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Thursday, March 09, 2006

A Brutal Scene Caught on Tape; Rape

Politics takes a back seat for a few moments and we address crimes of the people instead of our government. So, all you ladies and you protective gentlemen, what's your take on this (as usual) controversial case?

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A Brutal Scene Caught on Tape
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A 21-minute recording of a sexual assault shattered lives in O.C.

By Christopher Goffard
Times Staff Writer

March 9 2006

When Gregory Haidl pressed the "record" button on his Sony hand-held video camera four years ago, lives began to unspool.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tape9mar09,0,2563897.story?coll=la-home-headlines

I say as usual controversial case, because in most acquaintance rape cases, and sometimes in stranger rape, the defense usually claims "consensual sex", makes every effort to destroy the complaintant's reputation and credibility, makes a public point of any real or alleged past sexual history (as if being non-virgin makes a difference in rape), and often lines up several buddies of the defendant to swear they had sex with the girl/woman before.

It is a fact that there are instances wherein women or girls allege rape when it was indeed consensual. It is also a fact that a real rapist often claims consensual when it was in fact forcible or coerced/intimidation rape. Or rape upon an unconscious victim.

In any case, it is a fact that young lives are blighted or totally ruined. In the case of these young men who stand accused, truly guilty of rape or if the young girl did cooperate, I question the standards and morals of the young men involved. Even if the girl was so sexually jaded that she wanted to make a porno flick, no one twisted these young men's arms and forced them to participate in such a degrading and perverted act. We teach young people to say "No" to drugs; we advise our girls to say "No" to illicit sex. Young men have the option to say "No" to wrong doing, also, and they were old enough to know what they were doing was immoral and indecent.

6 Comments:

  • At Thursday, March 09, 2006 7:26:00 PM , Blogger JBlue said...

    As a friend who sent me info about this at the time of the trial said, after they raped her "using a pool cue, a cigarette and a Snapple bottle," and she lay totally unresponsive, recorded on the tape, it's a little hard to believe she was playing possum. I think the more significant detail is that the defendant's father was very wealthy and very influential. Just more evidence that there's a separate justice system for those with wealth.

     
  • At Thursday, March 09, 2006 7:30:00 PM , Blogger JBlue said...

    AND I might add, if that had been my daughter, that little #%^& would wish sometime had shot him before I got MY hands on him. They want to live by a different set of laws? Okay. Be careful what you wish for, though.

    (God help me, I'm going to be the mom that goes into the school and beats the crap out of the bully, aren't I? Gets arrested, etc. Oh, well.... You only live once, maybe.)

     
  • At Thursday, March 09, 2006 9:42:00 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

    I believe that most parents, both mother and father, feel much the same way.
    One of my grand daughters was raped when she was 15 by a classmate, a very popular football hero, when a group of boys crashed a slumber party. The parents of the little hostess had assured my daughter that they would be at home, but they left for a social engagement (they lied about going to be at home) and the boys came over.
    The defense claimed consensual sex and did all he could to present the victim as promiscuous. Our family gynecologist testified, complete with drawings on a chalk board, that 1). he had seen P. in his office just 2 weeks before the rape for a menstrual problem and she was a virgin, and 2). detailed the vaginal tears and trauma of the forcible rape. My daughter also had saved the bloody panties and shorts P. had put back on after the rape. Then the defense claimed it was still consensual, but P. "liked rough sex", as if in two weeks time she could have become that jaded and bored with regular sex. He kept her on the stand for most of one day, until she was so emotionally and psychologically traumatized she began vomiting in the witness stand. She put her hand over her mouth, trying to stop the vomitus and it squirted out her nose and around her hand. The prosecutor jumped up and asked the judge if P. could be excused from the witness box, and I'll just be damned if that defense atty.didn't object and ask that the jury be excused first!! With that child up there choking and strangling in her own vomit, squirting from her nose, around her hand and spilling down her dress front. My son-in-law gripped the back of the bench in front of him so hard that it creaked and he broke his fingernails. That smirking litle rapist snot wasn't the only one we felt like beating to a pulp.
    I understand about that girl having to go to a different school. The kids at school made P.'s life a living hell and my daughter had to withdraw her and have her tutored at home. At the trial the rapist's supporters came and when they'd see us in the hall would start chanting, "Rape! Rape!" The prosecutor had to hide P. and the family in a room until time for court every day.
    And would you believe he was acquitted! The jury was hung, 9 for guilty and 3 not guilty. The judge sent them back, demanding a verdict. It was late Friday and the 9 yielded to the 3 so they could go home. The judge was furious and actually bawled them out before dismissing them.
    The prosecutor told us later that of the 3 holdouts, 1 said she just couldn't believe such a nice looking boy from good family could do such a thing; 1 said she just couldn't make up her mind; and the other one said "there just isn't enough evidence". I suppose P. should have had a video or 10 witnesses ganged around watching!
    Afterwards, 2 of P.'s classmates came to her and admitted the boy had done the same thing to them, but they were too ashamed and scared to tell on him. One of the male classmates said the rapist was bragging to the other guys about "busting that cherry". The scoundrel. Thanks to that gutless 9 who gave in, he got the message that there was no consequences to rape; that either the girls wouldn't tell or he'd get off in court.
    It also sent a message to other girls, don't tell; you'll get raped again in the court room.

     
  • At Friday, March 10, 2006 4:33:00 PM , Blogger JBlue said...

    Those stories infuriate me. I admire you that you're still sane. I don't know how I would cope, how I would not go on a murderous rampage. I guess you look at your child, who needs you more than ever in that moment (and you looked at child AND grandchild) and you somehow force yourself to do what you have to in order to save that child. But I have a long memory and I can be the snake lying in wait in the tall grass....

    I remember when I was pregnant, a friend sent me a card that said something like having a child is having your heart go walking around outside your body. I never knew how vulnerable it would make me. To think of anything happening to my child is so much worse than thinking of it happening to me.

    Please tell me that somehow this poor child made it through that nightmare. I hope she's okay. I think victims like her could heal better if they weren't victimized again by the court.

     
  • At Saturday, March 11, 2006 8:14:00 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

    Sex Crimes Division had a male oficer do all the interviewing, including detailing every bit of the rape action, events before and afterwards, which made it difficult at first for P. to speak of such intimate details to a man. But the officer was very good at his job and won her trust. The organization for rape victims were extremely supportive and even accompanied her for every meeting and to court. I highly recommend those groups, whether the victim intends to press charges or not.

    P. was placed in counseling but still suffered emotional and psychological problems for years. She became embittered, distrustful, and experienced behavioral problems.

    Now, she is a single mom (none of her marriages were successful, due to her problems), has a good job in a medical office, is a good mom, attentive to her childrens' needs, and self-supporting although her parents help out in extreme financial difficulties, active in her church and is seemingly stablized. But it has been a long, hard, painful time for her and for those who love her.

     
  • At Saturday, March 11, 2006 11:24:00 AM , Blogger Granny said...

    We went through much the same thing when I was 14. I wrote a post over on granny.

    We never got as far as a trial. The DA and the boy's father were buddies. The difference was I became pregnant at 14, baby at 15.

    WA's story is much worse and it's still happening.

     

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