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mahatmakanejeeves

(61,539 posts)
Wed May 19, 2021, 03:28 PM May 2021

A prosecutor says no to a rape charge, so a college student calls her own grand jury

National

A prosecutor says no to a rape charge, so a college student calls her own grand jury



Madison Smith, who was attacked in a dorm room at her small college in Lindsborg, Kan., turned to a state law from the 1880s to pursue the rape charge that a prosecutor refused to bring. (Christopher Smith/for The Washington Post)

By Peter Kendall
May 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Madison Smith will be just a few months out of college when her story is heard this fall by a most unusual Kansas grand jury — one she convened. ... For three years, the local prosecutor has resolutely refused to make her case: that what began as consensual sex in a college dorm room became a rape, and that she was unable to say “stop” because her classmate was strangling her.

But Smith invoked a vestige of frontier justice that allows citizens in Kansas to summon a grand jury when they think prosecutors are neglecting to bring charges in a crime. The law, dating to the 1800s, was originally used to go after saloonkeepers when authorities ignored violations of statewide prohibition. The 22-year-old graduate is believed to be the first to convene a citizen grand jury after a prosecutor declined to pursue a sex-crime charge. ... “It took me a while to find my voice,” she said recently. “But I have found it, and I am going to use it.”

{snip}

Unlike Smith, most victims have no way to seek justice when they feel a blind eye is being turned toward a crime. Only five other states, all in the Great Plains or the West, have similar laws still on the books. The Kansas statute requires an individual to gather a certain number of signatures of support, which forced Smith to relive her trauma over and over in conversations with strangers. ... She did so in a hair salon parking lot, where she and her parents set up a tent to greet passersby.

By then, court records and recordings of conversations reveal, their disagreement with McPherson County Attorney Gregory Benefiel had turned highly contentious. ... “The one person who I believed was supposed to fight for the victim on the legal side has pushed me aside, stalling, and waiting for me to give up,” Smith wrote in one statement to the court. “This is a common tactic used by defense attorneys, but now the prosecution. I won’t ever give up. Ever.”

{snip}
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A prosecutor says no to a rape charge, so a college student calls her own grand jury (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves May 2021 OP
takes a lot of courage...good for her.... bahboo May 2021 #1
This girl is on fire Deuxcents May 2021 #2
THe sisters are doing it for themselves... Claire Oh Nette May 2021 #3
Brave woman. sheshe2 May 2021 #4
Apparently bad decision by DA exboyfil May 2021 #5
Because there was no prior trial? The prosecutor never brought charges. spooky3 May 2021 #6
He pled to a battery charge exboyfil May 2021 #7
Thanks - I missed that part. nt spooky3 May 2021 #8
He's not being charged twice with the same crime. I hate paywall articles, don't you? marble falls May 2021 #10
Non paywall link ... marble falls May 2021 #9

Deuxcents

(20,080 posts)
2. This girl is on fire
Wed May 19, 2021, 03:38 PM
May 2021

As every woman should be. I hope we get information on how this plays out n also hope her studies direct her to the law as she’s learning it first hand. She needs support n I wish her well. Men have a big part in this issue, too. They have Mother’s, sisters, women friends or loved ones. This is not a one sided issue.

Claire Oh Nette

(2,636 posts)
3. THe sisters are doing it for themselves...
Wed May 19, 2021, 03:48 PM
May 2021

Wow.
This woman!!

In no particular order:

Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Katie Porter, Stacy Abrahams, Leticia James, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Gretchen Whitmer, Ilhan Omar, Mazie Hirono, Val Demings, even Liz Cheney, and of course, Hilary.


Women seem to get shit done.

sheshe2

(88,095 posts)
4. Brave woman.
Wed May 19, 2021, 04:17 PM
May 2021
“It took me a while to find my voice,” she said recently. “But I have found it, and I am going to use it.”

spooky3

(36,404 posts)
6. Because there was no prior trial? The prosecutor never brought charges.
Wed May 19, 2021, 04:34 PM
May 2021

Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

exboyfil

(18,029 posts)
7. He pled to a battery charge
Wed May 19, 2021, 04:38 PM
May 2021

which could have been a lesser included charge if had been tried. I guess from watching Law and Order you have to charge and try everything that is known at the time.

It is obvious the DA did everything he could to not make it a sex crime.

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