De Anza Civil Trial Comes to a Close

This was originally posted at Change Happens. Background on this case can be found here.

And no one was found liable. I can’t say I’m surprised, given how the case played-out in court, with all the “look at this party girl acting all slutty, how could she be raped?” garbage. And guess what? That tactic works. Let’s hear from some of the jurors:

But other jurors believed the men and other witnesses, who testified that the girl brought beer to the party, performed a public lap dance and invited them in explicit terms to have group sex.

“She came there kind of looking for it,” said one male juror, a 62-year-old software engineer.

Another female juror, No. 8, of Los Gatos, was not convinced that the teen had reached a peak blood-alcohol level of 0.27 in the bedroom, as the plaintiff’s expert toxicologist had testified. The defendants’ expert, on the other hand, said she peaked later.

“I don’t think she was comatose,” she said. “She was just having a good time — they were all having a good time.”

Please allow me to vomit as I consider how the girl who says she was raped by multiple people was just “looking” to have a “good time.”

But instead of ruminating on that, I’d rather hear what she has to say after all of this. Jane Doe released the following statement through her lawyers, and I would like to feature them here in full to give her the last word:

This lawsuit was never about money. I filed this lawsuit to get justice.

I thought that I would need a verdict in favor of me to make me feel at peace.

But I have come to realize that I have already ‘won’ by getting my day in court. Finally, I can begin the healing process.

I never believed I was strong enough to make it through this trial, and at the beginning I wasn’t sure I was going to. But I did.

They wanted me to be quiet, they wanted me to be weak, but I stood up for myself and every other woman who has been frightened to speak, and ultimately, silenced.

I will be forever grateful to the women who I believe saved my life: Bryeans, Chief, and Grolle. These women gave me the courage to stand for justice and take action, just as they did that night. They are my heroes.

This is the end of the trial but not the end of my fighting for and on behalf of victims of sexual assault. The only positive outcome from my experience is, perhaps, my story preventing another crime. My wish now is for my full recovery so I can be the mom I want to be, and move forward with my life.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me, either directly or indirectly, through this extremely difficult time.