165 replies to this topic

[disenchanted]

Good point Bordercolliefan. It doesn't look good. On the other hand, maybe he being a kid and not a man wasn't direct in his desire to fool around with her and figured that if he said that and she came in, he'd find out whether or not she wanted to fool around.

There was interesting testimony in the trial about her saying he "bothered" her. In closing arguments, the defense pointed out that the girl told the Judge she had complained to the teacher at least ten times the boy had bothered her.. When the teacher was put on the stand and asked how many times the girl had complained to her that the boy had "bothered" her, the teacher had a perplexed look on her face and said "maybe one time - but I didn't think it was a big deal" So who lied, the girl or the teacher? Also, a police audiotape was played where a police officer asked the girl how she felt about the boy prior to the incident. Her answer was that "he was cool, one of the popular kids at Folsom High, I had trust for him". Wouldn't she have said that he bothered her to the police officer if that's truly how she felt?

Why would a girl follow a boy who is not her friend, not her boyfriend and someone who intensely bothered her inside a boys bathroom in another building away from their classroom without permission to watch him throw up? Couldn't she have gotten a male teacher to help him if she was truly concerned? Wouldn't most of us females stand outside and knock on the door and say "are you Ok?" How many of us cross that boundary of walking into a mens restroom?

The story doesn't add up.

[Steve Heard]

Dis

I now see why you are so adamant. You know people who have been falsely accused of sex crimes. As you pointed out, I know people who were victims of sex crimes. I guess our knowledge can color our opinions. Still, you can't paint all accusers with the same brush, as I can't paint all of the accused. I said early on that we needed to wait for the facts to come out at trial, while so many others would say things like, 'The girls are lying', 'The boy is a good kid, and wouldn't do a thing like that'. The defenders didn't want to wait for the facts, and still don't believe them today.

You may find it easy to dismiss the facts that the boy tricked the girl into going to the restroom, but I can't, and neither could the judge.

Also, what does it matter that the teacher and the girl differed on the number of times she had complained. She acknowledged that at least one complaint occured.

To an immature teenage girl, I imagine she could have been naive when considering the boy's intentions, curious about where their encounter would lead, flattered that he was interested in her, excited that she was doing something naughty, scared when it went to far, hurt and confused when it was over.

As an adult, you may have had the good judgement not to go into the restroom, and you may have had the good judgement not to start messing around with the boy, and the good judgement to give him a knee to balls for taking it too far. She's 15 or 16, and isn't expected to have the same judgement as an adult.

[FolsomJunior00]

There is much evidence that supports and does not support the boy. The way he tricked her into the bathroom is VERY bad for the kid, and it shows a way to rape her. But, the evidence of the girl not fighting back, screaming, then saying it was consensual afterwards to her father, and another girl coming forward saying she didnt want to be part of it anymore goes against the victim. It was a judgement call for the judge; and he picked the story that hurt the boy. I just hope he made the right decision, because from what i see i dont think he did

[disenchanted]

The Police Officer I mentioned that was falsely accused was not my friend. His wife was. When she did this to him, I told her I could never respect her again for being so selfish as to ruin someone's life for their own personal gain.

Why is it OK to lend so many excuses to the girl for her decisions and mindset and attribute it to her being 15 or 16? If you are willing to concede that perhaps she was in there starting out doing something naughty, is there no room in your mind that the boy is also only 15 years of age as well and at least deserves some leniency with that in mind?

Finally, when I was in college I was at a party and a drunk boy at the party started verbally sexually abusing me and then in front of a room full of people pushed me to the floor and tried to raise my leg up over my head. I will never forget the horrible feeling that was - back then I didn't know I could have pressed charges for that and I'm not sure I would have. I have empathy for victims because I believe I have been one.

The fact is this. None of us really know what happened in that stall. I saw a trial and most of the testimony that didn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt. It doesn't matter what I thought. The Judge decided. In my opinion, it is not the first time an injustice has occured in our system and it will certainly not be the last. I'm sure we'll all agree on that.

[Julio]

It is disgusting how disenchanted and folsomjunior00 keep giving excuses to the boy's crime. What is this "oh, boys will be boys" mentality going on here?

The boy used a ruse to lure the girl to the bathroom.
NO EXCUSES.
What is this bulls--- about "oh, maybe he is being a kid and not a man..."?

As for the girl not fighting back.
Does a victim have to fight back in order to be a victim of an attack?
I suggest you do some research in law.

What do you NOT understand by the word, "No"?

The sentence is too lenient for the rapist.
They should sentence him to 20 years with no parole, at the minimum.


-Julio

[bordercolliefan]

I think there is another aspect of this incident that has received little attention.

Disenchanted (as well as another poster) noted that the girl testified she had complained to a teacher about the boy bothering her. It is a matter of dispute how many times she complained, but even the teacher admits she complained at least once. Apparently, the teacher did nothing.

What kind of teacher would ignore such a complaint from a female student? Shouldn't the teacher at least have inquired further to see what the nature of the "bothering" was and whether it merited some action?

I would think in this day and age of "sexual harassment," teachers should be trained to respond to this type of complaint.

[Julio]

The family of the victim should sue the school for failing to protect her.
She complained to the teacher, and the teacher did not.
And the admission of the teacher is on record.

As for the backlash the girl may face for suing the school district....
It doesn't matter since she is no longer attending that school anyway.



-Julio

[FolsomJunior00]

Whoops, edited because i didnt see the previous post before Julio's, so i was thinking the wrong info. Sorry bout that


And it also depends what the girl was claiming when she said he was bothering her. Did she say he was harrasing her? Did she say he was just talking to her too much? Granted, i do feel the teacher should have done something anyways, and it was very, very stupid that the teacher did not, im just curious to see what the girl meant by telling the teacher he was bothering her.

[FolsomJunior00]

Julio, i must say that i am not finding excuses for what the boy did. They had sex in a frickin bathroom for crying out loud. Ignoring the fact that sex in a school bathroom is a disgusting thing, it was also immoral and wrong. And if he did in fact rape the girl, holy sh*t, he should be in jail for a LONG time.

My point that im trying to make is that i feel there was reasonable doubt in the case and if reasonable doubt is found in criminal cases, by law, the defendant is not guilty. I feel that with the evidence provided here on this forum as well as in the media and other personal sources, that there was enough evidence to get a not-guilty verdict.

Now, i know why you must be pissed off at me. You think i support the boy. No, i do not. I support the American Judicial System, and i want it to run as stated in the Constitution. And in the judicial system it states that the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt. Now, if we cant do that in a case for a minor, how are we going to do it with a case for a triple homicide adult maniac? I just go by what the law says, i have no sympathy for the boy, other than the fact that his life pretty much ended.

Julio, do you understand where im coming from now?

[Steve Heard]

Dis, you ask

"Why is it OK to lend so many excuses to the girl for her decisions and mindset and attribute it to her being 15 or 16? If you are willing to concede that perhaps she was in there starting out doing something naughty, is there no room in your mind that the boy is also only 15 years of age as well and at least deserves some leniency with that in mind?"

Because the girl was the VICTIM, not the VICTIMIZER! She had some terrible lapses in judgement.

As far as leniency for the boy, perhaps a year in jail might convince him, but I am not certain that he would learn his lesson, being that so many seem to be telling him it wasn't rape, because he successfully got her to go into the restroom and she hopped up on the toilet so as not to be detected, so he really didn't do anything wrong.

[disenchanted]

I heard testimony clarified "bothering" as acts such as looking into her eyes, taking her binder , flirting . Absolutely criminal acts.Shame on that teacher for not hauling his butt to jail when he did that.

[bordercolliefan]

I don't think anyone is claiming the "bothering" was a criminal act. But a student should not have to put up with unwanted romantic attention -- even if the attention is of a type someone else might find welcome and flattering.

School is the same as the workplace in this respect. Think how hard it would be to do your job if a male co-worker was constantly staring into your eyes, playfully taking your work papers, flirting with you, propositioning you, etc. You would get sick of it and ask your boss to do something about it.

Under the law, women do not have to put up with this kind of unwanted attention in the workplace or at school. That teacher should have been more on the ball and taken steps to end the unwanted behavior.

[FolsomJunior00]

Thats one thing i do agree on. The teacher should have stopped the bothering, no matter how stupid or pathetic it sounded.

[folsom_dad]

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty..........was the verdict.

[LexHillsmom]

http://gma.yahoo.com...topstories.html

I had several people contact me today to ask me if i had heard/read the above news story. I had not but when I read it online I could feel the scars that will forever remain upon my heart rip open as the mother of the now 23 year old son who faced an eerily similar nightmare eight years ago at Folsom High School.

I feel enough time has passed for me to speak out about the tragedy that tore apart our family and nearly destroyed our son. While our family and son received a tremendous amount of support from the Folsom community at large, sadly, the entities that should have protected him and been defenders of the truth: i.e. the Sacramento County Juvenile Court, the office of the District Attorney and the Folsom School District instead sacrificed my son on the alter of political correctness and betrayed our faith in the criminal justice system.

Like the breaking news story, our son's consensual sexual encounter morphed into what, just as the accuser in today's headlines said, "a bunch of adults getting involved and blowing the story out of proportion and putting stuff in her head". And then, of course, there was the money. What many people do not know about my son's case is that following his juvenile court conviction, his accusers filed a civil lawsuit against our family and Folsom High School and were awarded a significant sum of money. The icing on the cake to that final assault was that the civil lawsuit was filed by the prosecuting attorney's personal injury attorney HUSBAND. Yes, that is right. The Distict Attorney who prosecuted my then 15 year old son resigned from the DA's office the same day she won the case and then turned over my son's case to her HUSBAND to file a civil lawsuit. This violation of ethics and the District Attorney's office own policy forbidding any DA to prosecute a case where he/she has a financial interest in obtaining a conviction went completely unpunished.

I am very heartened for this young man that he will now have the public validation and record correction he so badly needed to heal his broken heart and spirit. While my son has not yet been so fortunate, I remain hopeful that he, and all of those involved in his case, will have the courage to overcome the inner demons that surely continue to plague their spirit. I pray that, one day God willing, the truth shall truly prevail.