Back in early 2008, I began following the story of a group of women who had all been druggesd & raped by the same man. The women were all strangers, most or all of them met him through Match.com & their stories were striking similar, nearly identical in fact. Yet even after 2 trials & more than 20 accusers, Jeffrey Marsalis has kept beating the odds to the extent of establishing phenomenal odds of his own.
This very informative 2008 MSNBC article describes one victim who was raped a second time without being drugged; a neighbor who just blurted out to the police that he had drugged & raped her when they showed up at the building; And one woman who was saving her virginity for marriage but inexplicably blacked out during their date & woke up during the rape. Yet he was acquitted on all counts.
Something of a svengali, Marsalis had an ace in the hole with his date-rape drugs: The woman would awaken with no clear memory of what happened & many of them kept in contact with him in some way, muddled by their confusion of the unknown events or even as a way to glean information about the hole in their memory. The ongoing platonic contact post-rape went a long way toward the acquittal & since none of the 3 victims had had toxicology testing done, the prosecution couldn't prove that he had drugged anyone.
Police had been building a new case against him during the trial so his victims were at least fortunate enough to see him immediately arrested in the courtroom as soon as the acquittal was announced. The second trial had seven victims testifying but the entire defense strategy was a bland & nonchalant insistence that all the women lacked credibility. Sad but true in our society, rape cases are more about what the victim did to expose herself to harm than the illegal actions of the criminal himself. It's frightening to imagine in 21st century America but very true, especially here in Pennsylvania. MSNBC reports that PA law prohibits expert testimoney regarding victims actions. Advocate groups point out that jurors, courts & even law enforcement may read a lot into the victims actions, demeanor, decision on when (or if) to report the incident & more.
There are recognized fields of expertise that can explain how a broken woman is able to testify as a composed, determined person, even though she's terrified of being in the same room with the rapist, broken, still suffering physical or emotional fallout, etc.; But juries aren't allowed to hear this & as a result, many believe that witness who don't appear as victims on the stand will not be believed. Perhaps the nail in the coffin of many unsuccessful prosecutions is a ridiculous law that requires jury instructions to include any delay on the part of the victim in reporting the assault.
Although the second trial found him acquitted on the most serious charges, he was found guilty of sexually assaulting 2 women. He was later tried in Idaho for the drug rape of a lesbian who adamently testified that she wouldn't have slept with him willingly. The Idaho jury sentenced him to life in prison even though all information about the crimes & trials in Philadelphia were barred from the Idaho courtroom. There's a great ABC News story piece which details the Idaho case & brings us current on the entire saga.
This monster is safely behind bars for at least the next 21 years, but no thanks to Pennsylvania laws. We must tell our representatives that it's time to update our laws to reflect current practiced, procedures & prohibitions accepted by other courts in the nation. It's the only way to guarantee justice for many victims & ensure that the system doesn't simply assault them all over again.
No comments:
Post a Comment