False Statement?

Shakes Sis and Media Girl have excellent posts about a very disturbing case. I don’t know enough about the evidence to speak definitively about the decision of the prosecution not to go forward with her charges. But a false statement charge? Particularly given the inconsistencies in the stories of the alleged attackers, there doesn’t seem to be anything like the evidence necessary to justify the charge, let alone to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. And the chilling effects of charging her go without saying–if you press forward with a rape charge, you may be charged yourself simply because the prosecution feels they can’t convict? Talk about a profound disincentive to doing something that is already enormously difficult. (Amanda has more.) And, of course, for reasons I discussed last week I’m particularly disinclined to trust judges and prosecutors who think that a woman’s having consented to sex before with the accused party is relevant evidence.

One thing that should come out of this: Oregon needs a rape shield law.