Palo civil suit ‘seems like a stretch’

Submitted by Mastodon on Wed, 2014-06-25 22:53

Article here. Excerpt:

'The defamation lawsuit former Iowa State University basketball player Bubu Palo has filed against the woman who accused him of sexual assault two years ago will be difficult to win, risks introducing new criminal evidence against him and, should he prevail, could discourage others from reporting rapes to police, according to legal experts and a leading Iowa victims’ advocate.

In May 2012, Palo and his friend Spencer Cruise were accused of raping the alleged victim after agreeing to give her a ride home from a Campustown bar and instead taking her to Cruise’s father’s house, where the two men allegedly assaulted her. Palo and Cruise were subsequently charged with second-degree sex abuse, a class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

The Ames Tribune does not publish the names of alleged victims of sexual assault.

The cases against Palo and Cruise were dismissed in January 2013, before going to trial, based on a forensic analysis of a blouse the alleged victim wore the night of the incident that determined it had been torn after the alleged assault, contrary to statements she had made under oath.
...
“I think that there are valid public policy reasons that a judge might want to look very carefully at such a case and make sure that there’s really good evidence to support (the defamation claim), because otherwise it is going to be very harassing of sexual assault victims,” Dauber said.

Barnhill agreed, citing widespread societal misconceptions, contrary to statistical evidence, that false rape reports are common and that sexual assault perpetrators are most often strangers to their victims.

Lawsuits against alleged victims, she said, are “really unfortunate.”

“I think it can discourage reporting. It’s a terrible precedent, and I think that there are a very small number of false reports.”'

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Comments

"...make sure that there’s really good evidence to support (the defamation claim), because otherwise it is going to be very harassing of sexual assault victims..."

In other words, assume the accuser has been sexually assaulted, so the defamation case has no basis to go forward since it isn't defamation if it actually happened, even if the accused was exonerated or there was no evidence of the assault. There! This way, no man ever accused of sexual assault and later exonerated can sue for damages to his reputation, loss of job or family, etc. It's perfect! (If you're a feminist...)

Begging the question is, I have noticed, a favorite tactic of feminists to get people to agree to some of the most ridiculous assertions. And it's not just limited to feminists; political leaders have been using this rhetorical and mind-f*cking technique for countless millenia to get people to do stupid things.

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Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2014-06-26 06:03

They should make sure there's rally good evidence before charging a man with sexual assault because otherwise it's very harassing of the men.

The strategy of most women's group and Obama is to lower the standard of evidence for men--to make it easier to get a conviction. The same standard should be applied to women accused of false accusations of rape. And, if convicted, these women should be kicked out of school and otherwise suffer the same consequences as the man would have suffered had he been found guilty.

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Submitted by el cid on Thu, 2014-06-26 14:17