An Unbelievable Story of Rape
https://www.propublica.org/article/false-rape-accusations-an-unbelievable-story?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter&utm_content=&utm_name=
An 18-year-old said she was attacked at knifepoint. Then she said she made it up. Thats where our story begins.
by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica and Ken Armstrong, The Marshall Project December 16, 2015 This story was co-published with The Marshall Project.
March 12, 2009
Lynnwood, Washington
No one came to court with her that day, except her public defender.
She was 18 years old, charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.
Rarely do misdemeanors draw notice. Her case was one of 4,859 filed in 2008 in Lynnwood Municipal Court, a place where the judge says the goal is to correct behavior to make Lynnwood a better, safer, healthier place to live, work, shop and visit.
But her misdemeanor had made the news, and made her an object of curiosity or, worse, scorn. It had cost her the newfound independence she was savoring after a life in foster homes. It had cost her sense of worth. Each ring of the phone seemed to announce another friendship, lost. A friend from 10th grade called to ask: How could you lie about something like that? Marie thats her middle name, Marie didnt say anything. She just listened, then hung up. Even her foster parents now doubted her. She doubted herself, wondering if there was something in her that needed to be fixed.
A long read, but worth it. And the story is not what you think.