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General News    H2'ed 3/26/13

Stewing in Steubenville

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Unanswered Question: Was Jane Doe Drugged? 

 

The possibility that someone slipped Jane Doe a date rape drug was raised from the start, as Jane Doe, her family, and others tried to reconstruct what had been done to her.  A timely test might have detected traces in her hair, but the police and local prosecutor didn't do any such test. 

 

Most media reports have been content to report that Jane Doe was "intoxicated" and leave it otherwise unexamined.  But the timeline established by state prosecutors at trial allows for the possibility in an obvious, but only circumstantial manner. 

 

According to the evidence, Jane Doe was drinking vodka with a girlfriend at the first party of the night and was fairly "sloppy drunk," but still more or less navigating on her own.  Friends testified that they tried to keep her from driving away with four boys (including the two defendants), but she was not deterred. 

 

In the car she was assaulted.  Mark Cole testified that he videotaped the assault and later deleted the recording.  The question of a date rape drug was apparently not asked. 

 

After this car ride, Jane Doe's demeanor was demonstrably different from what it had been at the first party.  She was mostly inert, carried around like a potato sack, referred to by several witnesses as "dead." 

 

None of this is proof, but what competent attorney would want his client to take the stand and answer questions about a car ride that, at best, reflects badly on him? 

 

If the defendants had testified, they almost surely would have been asked what, if anything, made them think Jane Doe was a willing participant in any of her own abuse.  Before the trial, Ma'lik Richmond told ABC News he "felt like she was coming on to me," but he didn't take the stand to state that under oath. 

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Vermonter living in Woodstock: elected to five terms (served 20 years) as side judge (sitting in Superior, Family, and Small Claims Courts); public radio producer, "The Panther Program" -- nationally distributed, three albums (at CD Baby), some (more...)
 
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