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College football player acquitted of rape
Last edited Sat Mar 2, 2013, 04:32 PM - Edit history (1)
With all the buzz right now about Congress finally re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act, Arkansas banning most abortions, and other fronts in the Republican War on Women, expect this rape acquittal to fire up those who hold the belief that it's the MEN whose lives are ruined worse by false accusations of rape than the women who are rape victims! As the Missoulian reports:
A Missoula County District Court jury has found former University of Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson not guilty of rape.
Jurors returned their verdict after about 2 1/2 hours of deliberation Friday afternoon.
Johnson was charged with sexual intercourse without consent in connection with a Feb. 4, 2012, incident with a fellow UM student as the two watched a movie in her bedroom.
Jurors returned their verdict after about 2 1/2 hours of deliberation Friday afternoon.
Johnson was charged with sexual intercourse without consent in connection with a Feb. 4, 2012, incident with a fellow UM student as the two watched a movie in her bedroom.
Johnson and his accuser gave contradicting accounts of what happened, one factor into why the jury could not be convinced:
Both Johnson and the woman who says he raped her testified during the 12-day trial. Johnson contended they had consensual sex and that at no point did the woman indicate it was anything other than enjoyable, saying he would have stopped immediately if she had.
But the woman said that, although he stopped the first time she said no, later he ignored her repeated "no's" and attempts to push him away, and raped her. She said she stopped resisting after he said, "Turn over or I'll make you."
But the woman said that, although he stopped the first time she said no, later he ignored her repeated "no's" and attempts to push him away, and raped her. She said she stopped resisting after he said, "Turn over or I'll make you."
Not only did their accounts differ vastly, two expert witness doctors (one for the prosecution the other defense) gave different interpretations of whether the woman's PTSD diagnosis after her encounter with Johnson was valid. And another hole for the prosecutors: "A UM counselor who diagnosed the woman with post-traumatic stress disorder and treated her for several months also testified, saying under cross-examination that she was not yet licensed when she made that diagnosis."
And somehow the defense attorneys were able to KO text messages that the woman sent very shortly after her time with Johnson:
Throughout the trial, testimony returned to text messages sent by and to the woman, including one she sent moments after the incident to her housemate, who was playing video games in the living room.
"Omg ... I think I might have just gotten raped .... he kept pushing and pushing and I said no but he just wouldn't listen ... I just wanna cry ... omg what do I do?"
While the prosecution portrayed that text as evidence of an assault, the defense homed in on the word "think."
"homed in on the word 'think'?"
IS THAT ALL?
Johnson was prosecuted in a time when the USDOJ has probed UM over the university's handling of rape complaints. Johnson's defense counsel cited that investigation to undermine the prosecution's case as politically motivated:
Johnson's defense attorneys, David Paoli and Kirsten Pabst, also made repeated references to the ongoing federal Department of Justice investigation into how the Missoula County Attorney's Office, the Missoula Police Department and UM's campus police handle reports of sexual assault.
That investigation was announced in May, well after the woman reported to police in March that Johnson had raped her. But the County Attorney's Office didn't charge him until July.
That investigation was announced in May, well after the woman reported to police in March that Johnson had raped her. But the County Attorney's Office didn't charge him until July.
Last month, a teammate of Johnson's named Beau Donaldson was sentenced to 30 years (20 suspended) for rape.
As the NY Times reported back in August, this scandal may be Penn State II:
In April, the contracts of Robin Pflugrad, who was Big Sky Conference coach of the year in 2011, and Jim O’Day, the athletic director, were not renewed. No explanation was given.
There was widespread feeling in Missoula that players had been coddled, their transgressions ignored or played down. Three players involved in the sexual assault allegations, for example, including the two charged with rape, are represented by lawyers who are board members of a Grizzly booster organization.
The series of events led to a federal Justice Department investigation into how the university, the City of Missoula and Missoula County handle the reporting of sexual assaults. It is also investigating the university under Title IX, part of federal education law, and Title IV, under the Civil Rights Act, for how it handled sexual assault accusations. And many wonder if the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which has its own investigation under way, will impose penalties.
There was widespread feeling in Missoula that players had been coddled, their transgressions ignored or played down. Three players involved in the sexual assault allegations, for example, including the two charged with rape, are represented by lawyers who are board members of a Grizzly booster organization.
The series of events led to a federal Justice Department investigation into how the university, the City of Missoula and Missoula County handle the reporting of sexual assaults. It is also investigating the university under Title IX, part of federal education law, and Title IV, under the Civil Rights Act, for how it handled sexual assault accusations. And many wonder if the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which has its own investigation under way, will impose penalties.
And sadly, Missoula is full of misogynistic right wingers (http://jezebel.com/5908472/my-weekend-in-americas-so+called-rape-capital):
Nearly everyone I meet in Missoula — on porches, at coffee shops, in bars — agrees on three points. The first is that the city’s police force is a joke, ill-equipped to deal with the heavy interstate narcotics flow (the federal government has officially designated the area as a “high intensity drug trafficking area”), drunk driving (even the head of the student health center has a DUI under his belt), and — yes — sexual assaults that occur on a regular basis. The second point is that rape is very bad. And the third is that the girls in Missoula are the type who “make shit up for attention.” Girls “cry rape” in Missoula, say the girls of Missoula, who are often quicker to blame “sluts” for getting themselves into sketchy situations than are guys. I’m told over and over again that, thanks to the allegations that have surfaced over the past few months, more and more girls are blaming their post-hookup shame on the guys they — in the minds of so many of the Missoulians I meet — happily and carelessly took home the night before.
My conclusion would be that the jury bought into the defense's attacks on the qualifications of the prosecution witnesses under cross examination. In these cases where the only witnesses are the perp and victim, the Johnson acquittal will only discourage victims from coming forward if their rapes happened like Johnson allegedly did rather than a stranger mugging them in the street or something brutal like in Delhi last December.
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