Note: As it is states in the following article, it is, indeed, difficult for defendants to disprove charges of rape. Once again, we see the standard of "innocent until proven guilty" tossed to the winds, and the burden of proof is essentially placed on the accused. Why, for rape allegations, have we turned our system of justice on its head?
Charges are easy to make, but very hard for the defendant to disprove.
Felony rape charges were dropped against a Novato man after text messages indicated that he and his alleged victim engaged in consensual sex.
Novato police arrested John Ryan Dillingham at his residence in the 900 block of Bel Marin Keys Boulevard on Dec. 10, charging him with sexually assaulting a 26-year-old Novato woman at Novato’s Inn Marin hotel on the night of Dec. 5 or the morning of Dec. 6.
The charges included rape by force, sodomy by force, false imprisonment and sexual battery.But the Marin County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges on Jan. 2 after Chief Deputy Public Defender David Brown, who represented Dillingham, introduced text messages sent before and after the alleged rape.
“The content of them was, I would describe it as fatal to the question of whether ... this was nonconsensual sex,” said Kathryn Mitchell, Chief Deputy District Attorney, who was the prosecutor in the case. “We moved to dismiss the charges.”
Brown said, “There was strong evidence of consent in the case, and it was the right thing that it was dismissed.“
They knew each other from work, they went drinking, they got a room together and then these allegations (were made) close to three days later,” he said.
Dillingham, a painter, spent more than three weeks in jail; his bail was set at $150,000.
"He didn’t bail out. He didn’t have the funds to bail out,” Brown said. “It was a very traumatic experience for my client. I’m glad for him that it’s over.”
Brown added, “These kinds of charges are easy to make, but very hard for the defendant to disprove.”
Due to rape shield laws, police and prosecutors won’t release the woman’s name and initially didn’t disclose such information as whether she and Dillingham knew one another.
Asked whether the woman would be prosecuted, Mitchell said that Dillingham could ask the Novato Police Department to investigate.
“A request could be made to the NPD to do an investigation as to whether or not she made false statements,” Mitchell said.
Link: http://www.novatoadvance.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/doc496d6b91207de784506920.txt
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7 comments:
No, she won't be prosecuted. And she will do this again and again to as many innocent men as possible because the system hates men.
Why would they have to do an "investigation" to prove she made false statements?? Isn't that already evident? Just go ahead and punish her a** - 5 years in state prison, minimum.
They already know that she made false statements; no need to investigate further. They didn't bother to investigate before charging this MAN, so it's a mystery why they need to be any more cautious before prosecuting the liar.
But they don't care about raping a man's life; they only care about protecting the reputation of the lying ho.
I think that 5 years would be pretty light for a crime like this.
Yesterday, my son was in court to change the date of his trial. He stood accused of sexually assaulting his crazy ex girlfriend. His charges were dismissed instead.
We had hired the best lawyer in the city. We were about to sell our home to pay for the trial. Thankfully we did not have to. We still owe considerable money to the lawyer and we will gladly pay it.
Our frustration like everyone on this site is that this girl will get off Scott free. My son passed a lie detector, the police and prosecution also know that:
1.she was stalking our son before the rape claim, calling us at all hours of the night and early am.
2.she once claimed she was pregnant by our son when that did not work was when she claimed rape
3.and she stalked him after the charge.
We decided to record the 3:00am calls she made to our son after the charges. In these calls she was providing my son with conditions / ultimatums for her to drop the charges such as couples counseling, not seeing any other women, no longer speaking to his parents - us, and dropping some friends that she deemed unsuitable. Our lawyer called it coercion. She even asked my son if he would still love her when it was over. My son had to choke out yes to keep the crazy talking.
Today our family is just relieved this horror story is over. At the same time we are very frustrated that we can do nothing about her actions and the harm she caused our son as well as the serious potential harm of going to jail and having a criminal record. By the way I am speaking Canadian law.
I read this site, during the year and a half of our ordeal as a way of giving myself some hope.
I am writing so perhaps others in similar situations will get hope from our story. My advice is keep good records - every detail can be important if you are dealing with a vindictive mentally ill female. And take a lie detector test, maybe not valid in court but it helped us.
Anonymous 2/13
Happy to hear the charges were dropped against your son. This is the type of situation, that makes this site so necessary.
Unfortunately, if no type of punishment is levied against this young woman, it sends the wrong message. You can lie and potentially ruin someone's life, and there is no accountability.
This is something that must change in the legal system. People must be held accountable for filing false statements and perjury. It is the only way that we can reduce the harm done to innocent people accused falsely, and give true victims a meaningful voice.
You people are ridiculous and pathetic. You obviously have no idea what it feels like to be violated. Rape is the only violent crime in which the victim has to prove her/his own innocence. Wait until it's your daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters.
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