Who was raped?
Judge who threw out rape charged won’t handle revived case
CLEVELAND — A judge who threw out a rape charge when the prosecutor was 45 minutes late for court said on Tuesday that she won’t handle the case if the defendant is re-indicted.
Judge Eileen A. Gallagher of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court said local court rules would automatically assign to her the case if Norman Allen Craig, 22, of North Ridgeville, is re-indicted.
“At that juncture, I will recuse myself because the state of Ohio, as a party, firmly believes that they can’t get a fair trial in my courtroom,” she said. “To avoid any appearance of impropriety, I will recuse myself in this matter.”
Gallagher said she has heard little criticism of her dismissal of the rape charge. She said it was important for people for understand that cases are often dismissed if prosecutors aren’t ready to go to trial. Those cases can be revived with a new indictment.
Prosecutors already have filed an appeal and said, if necessary, they will refile the charge against Craig.
The mother of the now 16-year-old Rocky River girl who claims she was raped said her daughter felt victimized by the judge’s decision to dismiss the charge.
Gallagher dismissed the case last week when Assistant County Prosecutor Mark Schneider had not shown up by 1:45 p.m., after she told both sides to be in court at 1 p.m.
Schneider was in his office preparing an appeal seeking to prevent the judge from continuing with the trial. Earlier in the day, Schneider had asked the judge to remove herself from the case, saying the judge said last year that she thought the accuser had credibility problems.
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June 20, 2006 - 12:04 p.m. EDT
Yolanda Carrington:
More and more, as the Duke case unfolds as a media and legal rigamarolle, I realize (if I didn’t fucking know it before) that the state can’t stop rape. The police can’t stop the misogynists, and the politicians can’t stop the racists. Marriage “equality” won’t end homophobia. It ain’t gonna happen folks.
One oppressive institution can’t destroy another.
Rape under the law is not rape in the real world. Judges, baliffs, sheriffs, defense lawyers, jurors, and prosecutors rape women and children in the real world. But that ain’t what the law says. It ain’t what the law sees. So the law can’t do shit about it.
Fuck this judge who dismissed the case. She’s part of the system, and she does her job well. Her job isn’t about protecting us.
20 June 2006, 6:41 pmAudrey:
The article at the link I sent has been edited. The original version included this quote from the judge, explaining why she dismissed the rape charges: “It was all about the unprofessional actions of a prosecutor,” she said. “You don’t show up — too bad. Don’t treat me like a punk and not show up in court without giving us the courtesy of notifying us where you are.”
They also removed the information that the girl, now 16, was 10 when the rape occurred.
I mentioned I tried typing out my thoughts on this a few times, and was having trouble getting to the bottom of why it was bothering me (aside from the obvious). You managed to cut to the heart of it there, Stan. “Women who are raped are not the offended party in the eyes of the law.”
I want the judge to be a guy so I can just have a normal dose of outrage, declare all men to be pigs, and move on - but I’m stuck on the fact that the judge is a woman, and the implications of that. There’s a part of me that still naively believes that if only women were in positions of power, things would be different. Intellectually, I know it’s a problem with the system itself. I’ve even written about that very thing, that the system needs to be changed because women as rape victims have no rights, and I’ve seen the effects of that in my own family. And yet I’ve been clinging to the thought that if prosecutors, defenders and judges weren’t all men, all the other shit that happens in a rape trial wouldn’t occur. Time to throw that idealistic bit of drivel into the trash heap, I suppose.
Like Yolanda says, more and more I’m realizing things that I already know.
20 June 2006, 7:27 pmJames M:
I hate to add evidence, Audrey, to support your thesis — that transposing females into positions of judicial power held by males might not actually lead to an improvement in rape prosecutions — but I found this clip earlier today:
http://www.gawker.com/news/cnn/rapist-hijinks-and-hilarity-with-nancy-grace-181957.php
It’s of CNN’s Nancy Grace making an unbelievably callous joke about the Duke rape case.
“Nancy Grace … served for a decade as Special Prosecutor of major felony cases involving serial murder, serial rape, serial child molestation and arson.” [emphasis mine]
What really shocks me is that apparently at least two people — Nancy and her sidekick — found this staged joke about “rape stats” to be funny, and worthy of airtime.
21 June 2006, 1:07 amDeAnander:
Don’t treat me like a punk
doesn’t that seem kinda gendered? like the female judge has internalised male thinking, language, and role modelling until she sees a challenge to her authority as “treating her like a punk,” i.e. like a “female”?
21 June 2006, 3:13 amfrank:
Speaking of the Duke case- what is going on? Anyone have any news to share on the topic? I can’t find anything except legal op-ed’s from googling the subject. But, hey! Time is money, right?
21 June 2006, 7:17 pmlin:
Reading this piece reminded me of this:
(AP) “A 14-year-old girl has been jailed for a week after running away to avoid testifying against a man accused of molesting her.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/16/national/main1620712.shtml
Unfucking believable.
22 June 2006, 1:18 pmIan Nouvel:
That last story, about the 14 year old girl, reads as if the state were, in effect, raping the teenager itself. Her incarceration is a second subjugation that clearly illustrates the dehumanization of rape victims into simple material evidence.
22 June 2006, 2:55 pmMike:
“Duke mom does not blame son’s accuser”
How big of her. Her son has faith “in the system”. Of course he does. Fortunate sons can do no wrong in this system.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/22/national/main1740399.shtml
22 June 2006, 6:01 pmSks:
MARGARET TATCHER!!!
THis is an interesting observation, how gender oppression, is itself assumed by women who will continue to become men as patriarchy continues to exist…
hum…
22 June 2006, 10:21 pmNeilcaff:
Margaret Thatcher a man? Hah she doesn’t even qualify as human, more like a demon in human form.
23 June 2006, 7:45 amelaina:
Yolanda- you put it best, as per your usual.
Take away rape and the power of the system goes down to nearly nil. The system’s “protections” are a fucking sham, and that’s why so many women just don’t see it as worth it to report rape and abuse when it happens- not to mention that reporting rape so often leads to women’s lives being even more closely scrutinized under this misogyny-scope.
Ugh.
How y’all been, anyways?
4 July 2006, 9:24 amYolanda Carrington:
Hey Elaina! You’re back!! How have you been?
4 July 2006, 3:30 pmelaina:
Yola- I been fine! Busy as hell, but doing alright. I dropped a line on your blog.
Getting back to the topic of discussion- and maybe I missed this among the commentary already here- but isn’t this just a very striking, clear example of how the law is set up to damn us if we do OR if we don’t? Or maybe we can just call it very basic and concrete proof of how fucking wrong libertarian law REALLY is. I think it goes either way.
*bangs head against the wall 13 times*
I hate that my tax money pays for this shit, and I hate it that OUR MONEY goes into the pockets of these fuckups. This judge is a fucking disgrace. UGH!!!!
5 July 2006, 1:16 pmYolanda Carrington:
Elaina…I don’t know about you, but I don’t look to the system anymore (if I ever did) when it comes to justice for women/people of color. It’s The Man’s system; he can have it. Just don’t try to put me in jail. If you do, then we’re gonna have a fight.
But I hear you about “the law” wasting OUR money to protect THEIR power and privilege. That fucks me up too. If the shit ain’t here to serve us, don’t make us pay for it.
Glad you’re back!
Yolanda
5 July 2006, 6:37 pm