I hope someone gives Bethenny TOO MUCH TUNA!

Can’t wait for this tear down of Obama. Finally we’ll hear about how he came up with the idea for ISIS in the White House mosque.

Okay but what about the complete change of the story she told. First, she was forced into the porta potty and held down, then in the next interview, she said she performed consensual oral sex on one of the men and then was coerced by the other man to perform oral sex on him. I guess I don’t understand what the police…

Okay, so you don’t think a victim should be allowed to change their mind about pressing charges? So once they make a statement to the police they should have to go all the way through the trial and everything else, even if they don’t want to. What if they go to the hospital and have a rape kit done, is that equal to a…

The fact that he still refers to the ban as “the ban” is really not going to help his case in court, is it?

It’s an inadequate system that can’t produce a conviction without a perfect victim that it will break in the process. The court and culture’s understanding of reasonable doubt is inadequate.

I agree that it’s a huge problem. Though in this case the problem doesn’t seem to be whether or not she’s perfect or virginal enough to make a sympathetic victim but rather that she won’t even say she was raped and can’t say for sure if it was consensual or not. So, in the absence of a smoking gun, I really don’t see…

No, because the criminal courts operate under the pretense of “innocent until proven guilty.” So in this case, her words matter a lot, because they can be used to prove guilt, while the suspects’ words matter very little, because all they can do is prove innocence, which is not requisite to an acquittal.

So basically, “no, there is no evidence of police negligence, here, but...somehow, I must still tie this to police negligence because....reasons.”

I’m sorry, but having worked with the NYPD’s SVU and knowing many of the detectives personally, this article just does not ring true. The SVU, from my experience, isn’t a bunch of stodgy Joe Friday types that look to poke holes in victims stories. Every one of them that I’ve met is a passionate advocate and an…

But isn’t that argument undercut by the fact that this case doesn’t seem to involve police negligence? This case suffers due to inconsistencies - nothing is alleged that would paint the police in a negative light.

Here, there was additional witness evidence that supports the rape theory, and the power dynamics that were supposedly in place in this situation would also tend to lean towards this having been a rape. Indeed, taken together, I think this case is open and shut probable cause, which is why the two people were in fact…

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to get across. And I’m not saying the cops did everything right - cops screw up a lot. But right now, that’s not being alleged here. Maybe the encounter started off consensually and turned into a rape, but the victim doesn’t want to admit that. Maybe she’s a sex worker who is trying…

1.) So there isn’t any evidence they badgered her, that just your “feeling.” Okay.

That’s not the issue here. The point is that if you have a victim who can’t say for sure if it was consensual or not, makes it all that much harder for the police and prosecutors to make a case, which is another argument in favour of the DA not pressing charges.

Oh, I agree. But do you really see this case making it to trial, much less winning? I’m speaking from a legal standpoint, not whether or not the woman was actually raped. I think she was. But can you prove it in court?

But you are not seeing the issue - the issue is that, legally, once she was inconsistent in one thing, every single thing she says becomes questionable (at least from a defense standpoint). You are accepting her at her word that the encounter happened that way (and to be clear, I believe her as well). However, the…

1.) Where does it suggest the cops badgered her to say anything? Point out where that’s alleged for me, please.

Yeah. I read this as more of an “Oh, my god, how horrifying; that poor woman” story rather than a “Jesus, can’t the cops/prosecutors do anything right?” story. The thing about the woman not being sure whether it was consensual is what breaks my heart. My guess is that she felt like she was complicit in the act because…

I’m not quite sure what the point of this article is. Is it suggesting that the police (in reality, the prosecutor’s office) should have pursued charges either way? Because, um, if you’re charging rape, you need to be able to establish non-consent. Having a victim say “I’m not sure if it was consensual or not”…