Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again (Update- No Charges Filed)

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Report now that Big Ben alleges that the woman hurt her head when she fell after he deposited his DNA on her; um its plausible, but more than likely?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/10/report-roethlisberger-admitted-to-having-sexual-contact-with-alleged-victim/

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Enjoy the Dennis Dixon Era, Steeler fans.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Right now on ESPN.com their link reads "Roethlisberger Denies Sex To Police"
What, are they married?

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

QT, lets say he did drop a load on her (they also could be looking at saliva, spit, on her, right?), it seems very tough to do that and push her down to hit her head. Wouldn't there be added charges if he hit her or threw her to the ground like sexual assualt, battery and a few other things that I cannot think of.

Him having cops with him does make the situation any easier for the Georgia police. But his lawyer is only doing his job by telling him to hold onto his DNA and not talk anymore to the police.

You would think paying cops to travel with him would be enough to keep his big dumb ass out of trouble.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

In most jurisdictions, I think an injury in the course of the assault would elevate it from second-degree rape to first-degree rape.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

This latest bit of information actually does make me think you might be right. I always wondered if it was a bad sign that he was so close to Plaxico Burress when they were teammates. Who knew that Burress might turn out to be the smarter one in that friendship?

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Sounds more and more like this isn't going away easily, though I still wonder about proving the rape part.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

But rape is not on the table here. At least not so far.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Like any felony, it's tough to prosecute it. Contrary to popular opinion, rapes are prosecuted at just as successful a rate as most other felony crimes. I believe, however, that acquaintance rape is prosecuted at a lower rate than most felonies and stranger rape at a higher rate. I think that's true.

Anyway, traditionally, there are several elements that have to be proven:

1) Non-consent
2) Non-willingness
3) Use of force, i.e. either actual physical force or a reasonable inference on the part of the victim that physical harm was imminent. In the old days, women had to show that they physically resisted all the way to the end of the act, which is just tough to even get our modern heads around.

I don't know what the rape statute in Georgia says, but some jurisdictions - I know New Jersey is one, for example - have for all practical purposes gotten rid of force as a separate element. The sex itself now qualifies as enough physical "force." The problem with the requirement of added force was that it put the burden on the victim to show resistance as a means of proving force. This lightens the burden and also puts it on more even footing with other crimes of violence i.e. you don't have to prove resistance to a robbery, right? Of course, the flaw there is that there really isn't such a thing as consensual robbery, where there can be consensual sex, but I digress.

So anyway, that's what she's up against in trying to prove her case against him. If it seems like a he-said, she-said thing, it often certainly is. If you've ever followed rape trials at all, the two parties' version of what happened can be wildly divergent. To the point that there is no reasonable grounds to believe that two people are misinterpreting the same circumstances. Someone is clearly lying. Perhaps both of them. It's usually up to the jury to decide who.

Roethlisberger would not be able to enter her prior sexual conduct into evidence or cross-examine her about it, and that includes her behavior at the bar that night. An exception would be her behavior toward him specifically, as opposed to third-party patrons.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

When did the allegation upgrade to rape?

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Good point. The Georgia statute I found on a quickie Google search only refers to rape as penetration of the "female sex organ." From what I understand this is an accusation of coerced sexual contact, but not sexual intercourse, so it would be sexual battery.

As far as I'm aware the same factors are in place, however.

 

Re: Stillers Fans at DEFCON 1- Big Ben Accused Again

Not rape.