News & Politics - The De Anza rape case

fetch · 07-12-2007, 10:28 AM

Santa Clara County prosecutors announced Monday they have declined to file charges in the case of the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by De Anza College baseball players at a party in March.

Assistant District Attorney David Tomkins said he could not elaborate on the specifics of the decision, citing an agency policy against releasing the facts of cases the office declines to file.

More: Prosecutors file no charges in case of De Anza alleged gang rape

Two young women who say they intervened during a savage assault at a college party are speaking out in an exclusive television interview. The women say they witnessed a rape last March that involved members of the De Anza College baseball team, and they are now outraged that the Santa Clara County District Attorney has chosen not to prosecute the case.

More: Witnesses To Alleged De Anza Rape Speak Out - News Story - KTVU San Francisco

The alleged rape occurred March 3 at a wild, off-campus party hosted by a member of the DeAnza College men's baseball team in San Jose, California. Three partygoers, members of the school's women's soccer team, said they saw a young girl on a mattress on the floor, clothes around her ankles and vomit on her face, with one man on top of her and approximately 10 more looking on in a dark bedroom. Feeling "something wasn't right," the girls pushed their way into the room and rushed the victim the the hospital.

More: MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: DA Refuses to Prosecute Rape Case, Despite Eye Witnesses, DNA

Anyone know what's going on with this?

jalapeno_wildchild · 07-12-2007, 03:54 PM

this is the first i've heard about it.

fetch · 07-19-2007, 11:46 AM

I don't think it made it past local news, which is what's so absurd.

Subject · 07-23-2007, 04:30 AM

I hate to say it but at least around here if the victim isn't white then you won't hear much about it from the news.

fetch · 07-23-2007, 08:42 AM

She's not white?

I don't recall reading something either way.

Subject · 07-23-2007, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fetch (View Post)

She's not white?

I don't recall reading something either way.

I have no idea if she is or isn't. But judging by the lack of coverage of it with the media (that I know of) I assume that she isn't.

Indian Summer · 07-24-2007, 01:23 AM

Well, she's underage, so her name can't be reported to the media unless her parents allow it, which probably also plays a part. Generally, cases of rape that gain a lot of publicity are those where there's interviews with the victims, the offenders, or at least tearful pictures of the victims.

smackdr · 07-24-2007, 05:10 AM

Sounds like she went to a college party and got too drunk.

elisheva · 07-24-2007, 06:10 AM

So sexual assault (which this sounds like) is ok if the victim is drunk? Seriously? Did you even read the articles?

Quote:

The girl claimed she was gang-raped at the party, which was held at the home of a De Anza infielder. -- sfgate article

Quote:

"When I looked in, I saw about ten pairs of legs surrounding a girl, lying on the mattress on the floor and a guy on top of her with his pants down and his hips thrusting on top of her," recall Chief Elk. "And when I saw that I knew immediately something wasn't right. It just didn't look right."

"I saw that this young girl did not want to be in there, and that's when we just went 'We're getting this girl out of there,'" says Grolle.

April and Lauren -- along with a third soccer player named Lauren Breayans -- broke down the door and were shocked with what they found.

"This poor girl was not moving. She had vomit dribbling down her face. We had to scoop vomit out of her mouth [and] lift her up. Her pants were completely off her body," says Chief Elk. "She had her one shoe one, her jeans were wrapped around one of her ankles and her underwear was left around her ankles. To the left of the bed there was some condom thrown on the ground."

"When they lifted her head up, her eyes moved and she said 'I'm sorry,'" says Grolle. "One of the guys who was in the room said 'This is her fault. She got drunk and she did this to herself.'"

Lauren Chief Elk didn't believe him: "You have to be conscious to consent to something, and that was not the case at all."

.....

"What we saw was rape. It was a crime," says Grolle. "It was assault against a 17 year girl. I will forever know in my heart that is what happened." -- KTVU article

Sexual assault of a drunk person isn't any less of an assault. As far as we know, she did NOT consent to what happened to her in that bedroom. If you got drunk and someone sexually assaulted you, would it be your own fault?

migamoo · 07-24-2007, 06:18 AM

Something tells me their decision to not prosecute has a lot to do with the Duke case. Is it right? No. Am I surprised? Sadly, no.

fetch · 07-25-2007, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smackdr (View Post)

Sounds like she went to a college party and got too drunk.

Sounds like it. Doesn't mean she consented to what happened, and in the eight or so guys that were there, not one stopped to say "hey, she's throwing up all over herself, maybe this isn't right"?

Indian Summer · 07-26-2007, 01:33 AM

I don't know. I'm sure it has some to do with the Duke case, but I think there's a reason we're unaware of. We need to realize this is a high school girl who went to a college party- it's all too possible her parents found out she had sex with an older boy and she cried rape. I'm not saying that's what happened, but I've seen that happen quite a few times, in all reality. Such a scenario would be enough to make prosecutors at least hesitant to believe her story.

elisheva · 07-26-2007, 06:23 AM

I agree with Ashley - I think the Duke case has probably made prosecutors very hesitant to go forward in cases like these. There's always a possibility that things are not quite what they seem, of course, but it's still incredibly important to investigate every instance (especially if, as in this case, there are other people who come forward as eyewitnesses). It's also easily possible that the girl was more vulnerable since she was in high school and the guys were all in college.

fetch · 07-26-2007, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indian Summer (View Post)

I don't know. I'm sure it has some to do with the Duke case, but I think there's a reason we're unaware of. We need to realize this is a high school girl who went to a college party- it's all too possible her parents found out she had sex with an older boy and she cried rape. I'm not saying that's what happened, but I've seen that happen quite a few times, in all reality. Such a scenario would be enough to make prosecutors at least hesitant to believe her story.

I had that thought, too. I mean, hey, maybe the girl had a fantasy, and was ashamed to admit it, so when the witnesses said it "looked wrong" she went along with it. But.... vomit on her face. I don't know.

elisheva · 07-26-2007, 12:13 PM

Uh - a fantasy to be gang raped while she was vomiting and almost passed out drunk? It seems far more likely to me that it's a high school kid who didn't know what she was getting into or didn't bring someone along as a buddy to keep each other safe.

It's possible it didn't happen, or that it didn't happen the way the witnesses are reporting, but it's worth investigating. And even if it's impossible to prosecute, which I can kind of accept (since I'm not going to pretend I know all about American law) then I think at least we should be taking reports like this seriously and teaching teenagers and young adults (both guys + girls) about safety and consent etc.


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