the “she asked for it” answer…no no no no no no no.
Looking at news reports of the story, it looks like it came down to a question of whether the officer said “blow me off or I’ll charge you”, in which case it was sexual assault, or if the motorist said “If I blow you off, will you let me go”, in which case, it wasn’t. Here’s another article regarding the story:
My question is… can anything, legally, be done? I know nothing about the law… are there grounds for a mistrial or any possibility that this woman might receive justice?
She sued, and received a $400,000 settlement from the city, according to this Los Angeles Times article.
I will note, though, that you’re all making the assumption that she’s telling the truth and that he did sexually assault her as a matter of fact. While that’s certainly possible, it’s also possible that he didn’t, and that the sex act was in fact consentual.