Ladies, if you're drinking when you get raped (and murdered)...might be your fault.

[flvegan]

At least to the jury on a civil lawsuit. Which to me, is simply horrid to even consider.

But I digress...

Jurors in civil case say murder victim partly to blame for her own death

By Molly Moorhead, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, August 28, 2010

NEW PORT RICHEY — Kimberly Delancey spent an evening drinking wine with a neighbor and ended up murdered in her apartment.

The criminal courts dealt quickly with the man who killed her. Adam Calcote went to trial, was convicted and is serving life in prison.

But in the civil court system, where issues of justice are more nuanced and subjective, a jury this week decided that some of the responsibility for Delancey's death fell at her own feet.

The victim shares the blame for her murder.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/jurors-in-civil-case-say-murder-victim-partly-to-blame-for-her-own-death/1118001

The why and how are what make the article a jaw-dropping must read.

The victim's lawyer, Barry Cohen, is (at least in these parts) the very best one can hire. A legend.

[niyad]

1. sadly, knowing some of the people in that community, I am not surprised. disgusted, angry, outraged

but not surprised.

years ago, I discovered that even the sheriff's department had no contact number for any domestic violence shelter in the area, as just one example.

[cynatnite]

2. The top button of our shirt can be undone and we'd still get blamed. n/t

[MichiganVote]

3. That jury would have been in a deadlock with me.

[readmoreoften]

4. See, if she was wearing a burka, there'd be no smear against her honor.

Maybe women should start wearing them to prove they're virtuous. :sarcasm:

[Lorien]

5. Wouldn't matter. We've committed the sin of simply being born female

and we're told that men "can't help themselves". The bodies we inhabit drive them to do bed things. None of it is their fault, you see, WE'RE the ones to blame for simply existing within their line of sight. :sarcasm:

[ZombieHorde]

6. Wow. K&R nt

[KittyWampus]

7. the Mother is suing the apartment complex and had to prove they were at least 50% responsible

No other comment.

Just adding that bit of info.

[Incitatus]

8. They didn't complain about the clothes she was wearing?

[petronius]

9. I sounds as though the jurors were not allowed to assign any responsibility to

the murderer, so if they didn't feel that the complex was liable, what were they supposed to do?

I have no opinion on whether or not the apartment complex should be liable without a lot more details, but the whole process is nonsense if they can't include the killer in the divvying up of responsibility...

[flvegan]

11. They did feel the complex was negligent, hence their answer of "yes" to that question.

They then said that SHE was negligent because she'd been drinking.

[petronius]

15. Right, but they apparently didn't feel that the complex's negligence rose

to a level that justified financial penalties (or whatever was asked for), so their hands were tied. They were compelled to allocate 100% of the blame, but they couldn't give it to the person who really deserved it. Since the complex was the defendant, they probably thought it would be unfair to put it all on the complex, so they had no choice. As awful as the result sounds, it's a flaw in the way the suit was written (probably a deliberate strategy by the plaintiff attorney) and not the jury.

For example, if I had to assign blame here, I would probably go something like 99% to the murderer, 1% to the complex (caveat: without details about the rental agreements and any advertising or promises the complex made this is a WAG), and 0% to the victim. If the murderer was excluded, I would be unable to put all that extra 99% on the complex if I thought it would unfairly punish them...

[flvegan]

17. To me, the flaw

is in that the jury was asked to consider (and subsequently agreed that) she was somehow responsible for being raped and murdered because she was drinking. THAT is the point. The complex is almost a red herring at this point.

[petronius]

19. The complex was the defendant in this particular suit.

The flaw is that the jury was not allowed to divide responsibility between all possible liable parties - they were forced to assign responsibility to the victim to avoid unfairly (in their opinion, I presume) punishing the complex.

I agree it's ridiculous and disgusting to assign any blame to the victim, but the jury had no real choice (unless, of course, the complex really was more responsible than the killer, in which case the jury screwed up)...

[Dr.Phool]

18. The murderer's already doing life.

This was a civil trial seeking damages for negligence. You can't collect damages from someone doing life, so he wasn't mentioned.

I know people that work with my wife who live in that complex. They advertise it as a safe, secure, gated community. One guy working at the gate. It's a joke.

[petronius]

21. I know, that's the point. If th jury didn't feel that the complex was liable for damages,

they couldn't assign all the responsibility to the complex. This disgusting-sounding verdict is the consequence of a rigid system.

It would have been much more accurate if the jury had been allowed to include the murderer, but the plaintiffs excluded him because they knew he bore the bulk of the responsibility and couldn't pay...

[dkf]

10. The apartment complex is responsible for the guests of every tenant?

I don't see that. My goodness what a burden for any association.

[flvegan]

12. He was living there.

Just not on the lease. Having lived in apartments in Florida for the better part of 20 years, I don't ever recall a lease that didn't demand to know the name of any person residing in a unit.

[KittyWampus]

13. had an argument w/ a boyfriend years ago. "Living there" can legally mean paying rent.

Anyway, weird that the girlfriend of this creep was never included in possible list of culpable parties.

[dkf]

20. You are right. The girlfriend is more at fault than the complex.

[dkf]

14. Not everyone living in an apartment has their name on the lease.

Like not all people who live in a home have their name on the mortgage/deed. Does this make landlords responsible to their neighbors for their tenants?

[flvegan]

16. Apples v oranges.

Landlords are liable to their other tenants and neighbors for those that reside on their property and damages that they may do, yes.

[Flying Squirrel]

22. My wife had that happen to her.

(The rape part, not the murder part).

After she had already been arrested for a DUI. She decided not to drive to the bar, but walk instead. So then she accepted a ride home from a stranger, which is when the rape occurred. She continued to drink, however, after the incident. It's my opinion that she was not in any way responsible for her rape - ALCOHOLISM was responsible for it, and the rapist was responsible for it.

I don't know if alcoholism was the case in the above instance, but tell me something - if the murderer had been drinking, would it be ok for him to put part of the blame on alcohol? I don't think that would fly. So why should it be ok to put part of the blame on the victim for drinking?