This was on the news last night but I cannot find a link.
It seems that a woman who was a rape victim was testifying at the trial of her alleged attacker. According to the story, the defense attorney was very aggressive in questioning the woman, implying that she was ‘asking for it’. The witness/victim lost her composure and cussed out the attorney (the news indicated that she called her a bitch).
I don’t know if she was warned, or how many times she was warned (or how many times she cursed at the attorney), but the judge cited her for contempt and she’s in lock-up now for three days.
Without knowing more, I’d say this seems a bit harsh.
mmm
I tried “Rape contempt of court” at Google’s Search News prompt, with dates 12-14 July. There were two hits. [check forum – Mundane Pointless - OK] Here’s the lead paragraph of one:
It can be an ugly way to conduct a defense, but we do need to allow the accused the defense of consent. “Sure, I admit that we had sex - perhaps even rough sex - but it was consensual.” And one of the ways you can build that defense is by trying to build a narrative that prior to the alleged attack, the victim was acting in every way like someone who intended to consent to sex.
Understand, I know these arguments are deeply problematic - for one thing, it doesn’t matter if the victim planned to consent at 9:00 PM if she then withdrew consent at 9:20 and was raped thereafter. But if we’re going to permit the defense of consent, we need to tolerate defenses that can sometimes be crassly summarized as “she was asking for it.”
I used to go through a similar thing when I was in HR. I would have to issue a write up to an employee. 99% of the time it was taken ‘OK’ they weren’t happy but it was tolerated.
The other 1% of the time the employee would be so mad and start yelling and cussing me out. He got wrote up again by me. Now instead of one write up, he had two.
Now it’s not exactly the same thing, in the original poster’s case the victim was a victim, in the case of most write up the employee is wrong but just feels like a victim.
In any case, you have no right to use language like that with me. I had people discuss write ups with me for hours on end or use strong but acceptable language with me and that was fine.
The judge has to maintain order, I think he went a bit far in this case. I would’ve put her in jail till she agreed to apologized to the judge and defense attorney.
That would have been a more suitable contempt of court remedy.
Why didn’t this lady’s lawyer properly prepare her for testimony?
She should have been ready for any aggressive defense questions.
I’ve read in other cases lawyers will prep witnesses by playing the role of the opposite side. Grill them over and over until nothing can shake their testimony.
