Our Kathine is at it gain - maybe we should send her flowers

Started by johnnyp, Jun 28, 2006, 05:25 AM

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johnnyp

Please follow the link so she will know that she is being read.

You must read the entire article.  I started to bold the "good" parts, then realized the entire article is "good" parts.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/kathleenparker/2006/05/03/196032.html

Sex, lies and prison
May 3, 2006
by Kathleen Parker

For the past six months, I've been staring at a 30-pound box filled with court documents and what's left of a young man's life following one college night and a 5- to 15-second disputed sex act.

That is, 5 to 15 seconds into the act of sexual intercourse, she said, "Stop."

He stopped immediately.

Thus, before his 23rd birthday, Rich Gorman of Orlando, Fla., was locked behind bars in the Liberty Correctional Institute near Tallahassee, serving a five-year sentence for sexual battery.

One minute a junior at Florida State University majoring in business/computer systems, the next a prison inmate labeled a sex offender.

I've hesitated to write about the case because all such cases are complex, as we've been reminded the past several weeks by the rape case at Duke University. Gorman's case bears little resemblance to the Duke episode, except that both involve youth and alcohol, a toxic combination in the sexual arena of he said/she said.

The moral of Gorman's story, which can't be proved or disproved in this limited space, is that boys and men accused of rape have little hope of reclaiming the life they once knew, regardless of whether they're guilty or innocent.

Any objective person reading through the testimony and depositions from Gorman's case would wonder how he landed in prison.

The "victim," whom we'll call Chastity, contradicted herself and changed her story several times - all documented in the box at my feet. She was drinking and making out with Gorman earlier in the evening.

She also went willingly into his apartment on the night in question, and this is key. She initially told police that she was pulled struggling from the car and dragged into his apartment, where she was raped. When she was told that parking lot cameras might have captured her going into the apartment, she changed her story, admitted that she wasn't forced, and that she walked voluntarily into the apartment.

My suspension of skepticism ends right there, but there's much more, including a prior rape claim by the "victim" at another college a few years earlier. Same victim, same scenario, except that she recanted in that case, saying she wasn't sure it was a rape because she was drunk. All the preceding was ruled inadmissible during Gorman's trial thanks to rape shield laws.

Again, I'm unable to do justice to the many questionable details of this case. Instead, let's focus on Gorman's nightmare, and what potentially can happen to any male who has sex with a female in the current sexual climate of virgins and demons.

After the sexual encounter - that is, after Gorman stopped when Chastity said, "Stop" - Gorman drove her back to campus and dropped her near her dorm. Chastity immediately called a male friend, who urged her to file a police report. In those next few hours, Rich Gorman's life was being unraveled while he slept.

He awoke to police at the door. Within hours, Gorman was charged with sexual battery and locked up. Within days, he was suspended from his college and his fraternity. Within weeks, his family was devastated, financially strapped, and hell was waiting around the corner.

Gorman went to trial twice in Tallahassee. The first, in February 2005, ended with a hung jury. The second, in June 2005, went so badly for the prosecution that Chastity's lawyers offered Gorman a plea bargain the night before the verdict: 12 months probation, no prison.

But Gorman, his parents and attorneys were so convinced of a not-guilty verdict that they passed on the plea bargain. When the jury issued a guilty verdict, the judge ordered lawyers for both sides to come up with a new plea agreement less than the mandatory 8.9 years.

To his great regret, Gorman signed off on the agreement, which also included waivers prohibiting his seeking any post-conviction relief, including raising claims of ineffective counsel.

Thus, until Gorman is 37 years old, he will be on probation, possibly under curfew, and will have to live under sex offender restrictions until he's at least 47.

Postscript:

Before going to trial, Gorman reconnected with his high school sweetheart. They have a 9-month-old baby girl and hope to marry under more normal circumstances.

Before going to sleep the same night she allegedly was raped, Chastity spent the night and every night thereafter for several months with the male friend she called that night, according to depositions. Within a week of the alleged rape, she was back out partying with friends.

Two lives, two very different outcomes.

Gorman, a regular college Joe, a good student and a good son, lives behind bars for having sex with a gal he thought was willing.

Chastity, whom I only know through her testimony and depositions, may have been a regular college Jane. But she also had a record of finding herself in situations she later regretted. She also apparently had a drug problem.

In February 2004, a year before Gorman's first trial, her father took her out of school and installed her in rehab for a cocaine addiction, according to the father's deposition. Chastity refused to stay longer than three days.

One life goes on. The other is ruined.

Five seconds - or 15 - is all it takes.

Kathleen Parker is a popular syndicated columnist and director of the School of Written Expression at the Buckley School of Public Speaking and Persuasion in Camden, South Carolina.
 woman needs a man like a fish needs water

dr e

We have a friend in Parker. She speaks the truth and stands up for men.  What a breath of fresh air.

How long will it take for people to see that the lives of innocent young men are being ruined by "legal pampers" for women.  No one gives a shit.  Do we know the real name of Chastity?
Contact dr e  Lifeboats for the ladies and children, icy waters for the men.  Women have rights and men have responsibilties.

zarby

It sounds like they never bothered to talk to him and get his side of the story. This is something I see repeatedly. There is no more investigation. There is no Lt.  Columbo or whoever out there hitting the streets to determine the truth. The woman makes an accusation and the guy's life is ruined. The system takes sides after hearing only one side and then it will not ever change its mind. It may offer leniency but it will not drop it. That is not fairness or equality under the law. That is a stacked deck.

Yes, a life can be ruined based on 15 seconds (even when during the 15 seconds nothing at all happened). I will repeat though that in my observation adult women (including college age women) are not the biggest danger. The biggest danger are children. Any man who moves into a house or spends time baby sitting or otherwise alone with minor children who are not his (e.g. his girlfriend's children or even his wife's chidlren) needs to have his head examined. He is a sitting duck.

zarby

One more comment. Rape shield laws are atrocious. They exclude evidence in some instances that is clearly extremely relevant.

Again, there is not equality under the law. If the guy apparently has a pattern of behavior (e.g. previous accusations or conviction), that pattern is very likely to come into evidence (prior conduct in theory is not admissible to prove present accusation but any prosecutor worth his salt can drive a truck through the exceptions that exist). On the other hand, the woman's prior incident(s) or pattern of wrongful accusations does not come in? That is obviously not even handed and deceptive and just wrong.

Darth Sidious

This makes me so angry. :angryfire:

Yet another man raped by the "justice" system just because of the word of some lying bitch; I hope that "woman" will be completely miserable for the rest of her life for what she did to him.  She will not be held accountable in the present life, but I assure you she will be held accountable in the next.

dr e

Darth said:
Quote
but I assure you she will be held accountable in the next.


I couldn't help but hear that in the spoken voice of Darth Vader.

I hope you are right.  I sure would like to find a way to help her be accountable right now.  That really sucks.

Maybe we should buy flowers for Ms Parker.  Anyone want to?
Contact dr e  Lifeboats for the ladies and children, icy waters for the men.  Women have rights and men have responsibilties.

Kyo

Wouldn't it be better to take up a collection for Rich Gorman so that he can have a bit of a nest egg when he finally gets to begin his life?

(Not that Kathleen isn't worthy of recognition... but if we're giving stuff away here...)

dr e

Quote from: "Kyo"
Wouldn't it be better to take up a collection for Rich Gorman so that he can have a bit of a nest egg when he finally gets to begin his life?

(Not that Kathleen isn't worthy of recognition... but if we're giving stuff away here...)


If you want to take up a collection for this young man I think that is a great idea.  My preference would be to praise the writer.  In this case it might be like making sure Paul Revere knew that he was doing something very important and thanking him for it.  There were probably lots of Colonists who could have used thanking or a collect plate but it was Paul who sounded the alarm and in our case will continue to sound the alarm especially if the feedback comes in loud and clear that what she is saying is appreciated and thought to be important.

You can bet your ass that she is taking heat from the fembots for this.  A little counterweight doesn't hurt.
Contact dr e  Lifeboats for the ladies and children, icy waters for the men.  Women have rights and men have responsibilties.

Mr. Bad

Quote from: "Dr Evil"
Quote from: "Kyo"
Wouldn't it be better to take up a collection for Rich Gorman so that he can have a bit of a nest egg when he finally gets to begin his life?

(Not that Kathleen isn't worthy of recognition... but if we're giving stuff away here...)


If you want to take up a collection for this young man I think that is a great idea.  My preference would be to praise the writer.  In this case it might be like making sure Paul Revere knew that he was doing something very important and thanking him for it.  There were probably lots of Colonists who could have used thanking or a collect plate but it was Paul who sounded the alarm and in our case will continue to sound the alarm especially if the feedback comes in loud and clear that what she is saying is appreciated and thought to be important.

You can bet your ass that she is taking heat from the fembots for this.  A little counterweight doesn't hurt.


I'm game for some sort of thank you for Parker - she is indeed a friend.  Once a mechanism is in place to for this post it on the BB so we can make it happen.
"Men in teams... got the human species from caves to palaces. When we watch men's teams at work, we pay homage to 10,000 years of male achievements; a record of vision, ingenuity and Herculean labor that feminism has been too mean-spirited to acknowledge."  Camille Paglia

johnnyp

Quote from: "Mr. Bad"
Quote from: "Dr Evil"
Quote from: "Kyo"
Wouldn't it be better to take up a collection for Rich Gorman so that he can have a bit of a nest egg when he finally gets to begin his life?

(Not that Kathleen isn't worthy of recognition... but if we're giving stuff away here...)


If you want to take up a collection for this young man I think that is a great idea.  My preference would be to praise the writer.  In this case it might be like making sure Paul Revere knew that he was doing something very important and thanking him for it.  There were probably lots of Colonists who could have used thanking or a collect plate but it was Paul who sounded the alarm and in our case will continue to sound the alarm especially if the feedback comes in loud and clear that what she is saying is appreciated and thought to be important.

You can bet your ass that she is taking heat from the fembots for this.  A little counterweight doesn't hurt.


I'm game for some sort of thank you for Parker - she is indeed a friend.  Once a mechanism is in place to for this post it on the BB so we can make it happen.


I will contact Town Hall to see If I can send her some flowers under my name and the gang at SYG - comments?
 woman needs a man like a fish needs water

Darth Sidious

You should read the comments posted in response; the links are down at the bottom of the article.  Some of them amazed me.  Plenty of talk about how the man is culpable for bedding someone he did not even know and practically ignore her lies.  I agree he made a poor, sinful decision, but I think the woman made two, which includes the false accusation of rape.

It amazes me how women are allowed to withdraw consent to sex right in the middle of the act and practically no one has a problem with it.  5-15 seconds into intercourse she just decides "no" and then orders him to stop.  Is that reasonable?  No.

gwallan

Quote from: "Darth Sidious"
It amazes me how women are allowed to withdraw consent to sex right in the middle of the act and practically no one has a problem with it.  5-15 seconds into intercourse she just decides "no" and then orders him to stop.  Is that reasonable?  No.

Not to mention that he drove her home afterwards as well. What a horrible beast he must be.
In 95% of things 100% of people are alike. It's the other 5%, the bits that are different, that make us interesting. It's also the key to our existence, and future, as a species.

dr e

And she accepted the ride.  I would bet that she didn't say a word about this to him.  Man my heart goes out to this guy.
Contact dr e  Lifeboats for the ladies and children, icy waters for the men.  Women have rights and men have responsibilties.

Darth Sidious

Quote from: "gwallan"

Not to mention that he drove her home afterwards as well. What a horrible beast he must be.


He followed her orders to the letter, and what does she do?  She accuses him of rape.  He will spend five years in prison and spend the rest of his life with a "sex offender" stigma; she is free to pull this nonsense without even a slap on the wrist.

Darth Sidious

Quote from: "Dr Evil"
And she accepted the ride.  I would bet that she didn't say a word about this to him.  Man my heart goes out to this guy.


How does she live with herself after what she did to him?  How does she sleep at night knowing she is the one who should be behind bars,  not him?

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