Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon
There's no evidence to suggest that the 18 year old had sex with the 14 year old. If he DID have sex with her, then it would be statutory rape, but there was not enough sufficient evidence to suggest that he did. I've read various articles and couldn't find where he actually had sex with her, but if you can find evidence that says so...lay it on me because I sure as hell can't find it.  |
To be fair the only evidence which could conclusively demonstrate that sexual intercourse took place would be medical evidence, which would only be raised at trial and not distributed to the media. It seems fair to say that such evidence or similar did exist, as I would be very surprised if the DA took the decision to prosecute based solely on the victim's testimony. That to my mind makes the decision not to proceed more of a concern, but in any event it means that such evidence is unlikely to make it into the public domain. Leaving that aside, several reports have claimed that the defendant did admit they had sex, but that it was consensual. To my mind that should still have sufficied for a charge of statutory rape; my impression is that they probably concluded it was not in the public interest to proceed with a trial, in which case they should have said so rather than what appears to have been quite a cloak-and-dagger enterprise.
As a further aside to this story, it appears further allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against the young man in question, and that he has now left the high school:
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...vestigate.html