I asked for help.
I had helped settle a dispute between the BiGaLa Group and the police and was, as I am now, quite active in politics. I was part of BiGaLa, the Women's Center, and the International Club. I also asked for friends to come.
Now, the woman who accused me she asked for help too. I asked for one of the police officers to come and report how I was known to help settle disputes, that I was a problem solver, etc etc. Nope, didn't happen.
Let's compare that to my accuser. She had told her story to a police officer who frequented her dorm. That officer showed up to the hearing. Sounds fair right? Sure, to me too. Until I found out that the officer wasn't just there as a witness, no she sat there for the whole hearing board (it lasted 2 days) holding "my victim's" hand. Yep, she didn't just give testimony, she stayed and held that bitch's hand.
And trust me KAL, I could give you the long version, but just trust me when I tell you that the school made it just about impossible for me to even CONTACT people to interview them to BE a witness.
No, I had one guy come for me. He was/is an Army buddy who came to pick me up from school. See, the school had 3 officers come to my dorm room (in effect, my home) and give me **1** hour to pack up and leave. No, not after I got convicted, as they served me notice that I was accused. I was estranged from my mother, and could not go home, my Army buddy picked me up and took me to his.
Come the day of the hearing board, I wanted to question him in front of the board. See, the same story I had told the police (with no notice when they showed up at my room) was the same I had told my Army buddy. I wanted to show that my story hadn't changed an iota. Their response:
"we don't need to hear from this witness".
Meanwhile, my accuser and her 2 friends weren't interviewed one at a time ... oh, no, they (and the female police officer holding her hand) all testified at once. And I mean AT ONCE. I had to listen to the accusations via tape, and I couldn't tell one voice from the other. And when they contradicted each other, corrected each other, and "helped" each other's stories I had to rewind and rewind the tape to GUESS who was speaking.
Like I said KAL, It's a messed up story due to the lengths to which schools go to make sure that you CAN'T defend yourself. And the people they pick to "judge you" are far from unbiased either.
Steven
