Family says boys were sober during sex assault

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MARTHA MENDOZA

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - The family of a girl who committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted and a photo of the act was shared in text messages said Monday the three 16-year-old boys responsible were sober when the assault happened.

Audrie Pott's father, mother and step-mother made their first public comments about their daughter's death and the events leading to it during an interview with Fox News that was followed by a news conference.

They said they were outraged by what they see as a refusal to take responsibility by the three boys arrested in the attack on the 15-year-old girl in Saratoga, a bedroom community on the fringe of Silicon Valley.

In addition, Lisa Pott, the girl's stepmother, said the boys were sober, making their actions cold and calculated. The suspects were friends of Audrie, family attorney Robert Allard said.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130415/DA5M4OKO0.html

[Ilsa]

1. I hope the family gets justice. NT

[Bucky]

4. Society can get justice, I don't see how the victim's family can.

The rapist/harrassers can be brought before justice and have it meted out on them, but there won't be justice for the rape/suicide victim nor really for her family. Besides the girl, who might as well have been murdered, her family's lives have been devastated by this cruel attack, stretched out over from whatever time they raped her to the moment she finally ended her dispair, through to the unending grieving process they'll go through. I can't imagine how even the conviction and incarceration of her abusers will give them closure. People I know who lost loved ones through such violence never really get over it. The crime will linger forever. This is about how long the rapists' sentences should last.

[Ilsa]

5. I'm not sure your experience with

Families of victims applies to everyone.
I know some one who lost her grown child to violence and murder, but knowing the murderer was caught and in jail helps her in knowing he can't repeat his violence on another person. Yes, she still has bad days a year later, and she accepts that she'll always miss him, but even she and other family members have talked about coming out of a horrible haze. They've been focusing on what their beloved brought to their lives. Justice can help with eventual closure.
Prosecution, or simply not letting them get away with causing so much pain, making them see their responsibility, can change the canvas. So can finding a purpose in helping others avoid this this tragedy.
Grief is different for each of us, and justice can play a role in it.

[subject]

2. can't...

contain....anger....

[hopemountain]

3. shame on those boys

and their families.

[Mz Pip]

6. Friends?

No. They. Were. Not. Friends

[In_The_Wind]

7. There is no excuse for rape!

The boys were arrested Thursday - eight months after Audrie Pott posted online that her life was ruined and then hanged herself.

snip

Family spokesman Ed Vasquez said Audrie's family decided to speak out Monday to "raise awareness about teenage bullying, harassment, sexual assault, and the use of electronic media to disseminate images that humiliate and in this case drove their daughter to take her life."

Backed by a large banner signed with loving messages from dozens of classmates and friends, Allard said the suspects are responsible for the Audrie's decision to end her life. The family is adamant that the suspects be tried as adults, he said.

"They will apparently have you believe that what they did and what Audrie did was just a coincidence," Allard said, alluding to a statement from the boys' attorneys. "Frankly this sent us over the edge because it tells us that these boys and their families to this day refuse to accept responsibility."

[Starry Messenger]

8. I'm puzzled why that is considered a factor.

Rapists are sociopaths, drunk or sober.

[bettyellen]

9. because people (even here at DU) blame the booze..... when they know it's not cool to blame the

victim, and they still want to blame someone other than the perps.

[Starry Messenger]

10. It's hard to wrap my mind around.

I'm not a lawyer but I don't remember any other crime where being sober made the circumstances "worse" for some reason.

I'm wording that oddly, but I don't know how else to say it.

[bettyellen]

11. well defense lawyers and guilty people are LOATHE to admit they knew what they were doing...

and their friends and family join in the bullshit too. Really makes me wonder about some people here.

[cartach]

12. I would suggest that for a

sociopathic or normal person,being under the "influence" of drugs or or alcohol loosens the inhibitions and causes people to do things they otherwise would'nt do e.g., rape somebody. Even a sociopath, and possibly more likely a sociopath who are noted for being exceptionally cunning, would be more likely to think twice about raping somebody if they were cold sober. As such being under the influence of drugs or alcohol might be considered a mitigating factor and apparently in this case was not.

[geek tragedy]

13. The argument is "if both people are drunk no one is taking advantage of the other"

Not my argument, please understand.