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NYC Cops Not Rapists, Says Jury
Well, the most terrible story in the world has reached its conclusion by verdict. "The jury convicted both officers of official misconduct for entering the woman’s apartment, but found them not guilty of all other charges, including burglary and falsifying business records." So…. that's that. (Although the civil case will proceed.)
I'm sure Dominique Strauss-Kahn is breathing easier this morning.
It's too early for vodka, yes?
@MichelleDean I keep adding and then deleting inarticulately rageful comments here. My favourite aspect of this case is how the officer admitted, on tape, to the victim that he used a condom and still his lawyers were able to convince someone, including apparently the reporter on the article you link to, that there was some real question as to whether sex occurred here. ALSO! how much do I love knowing that I'm in a default state of consent to any cop I manage to encounter unless I am unconscious or physically unable to speak. Jeeeesus vodka and tonic.
@MichelleDean: the Bloody Mary was invented to insure that it is, in fact, never too early for vodka.
@HiredGoons Vodka Mimosa for more celebratory mornings.
Wow. This is so disheartening I'm at a loss for words. Granted I did not sit on the jury, I have not seen/heard all the evidence, nor am I familiar with the instructions given to the jury for each of the counts. However, what I've learned is that a rapist can get into your bed when you're drunk, you can remember being penetrated (and I have had very drunk sex where I remember not much else but the fact that "it" happened), tape the guy admitting to using a condom, and the rapist will walk away free. Rape culture in America. So damn disheartening.
@ae38: Yep. Rapist says he lied about wearing a condom: believed. Woman says she was raped with support from circumstantial evidence (why the HELL did they go back three times?): not believed.
I apologize in advance for the fact that I now have to kill everybody.
@C_Webb Take me first, as I'm devastated.
@C_Webb
You are cracking me up.
So they're guilty, they're just not that guilty.
@KarenUhOh Well, who doesn't think they're THAT guilty at this point? Dodging the rape conviction sucks, and we all wish they'd paid more dearly for their acts, but I'm pretty sure these guys will always be thought of as the guys who raped that poor girl. Society is not forgiving of that kind of thing.
They're also eligible for up to one year in prison, which I hope they surely get in full, and I'm sure the other prisoners will make it seem like twenty years to them.
@KarenUhOh They are guilty, just not guilty-guilty.
@deepomega : Ugh, nicely done.
"Well who doesn't think they're THAT guilty at this point?"
UM APPARENTLY SOME OF THESE 'JUROR' PEOPLE. HOPE THEY WEREN'T IMPORTANT.
@DoctorDisaster !!!!!
@KarenUhOh They are THAT guilty. It's just that they are sooo special, that the rules of society don't apply to them.
Bright side? Official misconduct is still a pretty serious offense. Both officers' careers are over and they'll have a hard time ever getting decent jobs again.
@Mr. B Framing the outcome through the lens of the officers' professional futures rather than the victim's pursuit of justice ain't much of a "bright side."
Alleged victim.
@Matt Langer : I agree. It's a shame Officer Moreno won't get to spend some time upstate, where I'm sure the guys on the cellblock would be happy to "snuggle…and kiss (him) on the forehead".
@Mr. B Be careful with your words: there's nothing "alleged" about her being the victim of an officer of the law entering her apartment and "cuddling" her in her bed while she was drunk and wearing nothing but a bra.
@Matt Langer: And coming back three times — on tape — for more "cuddling."
Granted! Look, I agree that the cops were way out of line (to say the least), but from what little experience I've had with criminal trials I'm not at all surprised by the verdict. Please don't pounce on me for not being sufficiently outraged that the jury found reasonable doubt.
@SarahHeartburn: But of course joking about prison rape is always justified and cool.
@Mr. B: You know what? This time I really don't give a rat's ass.
And I wasn't joking. Dead fucking serious.
@Mr. B I'm not pouncing on any purported lack of outrage (I'm not even pouncing! I'm on my sofa!) but rather the train of thought that casts the trial's outcome as a narrative about "what happens now to the defendant." This sort of redefinition–however so slight–of who's been victimized here is the first step on the slippery slope that ultimately ends with the New York Times publishing an article about a horrific north Texas gang rape that "destroyed the community" and will be "something the boys have to live with for the rest of their lives."
@SarahHeartburn: So some people deserve to be raped under certain circumstances? Good to know.
@Matt Langer: O.K. I just wanted to point out that they're still convicted criminals now, and are going to be punished. But, point taken.
@Mr. B You're fucking' A rapists deserve to be raped. Because those shitheads never learn.
@SarahHeartburn But who rapes the rapists??
So glad we didn't devolve into prison rape jokes. That would be distasteful.
@Mr. B : Let's start off with the Comparative Literature departments of Mount Holyoke and Barnard, on crack, steroids and vodka, armed with torches, tasers and very bad breath. I'll keep thinking of more.
"They flirted, he sang Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” to her".
Well, that makes it okay, I guess.
@SarahHeartburn: Everyone's a little bit rapist.
@SarahHeartburn Did this guy really think he was helping???
Today started with such promise. What kind of scotch pairs well with ham sandwich?
@zoom I find that my favorite brand, "Half of a bottle," goes well on occasions like this.
@zoom: Mr. Bukowski?
@HiredGoons And in a comment thread about terrible men doing terrible things to women, no less.
-1
Hey women: looks like we need refrigerator magnets to remind us to go to the hospital immediately after being raped, because apparently we are held to a more rigid protocol than any other victims of crime or trauma.
@C_Webb 'You were raped, like…twelve hours ago? So passe.'
Oh the plus side, I just spent two hours trying to install a wireless printer so I am feeling very ready to riot. Ladies of NYC, meet me outside in ten.
@amuselouche
Love ya!
This is so fucked.
I am pretty sure it is a bad sign for me personally that this does not even surprise me in the least.
@cherrispryte My default assumption is that cops who do terrible things will be acquitted.
@cherrispryte, @science is sexy@twitter : Yes, and yes.
@cherrispryte Gah, yes. I think that means I've been a lawyer for too damn long.
@cherrispryte : Well, at least you can be reassured that, regardless of the outcome, this was an entirely isolated inciden… awww dammit.
Massive, violent protests are in order.
New York has a serious cop problem. The behavior evidenced by these two swine is far too typical. The fact that a juror believed them at all only says that the defense attorney succeeded in voir dire at packing the jury box with a bunch of fools who think Law & Order is a documentary.
@Backslider: Also, the body of a woman who was raped cannot be treated like a crime scene. There are clear, obvious reasons why DNA may not be present.
@C_Webb : … besides the fact that any DNA evidence which in the best-case (ugh) scenario might have existed was being handled by other cops.
i was going to attempt a witty comment but i got nothing.
this just fucking sucks.
@roboloki Me too. I've never scowled this hard at my monitor before.
@whizzard
I am scowling so hard that I have aged about ten years.
Always remember, ladies, just because you're too drunk to be a credible witness doesn't mean you're too drunk to consent to sex!
The worst part of it all is that these cops are so fucking stupid and obvious and insultingly blatant about it. They didn't even cover their tracks. They faked a 911 call to get into her goddamn building, they got caught on tape admitting to sex, they admitted on the stand that they got in her BED, but because they had the foresight to use a condom apparently everything else becomes a "he-said/she-said case." Literally the only thing Charlie McBlueshield needs to do if he wants to rape you and get away with it is make sure he closes the door and doesn't leave behind any semen. And god help you if your first reaction to being raped is "oh my god, get the slime of my attacker out of my body, get it off, get it off" because you just fucked up the only thing about your rape that people are willing to believe. (Then again, look at DSK – even physical evidence isn't always enough. She could have ~seduced him~ like maids always be doin'.)
And the comments on the New York Times – THE NEW YORK TIMES – about how her getting drunk "started this whole mess" makes me want to start drinking and not stop for awhile. I'll just make sure to do it in the comfort of my own home, wearing a suit of armor, after writing "I DON'T WANT TO HAVE SEX" on my forehead with Sharpie. Just in case, you know?
@Diana Stegall@facebook : The comparison of this case to Tawana Brawley made my head explode.
@C_Webb
Hey, I don't know who you are, but you are making sense to me. The lady was raped. She was raped because she is young, she was vulnerable and the opportunity was there. This guy, was "in your face" lying, and not even being good at it. It is an outrage that rape has become accepted. Any man,cop or not, who has a mother,sister,auntie, daughter, wife, cousins, any females in their family should be totally outraged. This is nothing like the Tawana case. Be for real!!
@Diana Stegall@facebook
Here's the scenario: This is how IT happened. I call this scene:
GOOD INTENTIONS The Four Trips.
Trip #1: Bring the lady home. Take her up to her apartment.Drop her off in her apartment. But after seeing how drunk she is decide to go to the store and buy some you-know, condoms.
Trip #2: Come back to "See how she is". Do the deed, then a little serenade, kill some roaches.
Trip #3: OOPS! Got to go back. Left my lighter.
Trip #4: Return to the scence of the you know, where IT happened to make sure it's cleaned up, the curtains are closed and she's so knocked out that she probably won't even remember, but really who cares. Nobody is going to care. WE ARE THE LAW. We can do anything. Drive up one way streets, drive through stop signs, WE HAVE GUNS. Too bad for you.
But don't worry honey, there was a witness to the whole thing. The Lord is everywhere and He saw. There is no escaping that. And He does care.
Wait, WHAT?
Under the prosecutors’ theory of rape, they had to prove that the woman was physically unable to consent to sex, meaning that she was either unconscious or unable to speak when she was penetrated.
HOW ABOUT PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO FIGHT BACK?!?!?!?
@Clarence Rosario : I think using intimidation is also considered a form of agression. I'm not skinny or tiny and I'm fairly strong, but most guys could probablly flatten me in a thrice. And if they were armed and trained in techniques to subdue, I don't think I'd have a chance.
@SarahHeartburn Oh, for sure. I'm just appalled that the prosecution was basing a ton of their case on being physically unable to consent. As opposed to being unable to defend yourself.
As if rape were like opt-in/opt-out for an email newsletter.
@Clarence Rosario Yes, we ladies have to be too drunk to consent but not so drunk that we can't remember what happened. If that makes sense to anybody let me know. I'll be hibernating in my girl cave where everything is nice and safe and warm.
Now, more than ever, we need a bear video.