Acquittal In IL Rape Case
By The recently-discussed rape case has ended in an acquittal. The way the trail was conducted suggests that rape myths are, alas, alive and well:
The verdict appalled victims’ rights advocates, who said the defense sought to affirm every rape myth.
“We’re down to those same stereotypes–she was drinking, she was asking for it,” said Linda Healy, executive director of Mutual Ground, a suburban counseling program for sexual assault victims.
“We hold the standards that the victim, who is almost always a woman, is somehow supposed to prevent this from happening if it’s something she didn’t want,” said Polly Poskin of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
It’s also worth emphasizing an important point for those commenters who claimed that preventing the defense from showing the videotape to the complainant would somehow have prevented any kind of defense from being mounted at all:
After repeatedly viewing a videotape that captured the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl, a jury acquitted a Burr Ridge man Friday of sexual assault and child pornography charges.
The lawyer for Adrian Missbrenner, 20, went frame-by-frame through the video, taken during a party at which teens were drinking heavily Dec. 7, 2002, pointing to every gesture he said might indicate the girl’s consent.
Needless to say, I continue maintain that compelling the complainant to watch the video was not necessary for a fair trial.