Ben Roethlisberger, 'You Can Do Better,' District Attorney Says

Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2010-04-13 17:35

Story here. Excerpt:

'Ben Roethlisberger might have promised to be a role model, but the district attorney who declined to press sexual assault charges stemming from a drunken evening at a nightclub said it was the actions of the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, not his words, that would prove it.
...
Bright said that due to scant physical evidence and conflicting statements from the student, he could not prove a crime had happened.

"You get a lot of he said, she said," Bright said, "but it's unclear. It's foggy, and I couldn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt."

The woman, who Bright said told police after the incident she didn't know if they even had sex, wrote a letter asking that Roethlisberger not be charged, but Bright said it made little difference in his decision.

"Without that letter, I still feel we did not have enough to prove him guilty, at least of the charge of rape," Bright said.
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During a news conference, Bright spelled out a confusing mix of stories that emerged immediately after the complaint was filed, and said alcohol played a significant role in the night's events.

When she was first asked by a police officer if she had been raped, she answered, "No," Bright said, citing police reports. When asked if she and Roethlisberger had sex, she said, "I'm not sure," the district attorney said.
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"I still said no. This is not OK with me. He said it's okay. He had sex with me," Bright quoted the woman saying.

The police interview with Roethelisberger quoted him telling police that he tried to send the student away, saying, "I told her she was too drunk to be back here," Bright said.

The police officer who wrote the report concluded, "It is unclear as to what happened due to the …recollection due to her intoxication level."'

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Comments

... and it was her accusation that started the whole thing.

So what exactly was he apologizing for, really-- getting accused of something? No trial, no actual witnesses, no chance to confront or refute really since she is nameless by law. Basically the scene is this: if you are a famous man and happen to be in any public place drinking alcohol, be 100% certain you don't go off with any women to fool around. That's the rule. Otherwise you get this kind of thing happening to you.

Famous women, on the other hand...

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Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2010-04-14 15:16

manonthestreet

Matt is correct. But its a pretty bleak world where making love, or indeed not making love, is a dangerous place to be.

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Submitted by trotter on Wed, 2010-04-14 17:44

"Without that letter, I still feel we did not have enough to prove him guilty, at least of the charge of rape," Bright said.

See, the DA is showing his true self there for a second. Ben Roethlisberger, has enough cash to afford a very good defense attorney who would get him off. A man without such resources readily at hand has two choices: either sacrifice your house and your retirement savings, pay for a good lawyer, and get found not guilty but still utterly ruined; or if you are unable to liquidate assets to pay for your defense, then you get a public defender who tells you to cop a plea to one of those lesser included crimes the good DA is referring to in the last part of the above quote.

The standard practice - because there simply aren't enough resources or time available within the justice system to give every person charged a trial - is to plea bargain. Rape, in this case being the severe charge but there are dozens of lesser included charges that one can plead down to instead. 90% of all cases in Canada are settled by plea bargain, some outright confess to the principal charge, and less then 5% of all cases ever make it to trial.

With this new era of public naming and shaming even before charges are laid, even as a rich man, Ben Roethlisberger still had to make a public apology for a crime he was never even charged with - damage to his reputation - a poor man either ends up on the street or in jail under the same circumstances. A man who feminists would say is a card carrying member of patriarchy (rich, excels at a violent sport, takes home young drunk females to have sex with etc..) can have his "male privilege" stripped in a the blink of an eye by a "powerless" young girl. That "male privilege" and "rape culture" sure are fantastic aren't they? I mean those poor powerless little tall infants that women are must live in fear every second of their lives that in an instant some big, mean, all powerful man can rape them at will without so much as a fear of repercussions. Oh, wait, she's not even sure they had sex and she had him publicly humiliated. Who has all the power and privilege in western society again?

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Submitted by Paragon on Sat, 2010-04-17 13:31