Just as this man not even for a minute deserved to go to jail. I don't care how the system failed but at the time of the case fi this woman picked him out of a line, fingered him as the rapist, that would make a huge case against the main.

I don't think she owes him a freebie, no no, she owes this man 22 years of life. He became a victim of a crime. He spent over two decades in prison. I wonder what his feelings and emotions are like right now?

On the topic of assault and you don't know how to feel about it, who can say this man might not have been assaulted while spending so many years in prison? The probability is probably pretty high.

In any event, I hope the woman feels beyond horrible. I understand that she couldn't control that she was raped but she could have controlled sending this man to prison for such a long time. He was innocent and she was a victim and her feelings and situation at the time took a large part of life away from another person and that's horrible, beyond horrible....

Life I said, she doesn't owe this man a freebie, she owes him 22 years.

I feel that this statement is also insensitive to the issue of rape/sexual assault. You comment about women and women only when men are also sexually assaulted. Women aren't the only victims in such crimes.

We could also have men on this board that were assaulted and to neglect pointing out that possibility is also very insensitive..

(Not an attack just pointing out a common view that so many people still seem to hold.)

I don't think anyone is seriously sugguesting that she give him a freebie. It almost seems to me as if some are over here searching for new ways to be offended.

It wasn't a serious comment.

But what damasa said is true, she does owe this guy big for what she did to him.

Actually, I put it that way because I only know of women on this board who have been sexually assulted. I'm not discounted that men who have been sexually assulted, but I don't know of any on this board. Every victim of sexual assult deserves to be treated with the dignity and respect. I apologise to any men who were offended by my comment.

(and ktsnake - For a lot of people, rape is not something you joke about. I'm one of those people. Sorry.):rolleyes:

Ktsnake, at the time James posted the words "she owes him a freebie" I did not interpret that turn of a phrase as funny. I was initially very upset. Even after he said it was a "flippant" comment, I chalked it up to his ignorance. I guarantee you if he had been in a bar and said it in front of a group of women that still wouldn't fly. Rape whether it happens to a man,woman, or child is something that shouldn't be joked about.

The freed man shows alot of poise for bearing no ill will toward this woman. I agree that he should receive finanicial compensation, as well as counseling services at the states expense. He has every right to sue her. I think he should get as much help as possible. I'm sure she's been living in her own private hell.

Originally his brother was charged with the rape, I'm curious as to whether he'll be tested for DNA in this case.

I have left the rational universe and entered into the The Circus of the Absurd :p

What point are you guys arguing?

1. Some of you seem to be suggesting that its understandable that the original victim would identify an innocent man as her atacker given the crime, and that somehow the nature of the crime makes it not . . excusable, but . . .well you have a certain visceral sympathy for her putting an innocent man away.

News Flash: Her alleged rape, and his doing 22 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit don't intersect except at the point she faslely identified him.

2. Where does my joking comment: "I think she owes him a freebie?" correlate to: She deserves to be raped?

How can freely offering a freebie, by definition, be rape at all?

How does the statement extrapolate into any other case out there, unless that person also falsely accused someone and that accusation resulted in jail time?

How does the statement extrapolate to any women deserving to be sexualy assaulted?

And I guess i should offer a small apology to all women that the statement would would apply to:

I am truly sorry that people that were both sexually assaulted and also accused the wrong person of the assault, resulting in an innocent person going to jail for decades, were offended by my joking comment that the accuser offer a free sexual experience to the person after they were finally released for being innocent of the original accusation.

That apology should pretty much cover the entire debate :)

Understandable, yes. Not excusable.
I have sympathy for anyone (man, woman, child) who is a victim of any sexual assault. I also have sympathy for the innocent man.
Not alleged rape. She was raped. For the record, she was cut 65 times and raped twice during the incident. It may not have been by that man, but that doesn't take away the fact that it still happened.
It was a direct response by you to Rudey's post on what would happen if he raped her now. That is the correlation.

"Double jeopardy" was a direct reply to Rudey. Since double jeopardy is what Rudey is referring to.

I don't mind debating you guys but I wish you would be more careful readers. A lot of the other readers clearly understood the original post.

Rape can't be a freebie.

Actually, it can be. If she must submit to give her body as a "freebie" it is rape. That's how I took it.

ISUKappa, if this man raped her or killed her because she put him in prison since she was raped, would you find some sort of reasoning to excuse it? Seriously doesn't this create some never-ending cycle now with people doing awful things to each other because one person got emotional trauma?

And I'm asking you to not think with your heart and emotions.

-Rudey

And the same could be said for many of the other posters who are not carefully reading our posts.

What I am referring to with "emotional trauma" is the fact that it is feasable how the girl can mistakenly identify the wrongly accused man after dealing with such a emotionally and psychologically scarring act such as rape. I am not excusing the fact that she did incorrectly identify him, I'm not excusing the fact that he was wrongly imprisoned for 22 years. All I am saying is I can understand how that mistake can happen.

Fine then. "It is feasable" how the man could go back and rape or kill her. "It is feasable" that people will create a vicious cycle of violence all based on one girl's "mistake" (alleged mistake btw).

-Rudey

Yes it is. It happens all the time. I'm not denying that. But all it takes is one person to break that cycle. So what's your point?
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From what I understand, this man is not angry at the victim, he is angry at the state. He wants an apology and retribution from the state, not the victim.

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/News/Story.asp?ID=4510

http://www.courttv.com/news/2004/0812/dna_ap.html

I think the attitude of the state is the bigger issue here.

My point is that you are creating some sort of weird artificial cycle with your reasoning.

Straight up the rape victim should be punished and so should those who worked in prosecuting this man. And if the punishment fit the crime in this case, well that's for others to decide what fits.

-Rudey

Okay, so when did we ever say the victim should not incur some sort of "punishment?" Never.

What if the man doesn't want to punish the victim? Should she still be punished? Who gets to decide that?