16 Year Old Girl Alleges Rape on Youtube

[georgezepeda]

I wasn't really sure where to post this so I hope I don't get banned. A friend of mine showed me this video of this 16 year old girl posting a video on youtube about her being raped and the courts in Florida dropping the case against the 23 year old male defendant. It's kind of crazy but at the same time it's hard to figure out if it's real or not. If it is real and the girls allegations are true I hope she gets the justice she deserves. I've already started to see the video pop up on other video sites like the one below and I found this article about it on CNN.

View Video Below:

16 Year Old Alleging Rape

Read Article Below:
Teen alleging rape turns to YouTube - CNN.com

[Vinnie]

I have some problems with this. If she has been raped as she alleges then well done to her and I'd support it. Cases such as rape often get dropped by prosecution due to the difficulty in obtaining a conviction, medical evidence is often sketchy and it comes down to one persons word against the others. If it is one v one then the courts will not convict.

However the flip side of this is the damage that can be done by malicious accusations. Once some thing like this is out it is very difficult to get back.

I'm writing this not having seen the video since I have my daughters friends over for a sleep over and can't see it just now.

[indianajoe]

I viewed the video .. my gut feeling is..she is lying..watching her facial expressions and listening to her voice... my gut says this is fake.. i hope im wrong..

[Alaskan John]

From what I heard on today's news, the 16 year old girl was actually 15 at the time she and the 23 year old had sex but she was within one week of her 16th birthday a the time. Technically that made the sex a statutory rape even if the girl agreed to it or even initiated it, because the girl couldn’t LEGALY consent to sex for another week when she turned 16. The prosecutor reportedly declined to charge the 23 year old, and was quoted as saying that decision was made based on the girl's age at the time of the offense.

American CRIMINAL court:
In the American criminal justice system, the prosecutor has the discretion to prosecute or not to prosecute every case brought to his or her office by law enforcement officials, even when there appears to be enough evidence to build a credible case. Frequently this decision is driven by the need to prioritize the limited prosecution resources to the most egregious cases and other cases that are most likely to end with a conviction. Among any jury of 12 citizens chosen to sit for this case, there are decent odds that at least one juror would be sympathetic to the defendant or find the victim to be less than credible. It only takes one juror voting “not guilty,” to prevent the boy from being convicted. The judge would then have the discretion to nullify the jury’s verdict and issue one from the bench if the judge believed from the evidence that a grave miscarriage of justice would occur if the jury’s verdict were to stand. This discretion is very seldom used by judges, and used with extreme caution when it is used.

So it sounds like this is a case that would not have a high likelihood of being successfully prosecuted based on the victim’s proximity to the legal age of consent, the victim appearing to present as less than credible, and the likelihood that at least one juror might also find sympathy for the accused. My opinion here is based solely on public news reports I have heard. It would not surprise me even a little bit if the prosecutor’s office has additional factual information in the file that further weakens the criminal case, but again, I don’t know anything that hasn’t been reported in the public news media. Just thought I would add this information to the discussion to illustrate how such an emotionally laden charge might end up not being prosecuted in criminal court.

American CIVIL court:
One other element of the American justice system is the civil court. Here criminal charges are not presented or tried. Rather, this is the court where a person can petition the court for relief and remedy (i.e. – “sue”) against someone for allegedly damaging the petitioner in some way. In a case like this one, the 16 year old’s parent or legal guardian can sue the 23 year old for damages even if the 23 yer old is never convicted of a crime in the matter. The suit might seek a monetary award for “actual damages” to pay for any counseling and medical care the 16 year old might need as a result of the 23 year old’s actions; for loss of potential income if it can be shown she has somehow been damaged physically or mentally to the extent that she cannot participate in her own gainful employment or education in a meaningful and productive way; for legal fees incurred; etc, the total amount awarded as actual damages is for the purpose of “making the victim whole” to the maximum extent possible.

Such a successful civil action might also include an amount awarded as “punitive damages” which, as the name implies, is intended to punish the resondent severely enough to virtually eliminate any incentive to do the same thing ever again. (The “respondent” in a civil court is like the “defendant” in criminal court). Punitive damages can easily be double or triple the amount awarded in actual damages.

Different standards of proof:
One other vitally important difference between criminal court and civil court is the standard of proof required. In criminal court, the prosecutor must prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the defendant is guilty. This standard is frequently described in layman’s terms as requiring the evidence to prove the case to the point that jurors have no REASONABLE doubt that the defendant is guilty. Note that it doesn’t require 100% absolute certainty, but it is still the strongest burden of proof standard in our court system.

In our civil courts, the standard of proof required is a “preponderance of the evidence.” This much lower standard generally requires the petitioner’s evidence to prove that the alleged events were “more likely than not” to have occurred (e.g. – it is sometimes said that this standard requires at least 51% of the evidence to support the allegation). Often times a petitioner can prevail and be awarded damages for events that did not result in criminal convictions due to this lower standard of proof required. One of the most notorious cases in recent American history was the O.J. Simpson murder trial. In the criminal court system a jury found him not guilty; yet in a civil court, the victims’ families were awarded millions of dollars in damages when they successfully sued Simpson for the murders he was found criminally not guilty of.

Conclusions:
The YouTube Rape case sounds to me like it will end up being litigated in civil court, and probably with some degree of success. It sounds like the case will not tried in criminal court unless the public’s hue and cry becomes so totally overwhelming that the prosecutor’s office decides the case must be tried for the sake of public order even though there is a high likelihood the prosecution will end unsuccessfully. I hope this provides some useful information for better understanding some of how the American court system works in a case like this, as the debate continues.

[kiki5711]

I also have a doubtful feeling about her.
Can't say for sure and don't know the facts, just what I see from her facial expressions.

[bdcsgoddess]

I haven't heard anything about this case, But just from the video it seems she wants attention. This causes me to doubt what she says.

[ern59]

Watchig this video, I can't help but think of the case last year with Duke university and the boys that were wrongfully accused. I hate to pass judgement on this girl but she comes across as someone who maybe got rejected by this young man after the alleged sexual encounter and is looking to get back at him. Maybe this is why the prosecution is hesitant and they don't want to get too ambitious and have it blow up in their face like the Duke situation. I do think that this girl's mother needs to get her some counseling or something because she appears to be a little unstable.Also I notice in this video she mentions being poor more than a few times which suggests she may be looking toward civil action. I guess we won't know until all the facts are out.

[Alaskan John]

Also I notice in this video she mentions being poor more than a few times which suggests she may be looking toward civil action.

Or enough attenton to sell book and movie rights to her story, etc. Is she a genuine victim simply seeking redress for being wronged? Is she trying to "win the lottery" via a huge civil court award as a "victim" after willingly participating in or possibly even initiating sex with the boy? Is she trying to raise the public profile of her situation in hopes of attracting top shelf lawyers to pick up her case and run with it? Is she just trying to publicly humiliate the underachieving guy after he rejected her or refused to agree to some additional demands? (Underachieving - this case involves a guy old enough to have already graduated from college 3 years ago knocking boots with a girl who is just old enough to be a tenth grader in high school)! How involved was the girl's mother involved in creating rather than preventing the events now being examined, if money was the motive? Is she...? Did he...? Are they...? The list of possibilities could go on and on.

I think you make a very astute observation about the possibility of a money motive, and I am strongly inclined to agree that this is a very likely motive! But it's important to remember the amount of emotional charge presented by all the drama-rama, and to also remember that we are almost certainly NOT getting all the facts of the story. That makes it nearly impossible for us to know wih certainty what's motivating her and the identity of the true victim(s) in this story yet. Pronouncements to the contrary necessarily assume facts not yet available to us.

[sweetlena]

Fake!!!

[Mimi]

Sadly no one will ever know but the two people involved in this. I wouldn't go on what she does in front of a camera because no one behaves naturally in front of a camera unless they forget or don't know it's there.

Either way, the real cases aren't always taken seriously because there are so many false allegations these days.

As for someone being falsely accused.. someone makes a complaint / files a report, the authorities have to investigate, then decide whether to proceed to court. If it does go to court and the defendant maintains innocence, they aren't reimbursed the cost of defending themselves. They have to be very careful when deciding to proceed with these cases, as we'd hope they were in this case, because it could destroy one innocent life or another.