# Tawana Brawley: 15 Yr. Old Rape-Hoaxer to Pay Heavily for Slander **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617 "2013-08-07T19:09:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/1 "2013-08-07T19:09:58Z")
“Tawana Glenda Brawley (born 1972) is an African-American woman from Wappingers Falls, New York who gained notoriety in 1987-88 for falsely accusing six white men of having raped her. The charges received widespread national attention because of her age (15), the persons accused (including police officers and a prosecuting attorney), and the shocking state in which Brawley was “found” after the rape (naked and covered with feces)” > **[Tawana Brawley rape allegations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley)** > > Tawana Vicenia Brawley (born December 15, 1971) is an African-American woman from New York who gained notoriety in November 1987 at age 15 when she accused four white men of kidnapping and raping her over a 4-day period. > On November 28, 1987, Brawley was found in a trash bag after having been missing for four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, New York. She had racial slurs written on her body and was covered in feces. Brawley accused four white men of having raped her. The charges Brawle... She is in the news because the prosecuting attorney is finally collecting on a slander judgment against her. She now owes a total of about $431,492 for statements she made when she was 15 years old. > **[Pay-up time for Brawley: ‘87 rape-hoaxer finally shells out for slander](https://nypost.com/2013/08/04/pay-up-time-for-brawley-87-rape-hoaxer-finally-shells-out-for-slander/)** > > NO E$CAPE: Tawana Brawley arrives at her nursing job in Richmond, Va., where she had been evading payment of defamation damages. (Mike Theiler)OUTRAGE: Tawana Brawley attends an Atlanta rally with … ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/2 "2013-08-07T19:10:53Z")
She had changed her name and moved out of state. It took this long to find her. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/3 "2013-08-07T19:44:52Z")
She was a minor when this happened, she shouldn’t have to pay. In the end she was a minor character in this fiasco. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/4 "2013-08-07T19:52:10Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > She was a minor when this happened, she shouldn’t have to pay. In the end she was a minor character in this fiasco. Why is that? Is this a special rule for Ms. Brawley, or are you asserting a more general principle that no minor should be able to be sued for anything, or something in between? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/5 "2013-08-07T20:06:38Z")
Just read the case on wiki, yuck, what a disgusting thing all around. Looks like she faked the whole thing to avoid her stepdad’s wrath ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/6 "2013-08-07T20:13:39Z")
I was briefly a suspect. But I don’t hold any personal animosity to Tawana Bradley. She was a kid in a fucked-up situation and it quickly pulled her in over her head. I blame the scumbags like Maddox, Mason, and Sharpton who jumped in and pushed this case for their own self-aggrandizement. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/7 "2013-08-07T20:25:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was briefly a suspect. But I don’t hold any personal animosity to Tawana Bradley. She was a kid in a fucked-up situation and it quickly pulled her in over her head. She’s an adult now. All she has to do is apologize and recant and Pagonas will forgive the debt. The fact that she refuses to do so makes her continually culpable, regardless of the shitty situation of her childhood. > [@](#): > > I blame the scumbags like Maddox, Mason, and Sharpton who jumped in and pushed this case for their own self-aggrandizement. There’s plenty of blame to go around, and Sharpton and Maddox are and always have been gigantic scumbags. I’m interested in hearing your story about being a suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/8 "2013-08-07T20:30:56Z")
Here is the take of [Alton Maddox](http://reinstatealtonmaddox.com/site/?page_id=7) on the whole affair. Tawana Brawley was a lying scumbag, and Steve Pagones continues to be victimized. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/9 "2013-08-07T21:08:39Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Why is that? > > Is this a special rule for Ms. Brawley, or are you asserting a more general principle that no minor should be able to be sued for anything, or something in between? A more general principle, and something in between. I have intimate details of this case and it’s clear the girl was a pawn. I also question the slander conviction since I think the prosecutor was a public figure. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/10 "2013-08-07T21:10:00Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > She’s an adult now. All she has to do is apologize and recant and Pagonas will forgive the debt. The fact that she refuses to do so makes her continually culpable, regardless of the shitty situation of her childhood. I don’t know why she doesn’t apologize, but I can understand her holding a grudge against everyone involved. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/11 "2013-08-07T21:25:24Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A more general principle, and something in between. I have intimate details of this case and it’s clear the girl was a pawn. I also question the slander conviction since I think the prosecutor was a public figure. Public figures are not immune from defamation, though the burden of proof may be higher. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/12 "2013-08-07T22:19:24Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > She was a minor when this happened, she shouldn’t have to pay. If her lies were confined to when she was still a minor, you might have some point. But since she has continued to refuse to tell the truth as an adult, that makes her culpable as an adult. > [@](#): > > In the end she was a minor character in this fiasco. Given that her lies began and maintained the entire charade, she can hardly be considered a minor figure, even if others used her for their own purposes. I was living in New York at the time of the case, and I can’t forgive her for what she and her allies put everybody through. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/13 "2013-08-07T22:26:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I also question the slander conviction since I think the prosecutor was a public figure. Saying something that you know is false (or even with reckless disregard for the truth) is enough even for a public figure. It’s a high bar when trying to collect from the media, who just claim to have relied on their sources. But Tawana Brawley knew she was lying. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/14 "2013-08-07T22:54:41Z")
I would like to see Obama’s take on this situation. ---
**Author:** ![smee\_goan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/15 "2013-08-07T23:29:55Z")
Seen my share of psycho Black B3Achz, most likely she’s harmless as long as she takes her Axiom. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/16 "2013-08-07T23:52:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A more general principle, and something in between. I have intimate details of this case and it’s clear the girl was a pawn. I also question the slander conviction since I think the prosecutor was a public figure. I can’t tell if you’re saying the defamation should not have been found under existing law, or indicating your belief that the law of defamation needs to change. The current law is that a public figure can be defamed but the plaintiff must allege, and prove, actual malice. Actual malice is shown when the speaker knows that the defamatory information is false, or publishes the defamatory statements with reckless disregard for whether they are false or not. In this case, Brawley knew the statements were false, so the current state of the law fully supports a finding of liability for her. Turning to the question of Brawley’s liability as a minor, it’s been quite a few years since I studied this, and I have no idea about any special rules New York has, but as a general statement of the law, I recall that minors are liable for their own tortious conduct with some caveats. A child under the age of seven could not be negligent. A child between the ages of seven and fourteen was presumed not to be negligent, but that presumption could be overcome with evidence. And a child over the age of fourteen was presumed capable of negligence, but _that_ presumption could be overcome. If that’s the law in New York, then I can’t really see what might convince me that Brawley did not know, at the time, that what she was doing was wrong and that she appreciated the difference between acting properly and acting wrongly. IN other words, she knew then that it was reckless and wrong to accuse people of attacking her when that attack never happened. What rule would you craft, instead? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/17 "2013-08-08T00:26:53Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > All she has to do is apologize and recant and Pagonas will forgive the debt. That would be mighty nice of him. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/18 "2013-08-08T00:54:03Z")
> [@smee\_goan](#): > > Seen my share of psycho Black B3Achz, most likely she’s harmless > > as long as she takes her Axiom. This post is getting dangerously close to the line where opinions end and trolling-like statements begin. Back up from that line now, you won’t be noted again about this. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/19 "2013-08-08T01:03:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I blame the scumbags like Maddox, Mason, and Sharpton who jumped in and pushed this case for their own self-aggrandizement. Don’t forget her mom and stepfather who terrorized her to the point where she felt she had to invent this story to escape him. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617/20 "2013-08-08T01:03:52Z")
Well, not all fourteen year old’s are the same. So maybe a physical age should not be the deciding factor. Or at least not the only one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tawana-brawley-15-yr-old-rape-hoaxer-to-pay-heavily-for-slander/665617.md?page=2)