17 Year Old Sexual Assault Victim Could Face Charges For Tweeting Names of Attackers

[Joey]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/savannah-dietrich-twitter-sexual-assault-louisville-174732753.html

A Kentucky girl who was sexually assaulted could face contempt of court charges after she tweeted the names of her juvenile attackers.

Savannah Dietrich, the 17-year-old victim, was frustrated by a plea deal reached late last month by the two boys who assaulted her, and took to Twitter to expose them--violating a court order to keep their names confidential.

"There you go, lock me up," Dietrich tweeted after naming the perpetrators. "I'm not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell." Her Twitter account has since been closed.

Attorneys for the attackers asked a Jefferson District Court judge to hold Dietrich in contempt for lashing out on Twitter. She could face up to 180 days in jail and a $500 fine if convicted. The boys have yet to be sentenced for the August 2011 attack.

"So many of my rights have been taken away by these boys," Dietrich told Louisville's Courier-Journal. "I'm at the point, that if I have to go to jail for my rights, I will do it. If they really feel it's necessary to throw me in jail for talking about what happened to me as opposed to throwing these boys in jail for what they did to me, then I don't understand justice."

Dietrich was assaulted by the pair after passing out at a party. They later shared photos of the assault with friends.

"For months, I cried myself to sleep," Dietrich said. "I couldn't go out in public places."

On June 26, the boys pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor voyeurism. Terms of their plea agreement were not released.

"They got off very easy," Dietrich, who says she was unaware of the plea agreement before it was announced in court, said in her interview with the newspaper.

"They said I can't talk about it or I'll be locked up," Dietrich tweeted after hearing, according to the paper. "So I'm waiting for them to read this and lock me up."

"[Protecting rapists] is more important than getting justice for the victim in Louisville," she added.

A hearing for the contempt of court charge is scheduled for July 30. Attorneys for Dietrich want it open to the media, while the boys lawyers want it closed.

Both the Gannett-owned Courier-Journal and Dietrich's attorneys "have filed motions to open the proceedings, arguing she has a First Amendment right to speak about what happened in her case," the newspaper said.

An online petition asking the judge to throw out the charges against Dietrich, launched Saturday, has already accumulated hundreds of signatures.

"[she] should not be legally barred from talking about what happened to her," Gregg Leslie, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Associated Press. "That's a wide-ranging restraint on speech."

This caught my attention. This girl was court ordered to not discuss who sexually assaulted her because they are minors,though they pleaded guilty, she was 16 when she was raped and the boys sent pictures of the attack to their friends.

Telling others what happened is a very important part of being able to come to terms and process what has happened ,some people need to talk about it,sometimes over and over again.Until they find peace with it.Telling someone they can not talk about what happened makes a heavy weight even heavier .

You just don't know what to do with it,where to sit it down when you are told you can't talk about it .

[retroHelen]

It is so unjust and we see this happen over and over again in the UK.

What was she doing that caused her to pass out at a party and become so vulnerable to attack and being taken advantage of? Did she over-indulge in something like alcohol or a recreational drug? The article does not say, so I will not make a negative judgement on her sad unjust circumstances, she may of had her drink/food spiked and could not help it.

However, we should heed warnings about deliberatly making ourselves vulnerable by our own actions whatever our age. It's a nasty World out there! Our God kindly warns us against over-indulging in alcohol and does not see doing it as 'fun at parties' at all and we must trust his advice and his disapproval in this, and make sure the young and inexperienced understand this (Proverbs 23: 29-32; 1 Corinthians 5:11; Galatians 5:21). It's part of our 'respecting the life God gave us' and not taking unnecessary risks even for pleasure or excitement.Most teenage pregnancies in the UK are concieved under circumstances where the girl has been rendered senseless with drink at a club or party and fallen into the trap of fornication - what a sad legacy to tell the subsequent child!

People of today are 'sheep without a shepherd' without any proper moral guidance, falling into these traps in life and the World's system doesn't help them when they need support and justice done (Ecclesiastes 8:11) It spurs you on to show them Jesus pities us all and provides protection and direction for us to keep out of unwise circumstances that could lead us to danger, until his Kingdom where we can enjoy life without being taken advantage of.

[Joey]

She was the victim of a crime. I felt she should be allowed to talk about it if she wanted....the boys posted the assault for their friends...who she must have known, she said she cried and couldn't go out for months, I felt she should have a say about her non willing particiation in what they posted.

It is sexual assault even if she had agreed to have sex with them and then she changed her mind and said she didn't want to...but they wouldn't stop....that would still be still be rape.Unconscience people can not give their consent...so it is always rape .My therapist discussed this with me.

It's like seeing someones purse in their shopping cart ,they aren't looking so you could grab it and take off but that would be a crime,just an easier one to perpetrate .Here these two saw an unconscience girl and photographed raping her.....that was definately a crime in my book,no matter how that girl got to be unconscience. It was not consensual.

[Joey]

I just noticed that like our thread on the Dark Knight Rises movie massacre...if these attackers had applied Bible principles this situation would not have occurred either.

[trottigy]

Only in the new world will we see true justice. Jer 10:23- To often this system is about the "protecting" those who commit crimes instead of about the victims and preventing crimes in the first place.

This just makes me want to go out in the ministry that much more and try to help as many people as possible to see what true morals and encourage them to live by these. Because what this world has to offer is rubbish!

[Joey]

I agree with Helen and Jerry's comments,I was just feeling empathetic for this girl.Well,I should have said,I'm not 100% in agreement with Helen's comments,I feel it didn't matter how she got unconscience the boys are at fault for the assault not the girl.

[trottigy]

I agree with Helen and Jerry's comments,I was just feeling empathetic for this girl.Well,I should have said,I'm not 100% in agreement with Helen's comments,I feel it didn't matter how she got unconscience the boys are at fault for the assault not the girl.

I agree.

I do appreciate how Jehovah protects us though. When we are obedient - we aren't in places like she was, but she is clearly the victim.

[Joey]

I agree with Helen and Jerry's comments,I was just feeling empathetic for this girl.Well,I should have said,I'm not 100% in agreement with Helen's comments,I feel it didn't matter how she got unconscience the boys are at fault for the assault not the girl.

I agree.

I do appreciate how Jehovah protects us though. When we are obedient - we aren't in places like she was, but she is clearly the victim.

That is a good lesson for us to take away from this incident and to use as a warning example for our kids. I handle situations with my teenager differently because of Bible principles than how matters were handled with me when I was a teen. I would not permit my son to be in such an unsupervised environment but I went to many such parties and bad things happened at times. Such unwise choices put her in a very dangerous situation . Like walking down a dark alley in a bad neighborhood would be unwise .

[steadfast]

Only in the new world will we see true justice. Jer 10:23- To often this system is about the "protecting" those who commit crimes instead of about the victims and preventing crimes in the first place.

This just makes me want to go out in the ministry that much more and try to help as many people as possible to see what true morals and encourage them to live by these. Because what this world has to offer is rubbish!

Capital! ;)

[ava]

This is a very sad story, and I agree Faith, rape is rape. Doesn't matter if she said yes and changed her mind, doesn't matter if she was drunk, she should have been left alone, simple as that. I do not agree when ones say "she was drunk, so she deserved it" or other such nonsense.

That being said, if she was ordered by the courts not to divulge the names, and she did anyway, then yes, she may need to pay the price for that. We do have laws in this country, and if she willing disobeyed it, then she will face some sort of punishment for that. She seems that she is willing to accept the consequence of her action, so that is good.

The problem with our Justice System, is that too often, the criminals rights are more protected then the victim's. It's very sad and very wrong, but that's the world we live in.

Either way, we know that soon Jehovah will correct this.

[Joey]

The contempt charges against the girl were withdrawn by the boys lawyer this afternoon. A page on facebook supporting the girl had 62,000 signatures.

[Shawnster]

That being said, if she was ordered by the courts not to divulge the names, and she did anyway, then yes, she may need to pay the price for that. We do have laws in this country, and if she willing disobeyed it, then she will face some sort of punishment for that. She seems that she is willing to accept the consequence of her action, so that is good.

`

When you factor in this may be her first offense and the extreme emotional stress of her situation, leinency and a lighter sentence such as probation and community service may be the price she has to pay. I would hope the courts would show her some measure of justice and mercy.

[retroHelen]

Well good for justice at last! I totally agree it was a crime and unjust treatment of the victim. Just I'm a bit of a cynic - if you become in a vulnerable position, you will be taken advantage, that's this nasty world. I have been assaulted on 2 occasions, when I was alone, but as there was no one there to witness it, so I felt it was my word against that of the perpetrator and as cases were going in UK, I would not stand a chance reporting it to the Police.

One was a Doctor I once visited a few years ago and he left me feeling ashamed and worthless when I fled his surgery. I suspected he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.He was quite abusive/aggresive when he manhandled me.I later went to see another partner in his group practice and explained the situation confidentially.The partner along with the other Doctors there, left that practice and set up elsewhere and I transferred to them. The Police raided the remaining Doctor and his son's practice. It transpired in newspaper reports that for years he had been acting strangely. Also he had allowed his son to be a Doctor there without him having any formal qualifications and they were running an illegal racket of using other people's medical files to write out NHS free prescriptions for drugs of the sort that could be traded on the street for extra income - Temazapam, etc. He was struck off.The problem was that from then on the medical records of my health history could not be found to transfer to the new doctor's practice and it transpired that he had destroyed/deleted lots of people's medical files to hide the extent of his false prescription writing.

My sister is braver than me. She works for the Police in various parts of the country. A few years ago she was assaulted by a Police officer when she was on her own in his office. Despite no witnesses, she reported him to a Police department that investigates such things. At first other male officers told her she was exaggerating and should be more thick skinned and get used to it - he was just having a bit of fun - and she "Was asking for it wearing skinny trousers," etc, but she felt it was unnacceptable behaviour - he could go on to to it to others. He was investigated and then other female officers came forward to say he had harassed them. Then it transpired, as the tribunal went on and got into newspapers, that he had bothered vulnerable women in the community, he had come across in his work, for his own satisfaction sometimes in return for keeping his mouth shut about their illegal activities.He was disciplined and lost his job and pension. My sister was given a hard time by his representatives at the tribunal trying to make out that she was precocious in her behaviour - colleagues disproved that, so that failed,so they tried making out she was ambitious in her career against him, but that too was unproven. After it was over she felt sorry for his ex-wife because of the lost pension, but glad he was hopefully no longer around to bother other women as he did. The Police have had more "respect" training programs regarding office attitude to each other since then, but the government no longer gives enough funding and she has been informed that she and many others, will definateley be redundant before the year is out.

[ava]

That being said, if she was ordered by the courts not to divulge the names, and she did anyway, then yes, she may need to pay the price for that. We do have laws in this country, and if she willing disobeyed it, then she will face some sort of punishment for that. She seems that she is willing to accept the consequence of her action, so that is good.

`

When you factor in this may be her first offense and the extreme emotional stress of her situation, leinency and a lighter sentence such as probation and community service may be the price she has to pay. I would hope the courts would show her some measure of justice and mercy.

I agree. I'd hate for her to have to even one day of jail time for this.