she WAS only 15 when that incident happened.

And he IS an attorney, who presumably makes a LOT more money than her.

So while he is within his legal rights to pursue her for payment, at some point it's perhaps going to make him seem a bit like Inspector Javert.

Garnishment takes so much money from people's paychecks that they cannot possibly survive on what remains. I had to garnish an employee's wages many years ago and she had to quit because it left her nothing to live on.

Sure as hell she didn't know Pagones or the other 5 men she accused from Adam when her advisors built upon her BS to come up with that beaut of a story.

He already gained retribution from her advisors.

Maybe his persistance isn't really about the money?

It's about ruining her life. He is obviously bound and determined to do that. I am unsure whether or not he is justified in continuing to try to do that, given that 25 years has passed and that she was an idiotic teen when she accused him.

I think I have a problem with what he's doing. He can't let it go. He can't forgive. And maybe he should. Especially if she has proved to be of some value to society.

Because what she accused him of was so absurd, given that she had never even met him, how much could his reputation still be suffering after 25 years?

I am torn between what he has the legal right to do, and how he might have some residual anger (that one could argue IS justified), and what perhaps is the WISEST and most compassionate course of action. He is letting this eat at him even now. That can't be healthy.

and identiy to identity to avoid paying restitution 'ruining her life'?
Maybe..but 25 years ago it cost Pagones plenty in HIS life.

Years ago he said he was 'moving on' once her and Sharpton, et. al. were held accountable, but it could be he wants her to feel something, to somehow take some personal responsibility for all that bullshit.

Healthy? Not too sure. But I could see how even the slightest sign of her accepting the vile selfishness of her actions, no matter how much she was manipulated by those used her, would be satisfying.

call him a rapist for TEN YEARS.

So, yeah, not so sympathetic at this point.

It was a Rape accusation that put him in the national spotlight.

Now she's the victim?

15 y/o's do bad things and sometimes spend their lives living it down. In the end, the fact that she has made no effort to make things right leaves me with little sympathy.

now but herself.

The man she accused has apparently said that he would forget about the money if she and Sharpton would come forward with a sincere apology.

This is a very old case. Certainly she has PAID dearly her entire life.
Putting a financial number to it now seems not judiciary but arbitrary at best, revengeful at worst.

Pogones received a judgment in his favor 14 years ago. Since then, Brawley has allegedly evaded paying it by moving around, using aliases and fake social security numbers. I don't think you mean to say that if you can avoid a judgment for long enough, it should be null-and-void -- do you?

How?

that lying piece of shit owes him. She has never admitted to making up the entire thing, never apologized for allowing the situation to cause race relations in the city to spiral downward, never apologized to Mr. Pagones for falsely accusing him of rape. She's 40 years old now and still hasn't come clean. Fuck her.

I'm just going to repost the same comment I made on the subject last night when it came up in another discussion:

The defamation judgment was entered in 1998. She was still trying to defend the hoax in 1997, ten years after it happened, and when she was 25 years old. She was still, a decade after the whole thing went down, publicly referring to him as a rapist. It would be one thing if we were only talking about the statements she made in 1987, but she kept repeating the accusations long after she was old enough to know better in some desperate attempt to save face. When she was finally sued and was given a chance to defend herself, she didn't even bother showing up to court. She skipped town and changed her name.

Pagones is the victim here. He did nothing wrong, had his life disrupted for years, his marriage destroyed, and his name and photo smeared across the national media by her pointless hoax. She already got off pretty easy by not being charged with faking the crime...paying some cash to her victim as compensation isn't too much to ask.

her parents and what they would do because she came home late. So she made up this crock and her parents went on to prosecute this man. I would have sued her parents and Rev Al. At some point they found out the truth. The parents could have gone on national tv and apologized to the man. I wouldn't be surprised he might not have sued. But none of that happened. They dragged him through courts. I am sure its not about the money. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he donated it to some place. Now maybe if she got a lawyer and try to contact the man who knows he might say forget it as long as you go on a national tv show and tell the whole truth.

It's about what she said at 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25. In 1997, on the 10th anniversary of the original "incident", the press tracked her down and she said it again.

She wasn't sued over what she said at 15. She was sued over what she said at 25. And even then, she had a chance to defend herself. She didn't bother.

Pagones, to his credit, has offered to drop the claim if she'll just tell the truth. She just has to do it.

Factually, the grand jury didn't simply find that there was no evidence of a rape, but it found overwhelming evidence that the entire story was fabricated (like the witnesses placing her at a party when she was supposed to have been kidnapped, or the other one who saw her climb into the garbage bag). Her boyfriend coming out a few years later and explaining how she'd told him that the whole thing had been a ploy to get out of trouble with her parents just confirmed everything the grand jury found.

There's no logical reason for her refusal to apologize, but most of us have had the misfortune to deal with liars who refuse to admit that they're lying, even when it's bluntly clear to everyone that there's no truth to what they're saying. It seems like they believe that ADMITTING you're a liar is worse than simply having everyone THINK you're a liar.


The insane thing with Brawleys case is that she WAS just a teenager. People would have forgiven her if she'd just admitted everything once the truth was exposed. It's her own stubborness that's getting her into trouble at this point.

time ago, fessed up to it, and gave this man some closure.

She wrecked him, past the point of being a scared kid, knowingly, deliberately, willfully, and maliciously she WRECKED this man's life! I'm astonished, ASTONISHED at the amount of sympathy people here are dishing out on her. It's unfathomable to me!! On what planet do some of our posters spend the majority of their time? This man is completely justified, this woman is a villain, there's no discussion about it- it is both clear and cut.

I for one will stand alongside the actual victim here.

I see Brawley as having limited blame for what she did as a teen, but those who lead the blind rush to judgment in cases like this (and the Duke lacrosse case) are absolutely culpable.

That said, she was an adult when she changed her name and social security number to avoid the court judgment.

Apparently she continued to claim the guy raped her for TEN YEARS, knowing it was a bald-faced lie. She has never apologized.

I am feeling lass sympathetic toward her now.

Perhaps she has mental issues.

Yes, she was 15 when it happened-but I knew right from wrong at 15. I would never have falsely accused someone of anything. IIRC she ran away from home and that's what started this story. I also remember candlight marches against the alleged rapists and the police for "covering it up".

That led to false accusations, mistrust of law enforcement, defamations of character, protest marches, and highly increased levels of racial tension in a a city or 2 that really don't need that type of help.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

It'd be best for everyone and finally put this case to rest.

Yes, he was mistaken. But even today it's not that easy to find people willing to go to the mat for a young woman of any color.

Al knew she was lying and kept pushing anyway.

It became personal for Al, which is why he kept going even after he knew the story was bogus. That fact completely negates any possible credit he would have been due. Even he now admits that making it so personal with the officers was unwise.

then yes, he went to the mat all right.

NOBODY was defending Pagones. Her lies (and rev al's) set race relations back 20 years in NY. And neither one has owned up to the lies. They're both garbage.

Much like people today "stick up for" Crystal Gayle Mangum?

There are always people willing to go to the mat for a young woman of any color, and some are willing to stay there long after they learn they that the object of their chivalrous crusade is not worth defending.

I thought it was Al Rocher channeling James Brown or sumptin'

I'm sure that subject doesn't cause as much butthurt, eh?

A 15 year old that had murdered someone would be out of jail 25 years later.

I totally get that the guy's name was dragged through the mud but the adults involved and her parents are the folks that should have been sued. Not her. I realize some of those folks were also sued.

SHe should apologize.

She should apologize.

No more excuses. Pay up.