White football player accused of raping black, disabled team-mate avoids prison
Source: Guardian
White football player accused of raping black, disabled team-mate avoids prison
Prosecutors declaration that alleged rape with coat hanger was not sex crime or racially motivated sparks criticism among campaigners against sexual assault
Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco
@juliacarriew
Tuesday 20 December 2016 18.26 EST
An Idaho prosecutors declaration that an alleged rape of a black, mentally disabled football player with a coat hanger by his white team-mate was not a sex crime and was not racially motivated has sparked mounting criticism among campaigners against sexual assault.
John RK Howard was initially charged with felony forcible sexual penetration by use of a foreign object, but on Friday, the 19-year-old reached a plea bargain that allowed him to plead guilty to a felony count of injury to a child. The deal will allow Howard to avoid prison time unless he violates his probation, the Twin Falls Times-News reported.
The October 2015 assault drew national headlines after the victim told the court that he had been attacked by three football team-mates and sodomized with a coat hanger in the locker room.
. . .
The victim was called racial epithets such as watermelon, chicken-eater, and nigger, and Howard taunted the victim with a Ku Klux Klan song, the lawsuit alleged.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/20/idaho-football-coat-hanger-rape-teammate-john-rk-howard
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,987 posts)The racism was OBVIOUS!
Not to mention that it's sick behavior for anyone to do to anyone else!
cstanleytech
(26,831 posts)should have been convicted for the sexual assault.
MontanaMama
(23,864 posts)Now angry young white men have just been given license to do any damn thing they want to any body.
47of74
(18,470 posts)If I ever have any daughters they're going to learn self defense from the moment they learn to walk, and I'm going to make it clear to everyone that said daughters won't start anything, but they'll sure as fuck finish it and I'll back them 10,000 percent.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,987 posts)I have a large canister of "bear spray" from camping trips (which I don't carry around with me everywhere), but I'd carry a small can of pepper spray if I felt more vulnerable just walking about town.
keithbvadu2
(39,215 posts)Wonder if the prosecutor would say it was not a sex crime if done to a female member of his family?
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)A freaking coat hanger?
niyad
(118,209 posts)Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)Any worse charges and it could have had a negative impact on his life.
Igel
(35,895 posts)Then again, it may be that there was no video, no good evidence for the claims in the lawsuit that we assume are well established in fact, and that the victim would make a really, really bad witness.
Sounds like the racial aspect is reported by the parents from what the victim told them. Not sure how that would stand up in court. As usual, there's a lot we don't know but assume isn't important. That said, the kid got off too easy. What he (and the others) did was heinous.
It's also worth pointing out that the reduction in charges as part of the plea deal probably makes the family's civil case all the harder to win. No nice testimony from the trial to use, no established facts ready-made for the civil trial.
And, yes, it may also be that the judge had some mercy for the defendant and his age. Reporters go hot and cold on this aspect--recently heard a story in which a defendant who was in his mid-20s when he was about to be sentenced was treated sympathetically by the reporter, partly because of his age and lack of experience at the time; the reporter thought it a travesty of justice that he was dealt with harshly.
Both happen, but typically we only see it in different states with different judges and sets of laws, yet assume that somehow there's one single state criminal court system in the country. (Oddly, statistics looking at juvenile offenders, at least, and both race of judge, race of victim, and race of defendant found that the biggest factor in sentencing was when the judge was black and the defendant was black--white judges + black defendants and black judges + white defendants both had lower sentences than black judge + black defendant. That, of course, is on average, which means "on average."
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)The father, a high school teacher, was initially targeted with a complaint that he used the word vagina during a biology lesson. He fought back, kept his job and made it clear he was going to stay until he retired.
When that didn't work to get the family to leave they raped his son.
The reason the neighbors want them out it's a small town in Idaho. Everybody's white, everybody's Mormon, everybody's racist as hell. The family in question has a whole bunch of adopted kids and many of them are black. That family's kids are the school district's entire population of people of color, save one other biracial kid.
dawn frenzy adams
(429 posts)I do not think these children need to be subjected to a town full of bigots. It's abusive.
cstanleytech
(26,831 posts)Solly Mack
(91,802 posts)with the details of his crime.
Reams of paper used to show his photo, give his name, and all the details of his crime.
In his neighborhood, at his school, at his job, to anyone he dates. Constantly plastering the neighborhood with fliers.
To include the names of his accomplices, as well as that piece of shit DA Casey Hemmer.
John RK Howard, racist, rapist, all around piece of shit scum.
elmac
(4,642 posts)if the FBI can get their head out of Putin's ass and start investigating as a hate crime.