THANK YOU. I can’t believe this thread. If I see the phrase “only digital” one more fucking time (and it’s coming even from the well-intentioned), I will put my head through a wall. We can discuss these details if we want. BUT, in doing so, we have to be really, really, really careful that we are NOT pulling out our…

There are plenty of ways to defend a child. His father could have acknowledged that his son did a very, very bad thing while also asking for forgiveness and a sentence that would allow his son to do good in the world; e.g. speak out against the myriad influences that allowed him to rape a woman in the first place. He…

Don’t do that. Don’t split hairs. This is not the right time to get into semantics.

I know! It’s no one else’s fault that this shitbat decided to rape someone but the fact that everyone in his social circle seems to be the worst probably does not help.

Honestly, I think the friend’s point of view is that of a person who’s been harboring a crush since elementary school and “maybe this letter will finally make him notice me!!”

I do not blame the father for trying to defend his son. But his method and words used, he can be held accountable for. I think he should have held off releasing his letter or had several people proof/edit it. The language is reflective of how our society and how little we value women at times.

Parents raised him so his attitude at finding an unconscious person was to rape them, not call an ambulance

Yeah I don’t know what’s wrong with people. There is no gray area here: he raped an unconscious woman in public. Yet somehow these overly privileged white people think he/they were treated unfairly. Blows my mind.

Why are we assuming the woman is the victim? Because she was unconscious. She was completely passive. He on the other hand, was the active party in the assault. No matter how drunk he was, he still chose to assault her. He was spotted by eyewitnesses assaulting her, and when he was confronted by them, he had enough…

(former forensic nurse here) While I have no specific knowledge of this specific case, I have been involved in others like it, and my understanding is that the physical evidence collected at the hospital is consistent with a digital or foreign-object penetration. The reality is that no one can really say conclusively…

It helps to explain his sense of entitlement.

One of the rescuers said he was smiling after they tackled him, like it was a big joke. I commend their self-control.

Lawyers do have to do whatever is necessary to defend their clients. But it would be nice if our culture could get to the point where the prejudices that make that kind of questioning effective no longer exist.

“That is a rapist.”

It’s all about “personal responsibility” with these people. That is until they are actually personally responsible for a hideous act.

And wasn’t he stopped by random passersby? So it’s not even like she woke up the next day like “whoa what happened? did I have sex? I don’t remember wanting sex.” No, random people saw him with her unconscious body and stopped things from going further. That’s not being PC. That’s stopping a sexual assault and hooray…

Consent is not a tricky concept. If your partner is wasted (especially one that you just meet)- you don’t take advantage. Period. Being drunk lowers your inhibitions- it doesn’t magically erase what you should know as right or wrong.

Except good guys don’t rape. Good guys stop the attacker like those random cyclists did.

Exactly - it’s this attitude of “But he’s an All American kid! He was going to swim in the Olympics! He’s not a rapist rapist, he just happened to rape someone on a whim. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy!”

“I think the bikers who found him did the right thing by keeping him there” ....of course...because given that he wasnt in control of his emotions, it was nice that the bikers came over to help Brock out, the real victim in this episode.... aarrgghh-blood-boiling