- WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
- The alleged sexual assault took place outside of this bank on Court Street last weekend.
Athens County prosecutors announced on Monday that no charges will be filed in the Ohio University street sex case because neither the accused nor the victim can actually remember what happened that night.
Since neither party can accurately confirm or deny the evening’s events, an Athens grand jury could not find probable cause for the crime, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said that while the public sex was “not appropriate,” the grand jury found that it was not rape.
The Dispatch has posted a full account of the night’s events, as told by Blackburn. (A.M.)
***
This controversial story has garnered another unsettling notch in its belt.
The Athens Messenger reports that soon after the photos went viral online, another female student was incorrectly identified as the woman in the video via rampant social media posts. The newspaper reports that this woman has had to shut down her own social media accounts and file a harassment complaint.
The original sexual assault report is still being investigated.
***
Originally posted Oct. 16
Pretty disturbing news outta Athens, Ohio, this morning: After a female student filed a rape complaint Sunday, photos and at least one video surfaced of the alleged sexual assault taking place on Court Street.
Here’s the gist, courtesy of the student-run newspaper The Post:
She claims the man involved was a stranger, according to the report, which states the incident occurred on South Court Street between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday.
The narrative stated the student, 20, reported to police that she had nonconsensual sexual conduct with a male. Alcohol is believed to have been involved.
This morning, digital rags like Gawker and BuzzFeed began sharing the social media posts from the incident.
Interestingly, OU students gathered Friday afternoon for the F@#K RAPE CULTURE rally uptown. The goal of the event was to push the university to reform its handling of rape complaints and sexual harassment charges.
This article appears in Oct 23-29, 2013.
They posed for pictures afterward. My guess: She’s ashamed of participating and changed her mind when the photos went viral.
@sherlock, people like you are the reason women are afraid to come forward after a rape. Judgement like this is a failure in the reform at OU.
I think both of them were drunk out of their minds. How can you then assign guilt to one and not the other. According to bystanders, she was enjoying the activity, and they posed for photos and even left together. Perhaps she didn’t remember what happened, but she didn’t report anything until after being shown the pictures. Poor judgment on the part of BOTH parties. If anything, both should be charged with public indecency.
She was passed out and he propped her up in public and was going down on her. That is how you assign blame. I don’t care how drunk you are, if you are sexually molesting an unconscious person, you KNOW better.
She didn’t pose for pics, in those pics she is unconscious
That’s weird Misty as she is coherent enough to wave to the camera in the videos that have been posted, posed for pictures and talked to bystanders afterwards.
More examples of BLAMING WOMEN FOR RAPE. MEN need to stop raping women. Period. This is the man’s problem. No one deserves to be raped. God people are so stupid.