VICTIM GETS NO JUSTICE - CASE THROWN OUT
Via my victim's advocacy work I have met a few truly extraordinary people. People who, against the odds, fought to get back their dignity and come forward about the abuse they endured. People who have endured stigma, smear, false charges filed against them and attacks on their families and reputations.
Coming forward about abuse of any kind is hard because of the "blame the victim" mentality in our society. Rape is extremely hard because often the victim's sexual history and personal ups and downs are part of a smear campaign by the rapist/ abuser and their friends, family and the defense's legal team. (see this post I did yesterday about just such a situation.)
One of these extraordinary people is Holly. I am priviledged to consider Holly a personal friend. Holly's blog is here and everyone should take a moment and read her story. For my Canadian readers, Holly is currently working to get a National Rape Crisis Hotline started in Canada (similar to what we have here in the U.S.). Take a look at her site and read her inspiring story of never giving up the fight for justice.
So I was stunned when Holly sent me this today, from her site. I thought we were making progress in the Justice system in North America. I guess not.
No new trial in 'rape' ban case
BY PAUL HAMMEL
A case that drew national attention after a judge barred the word "rape" from court testimony will not be retried, the alleged victim said Thursday.
Tory Bowen, a former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student who now lives in the Washington, D.C., area, said Lancaster County prosecutors told her Thursday that her case, the subject of two mistrials, would not be tried a third time.
She said she just recently had received a letter saying that a new trial of her alleged assailant, Pamir Safi, was scheduled to begin Feb. 19.
"I'm absolutely shocked," Bowen said in a telephone interview. "He's free. . . . I can't comprehend it."Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey, whom Bowen said she talked to Thursday, declined to comment Thursday evening and couldn't be reached today.
Safi, a 34-year-old Army reservist, was accused of sexually assaulting Bowen after a night of drinking at a downtown Lincoln bar in 2005.
Bowen says that she doesn't remember leaving with Safi and was unconscious and could not consent to sex. Safi claimed otherwise.
Clarence Mock, Safi's defense attorney, could not be reached Thursday night or today. Previously he has said that there was no evidence his client had sexually assaulted anyone and that the judge's rulings were fair in ensuring a fair trial.
Two previous trials ended in mistrials: the first, in 2006, because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict; the second, last summer, after the judge ruled that street protests had interfered with jury selection.
In banning the term "rape" and other words during the trial, Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront cited a state law that allows judges to ban words that could be unfairly prejudicial to a criminal defendant. He also noted that the term "rape" had been deleted from the state's lawbooks in 1975.
Cheuvront later said "sexual assault" could be used.
Before the second trial, advocates for rape victims seized on the judge's ruling, saying it was an unreasonable restraint of free speech.
Street protests followed, as did unsuccessful attempts to have a federal judge or the State Supreme Court overturn it.
A federal judge ruled that he saw no reason for banning the word "rape."
"For the life of me, I do not understand why a judge would tell an alleged rape victim that she cannot say she was 'raped' when she testifies in a trial about rape," wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf on Sept. 25.Wendy Murphy, a Massachusetts lawyer who took up Bowen's cause, is appealing the limits on speech to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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