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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMan charged with two rapes gets one day in jail
(NEWSER) A former Indiana University student charged with raping two women will get off with a year of probation and one day in jail, WXIN reports.
John Enochs took a plea deal and was sentenced Thursday, pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery. According to the New York Daily News, it's unclear why prosecutors decided to drop the rape charges felonies punishable by up to 16 years in prison against Enochs. But that didn't stop the sentence from immediately being compared to the infamously lenient one issued against Stanford swimmer Brock Turner earlier this month.
A woman says she was at an April 2015 party at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity when she went inside to use the restroom, WISH reports. She says the next thing she remembers is being naked and alone with an unknown man having sex with her. She says she told him to stop multiple times, but he wouldn't. She suffered a laceration to her genitals in the attack.
Authorities say security video showed Enochs enter the room with the victim and leave 24 minutes later. Police found a similar case from 2013, and that victim agreed to work with authorities; DNA evidence, eyewitness statements and IDs from the women led in September to the two rape charges against Enochs.
Indiana University has been criticized for how it handles sexual assaults on campus and currently has three Title IX complaints against it.
JonathanRackham
(1,604 posts)Igel
(35,282 posts)The distinction is crucial.
JonathanRackham
(1,604 posts)Too many plea deals out there for violent crime.
mercuryblues
(14,525 posts)still *some* people that are offended by the term rape culture.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)ck4829
(35,039 posts)An Indiana property-owner pleaded guilty to battery charges after two female tenants said he grabbed their breasts.
Fred Taylor, 76, appeared in Ohio County court Monday morning, facing two counts of felony sexual battery. Taylor pleaded guilty to two lesser, misdemeanor battery charges in order to avoid spending time behind bars, according to Ohio/Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard.
He also avoided having to register as a sex offender, Negangard said.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-indiana/property-owner-accused-of-groping-tenants-pleads-guilty-to-battery
Igel
(35,282 posts)Same in the Taylor case. You reach a plea deal with the prosecutor, both go to the judge and are united. It's rare for a judge to tell the prosecutor, "No, I'm going to reject this plea deal. Your choice is to prosecute a case you obviously think you can't win and let the guy walk, or move for dismissal and let the guy walk."
Doesn't much matter who the judge is.
The article in the OP just says that it's unknown by the prosecutor bargained for the Enochs case, and pointed out all the cooperation. The prosecutor, even as that reporter was writing in isolation, had the explanation for that decision going into print. In other words, "it's unknown" is reporterese for "I'm not going to bother to find out why because I'm on a deadline for a pissy article that doesn't show my scope and breadth ... and because I really want to go to lunch."
Igel
(35,282 posts)"However, under the law, a jury considering one case would not be allowed to know about the other." ...
In the older case, the complaining witness had no specific recollection of the events; the few witnesses could not recall important details due to the passage of time and the consumption of alcohol; and the complaining witnesss decision to prosecute came two years after the event which severely hindered the investigation," the statement said. ...
"There were also photographs that contradicted the assertion that the complaining witness was incapable of engaging in consensual activity shortly before the alleged assault. This is important because the complaint was that she was 'unaware' that the sex was occurring due to her consumption of alcohol." ...
"There is also DNA evidence that is problematic, and made it impossible for us to prove that the defendant was the cause of her injury."
What you see isn't all there is. In some cases the law is to blame, but most would want the law to read the way it is: Do you really want juries to know about other cases against the plaintiff? The other accusation or convictions would bias the jury to assume that the one they're looking at is true--but an accusation is not evidence, it's an accusation. And often police pick up those convicted of similar crimes in the past and suspect them even if they're not guilty. Given racial skews in arrests, charges, and convictions, this is more likely to reinforce that skew.
In other cases, the victim may have cooperated but that says nothing about the quality of the cooperation or the usefulness of the information/evidence provided.
Note that this statement was printed on the same day as the article in the OP. Presumably the reporter could have learned that this statement was forthcoming, but couldn't be bothered.
I also know that I read much of this article yesterday. Same words, same facts, same order for much of it. Perhaps this is just an update on a wire service. Or perhaps the reporter couldn't even be bothered to write something original, so not checking with the prosecutor seems par for the course.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Bucky
(53,947 posts)* Prosecutors thought the evidence was weak for the battery part of the crime
* The victims weren't consulted about the plea deal
* It was the judge, not the prosecutors, who kicked the charge down to a misdemeanor
* There's going to be a huge lawsuit against the university & frat house for fostering an environment where harassment & assaults could occur so often.