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Photo: Bloomsberries / Flickr
Sunday night I brought you the story of Savannah Dietrich, whose horrific sexual assault was compounded by her attackers posting pictures on the internet. Even worse, attorneys for the convicted juveniles were seeking contempt charges against her for posting their names on Twitter after she first heard about the plea deal in the courtroom, with no consultation with the prosecution.
Today, the contempt request was dropped by attorneys for the two convicted sexual assaulters.
Defense attorneys for two teenagers who pleaded guilty to assaulting 17-year-old Savannah Dietrich have withdrawn their motion that she be held in contempt for tweeting the names of her attackers in defiance of a court order.
David Mejia, an attorney for one of the teens, said given that the story has gone global because of a piece Saturday in The Courier-Journal, there was no reason to continue the contempt motion.
“What could contempt do now?” Mejia said in an interview, adding that the boys’ names have already been circulated far beyond the original tweet. “Seems like a rather useless exercise doesn’t it?”
It sounds like these attorneys are still blaming the victim for the sweet deal they got for their precious clients who sexually assaulted her and posted the pictures of her on the internet. Who is in contempt of court now, eh, Attorney Mejia?
At least someone in the system is working to see justice done for Savannah Dietrich:
Emily Farrar-Crockett, deputy division chief of the public defender’s juvenile division and one of Dietrich’s attorneys, said on Monday that “Savannah greatly appreciates the overwhelming support she has received from all over the world” since the newspaper story was published.
“We are encouraged by the private defense attorney’s belated recognition that their action was inappropriate and only served to make worse what this child victim has already endured,” she said.
Farrar-Crockett also said her office is still looking to have set aside the original court order forbidding all parties from talking about the case. Farrar-Crockett said the order was overly broad, and Dietrich should be able to talk about aspects of the case.
These monsters’ attorneys need to be sanctioned for blaming the victim for tweeting the names of her attackers, when the attack itself was never covered by any confidentiality agreement she was a party to. It’s awful they would blame her for the circumstances as they stand now, especially considering the care with which media outlets handled the story of Savannah Dietrich’s tweet, never mentioning the names of her convicted attackers.
16 Comments
Sometimes, the white hot light of publicity does the trick.
Savannah’s life will never be the same, but she won’t be further victimized. Let’s hope this emboldens her to pursue civil tort charges against the “boys” who hurt her.
Great news, Teddy.
I second your comment @1.
DW
Recommended, of course, to everyone who cares about reason, humanity, and the Rule of Law.
DW
FWIW third-hand regarding the sweet plea deal from the Comments section of the article “Who Are the Rapists?” on thefreerepublic.com
I’ve seen only a couple of confirmation sources (e.g., LinkedIn profiles) so far, but I imagine what can be scrubbed, will be soon.
More fun reading (but not on topic to the case at hand) about the Blue Grass state: The Bluegrass Conspiracy by Sally Denton, not a member of the band of the same name.
Thanks for the update, Teddy. I love updates! Now that’s reporting. Usually a story gets it’s 5 minutes and then goes away.
I’m betting those lawyers got a LOT of hate mail between the time their motion went public and the time they backed off.
Were I them, I’d be worried the rest of the deal might become public. And the judge who signed off on it might well become their enemy for life as his reputation gets trashed.
Really, I’m madder at the judge than at the lawyers. I expect lawyers to look out for their clients. The judge is supposed to stop such nonsense when it’s put before him.
Boxturtle (In todays world, trying to hide something just spreads it farther)
She’ll be victimized any day she sees one of her rapists on the same street with her.
One hopes that the rapists are getting court ordered psych help. One hopes that the victim is getting psych help paid for by the rapists.
Boxturtle (Wonder how much she can get if she sues)
I second this comment, BoxTurtle, in its entirety.
DW
Ah, BoxTurtle, this comment I take half-issue with:
Savanah, by doing what she courageously did, stepping beyond the narrow and dark confines of a cripple legal “convention”, has freed herself from being a victim, and it is her rapists who will cast down their eyes and shuffle away whenever they see her, proud, strong, and undiminished, any time, on the street, in the light of day, or under the street lights …
Your second paragraph of “hopes”, I quite happily second.
DW
I know one rape victim. She looked her rapist in the eye in court the entire time she testified.
He bargained it down and ended up with time served, a fine, and psych help.
She saw him on the other side of the street a couple months later. She curled up in a ball on the spot, trying to hide between a parked car and the curb. She was getting psych help, too.
She’ll never be the same.
Boxturtle (Last I heard, her rapist was a relatively successful car salesman)
I know exactly what you are saying, BoxTurtle.
Your friend was “treated” the old way, by the law, she was failed by the law.
Savannah decided to not be “treated” the old way, and I suggest that her sense of herself and of her own power, as a human being, is therefore more intact.
By exposing her rapists to the scrutiny of the entire world, she has made it much more unlikely that they may achieve the anonymity of relative “success”.
Even used car salesmen do not wish to be known as rapists … as it cuts down on their perceived sense of legitimacy.
Time will tell … but my sense is that neither of these rapists will ever diminish Savannah … while they MUST rehabilitate themselves before even the most callous members of society will embrace and lionize them … the mentally “disturbed” may embrace these “boys being boys”, but the reception and support Savannah has and will likely continue to justifiably receive is very different from the shame and lack of broad support that your friend received … and I am very certain that you support and encouragement of her being is very important to her.
Perhaps, you might, someday, if you deem it appropriate, ask you friend what she thinks about what Savannah did and is doing.
DW
FYI, other countries follow U.S. injustices closely.
Here’s an RT link as an example.
She’s hurting. Read through some of the links and you’ll see her comments about how she feels in public. Her rapists posted photos of the acts on the net, that’s how she found out she was raped.
She is standing tall. But that feeling in the pit of her stomach will never go away.
I wouldn’t even dare to discuss this in the presence of my friend. I’d worry about flashbacks.
Boxturtle (Some people are stronger than others. GO SAVANNAH!)
Yet one more reason to publicize stories like this as widely as possible. Good on ya, Teddy.
She is hurting, BoxTurtle, there is no way that could not be so.
However, she dared to stand against allowing “the law” to hide what happened … away. Her parents have supported he right to stand up, and many others have rallied around her.
Your friend has NEVER felt any support on that level, only shame … which is NOT hers to bear … alone, or at all.
Savannah did not permit herself, her essential being, to be lost or diminished. And that makes a very critical difference in how she will be able to deal with healing AND the depravity of her attackers.
I do not suggest that recovery will either be easy or even “complete”, I merely hope that Savannah’s sense of her own right of being is not circumscribed by acquiescence to the dictates of a legal system, as corrupted by a double-standard as her attackers.
Savannah will, I hope, come to realize that she is an inspiration to others, that her courage and resolve are appreciated and will emulated by others.
Savannah is a change agent and the legal system and society, itself, have been served notice.
I join with you in saying, “GO SAVANNAH!”.
DW
Sunlight, the best disinfectant on government!!!