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Jameis Winston Rape Case: What happened that night? What does it mean when the Attorney's Office does NOT take a case? Why would a victim be warned she will be Raked Over the Coals?

A new documentary, The Hunting Ground, is exploring the issue of rape on college campuses.
The woman whose accusations against Jameis Winston were met with anger and bullying speaks out in this movie, released next week.

The Effects of Acquaintance Rape on a typical person HERE
Not Believing Crime Victims HERE
and HERE
We must start open examination of the way the legal system
deals with this crime..
Look at the actual police reports in the Ben Roethlisberger case

The Jameis Winston Rape case began in December a year ago when a woman, a student at the Tallahassee university, reported she had been sexually assaulted.

 (She did not know who or where.) A month later she ID'd Winston.

The woman's family has said a detective warned her attorney that Tallahassee is a "big football town" and her life could be miserable if she pursued the case. 

Tallahassee Police Department Interim Chief Tom Coe told reporters this week that the accuser "broke off contact" with them in February and didn't want to go forward with the case.

The story became public when some media outlets put in public records requests for the alleged victim's complaint. Tallahassee police have released a heavily redacted incident report documenting a sexual assault allegation in early December 2012.

(this according to CNN)

The family of the woman has blasted the police investigation.

According to ESPN,  (see article below) there will be no charges filed against Football player Jameis Winston.
 The attorney's office stated that "We have a duty as prosecutors to determine if each case has a reasonable likelihood of conviction," Meggs said. "After reviewing the facts in this case, we do not feel that we can reach those burdens."

This standard is true for all cases. Even when many people connected to a case think someone is guilty (like certain murders connected with organized crime for example), if the state does not feel they can make the case and have a pretty good shot at conviction, they do not take the case forward. Many times police and attorneys feel sure the crime was committed by the accused. But being overworked, overbooked and needing to focus on winnable cases, they decline to take the case.
THE ONLY THING not taking a case means for sure generally, is that there is not overwhelming evidence.

remember: Rape cases rarely have overwhelming evidence, particularly when acquaintances are involved. This is because the evidence of the crime is so similar to behavior that is not a crime-- the only difference is "consent"
-
(Even "stranger" rape cases are defended by stating that the victim was nice to the accused.)

After the State Attorney Willie Meggs made the statement above, the lawyer for the accused immediately tries to fool people by suggesting that since they could not go forward with charges, his client has been found innocent. The wording is pure lawyerese. see snip below


Video here: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10082441/jameis-winston-not-charged-sexual-assault-investigation


If we assume that no one knows if a rape occurred in this case or not, except the two parties involved, this development does not help us in knowing. The reason: many rapes are not prosecuted.

Please consider this scenario: 

A woman has a couple drinks at a party. She chats with a guy, and he tries to kiss her while they are on the dance floor. She declines, and says she is not interested. They continue drinking and moving about the party. She either drinks too much (or is drugged, which state attorney's offices say is quite common now days) and feels sick, goes to a quiet room to lie down. She wakes up with the guy's penis inside her, he ejaculates as she tries to move away, and he leaves.

Where is the evidence of rape?

Please tell me, WHERE is the evidence of rape?

Most typically: The evidence will be her word. That's all she will have.
Here is one account of the night of the event:

The woman who claims she was raped by Florida State QB Jameis Winston says they were boozing at a local bar before the incident ... and she had 5 or 6 shots, this according to police documents.

According to a search warrant affidavit, the woman told cops she "began to feel the effects of the drinks" and was then whisked to a nearby apartment, where she was raped.

According to the affidavit, “[the accuser] then remembers entering an apartment on the ground floor.  She remembers the male taking off her clothes then engaging in penile/vaginal sex with her as she told him to stop and tried to fight him off.”

Cops said in the affidavit ... at some point during the incident, another black male with dreadlocks came into the room and told the man to stop ... at which point he took the accuser into a nearby bathroom where he "completed the act."

Cops say the woman contacted police within an hour of the alleged rape -- but claim the accuser was so drunk at the time, she was "unable to tell a detective where the incident occurred."

She had only "hazy recollections of details after that," the cops said.

It wasn't until roughly 5 weeks after the incident that the woman first identified Winston as her attacker.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/12/05/jameis-winston-rape-case-accuser-shots-bathroom-affidavit-bar-drunk/#ixzz2meOxSvSX

The statement released to the Times by Patricia Carroll, the unnamed alleged victim's family attorney, accuses the Tallahassee Police Department of failure to fully follow up on the initial rape complaint; prematurely and unilaterally alerting Winston's attorney and Florida State campus police to the situation; and painting a foreboding picture of the potential fallout from accusing a Seminoles football player of sexual assault.
"We requested assistance from an attorney friend to interact with law enforcement on the victim's behalf," the statement said. "When the attorney contacted Detective [Scott] Angulo immediately after Winston was identified, Detective Angulo told the attorney that Tallahassee was a big football town and the victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable."  article

snip:

Meggs and his office had been investigating the case for the past three weeks, and they interviewed the accuser about two weeks ago. Last month, ESPN.com reported that DNA found in the woman's underwear matched Winston's. His attorney, Tim Jansen of Tallahassee, said Winston had consensual sex with the woman. But the woman's attorney, Patricia Carroll of Tampa, Fla., said Winston raped her 19-year-old client, who withdrew from classes after the allegations resurfaced in media reports last month.

"We have a duty as prosecutors to determine if each case has a reasonable likelihood of conviction," Meggs said. "After reviewing the facts in this case, we do not feel that we can reach those burdens."

While the case could be reopened if new evidence is found, Meggs indicated that he "had no earthly idea what that would be."

Carroll released a statement shortly after Meggs spoke.

"The victim and her family appreciate the state attorney's efforts in attempting to conduct a proper investigation after an inordinate delay by the Tallahassee Police Department," the statement said. "The victim in this case had the courage to immediately report her rape to the police and she relied upon them to seek justice. The victim has grave concerns that her experience, as it unfolded in the public eye and through social media, will discourage other victims of rape from coming forward and reporting."

After hearing Meggs' decision, Jansen said of his client: "He's absolutely innocent, and I'm glad and pleased that Willie did a full investigation and found the same thing we did. There's no evidence. He could not go forward with any charges."

The Real Santa, Love, (Christmas stories redux)

What makes Santa Claus Real?

The Real Santa by Mary Todd

Christmas Approaches by mary todd

 Don't let anyone tell you

that love has no trials.

Love is what is left after the trauma; pain, suffering,

sacrifice; wounds which seem to be unbearable,

heartbreak which seems to wend its way deeper and

deeper into

one's heart.

I know that the Power of Love exceeds all things.

Love allows Hope to live and Faith to endure.

So when the dark comes, say hello; this trial will pass.

When it seems as if you will die of sorrow, allow reason to rest.

Peacefully Go to the Center of Sorrows.

Love will bring you back

The real santa by mary todd

Weakness or Strength?

Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your biggest strength. Take, for example, the story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally asked, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move I know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm." The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength. Shalom u'vracha!

You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single focus on the Lord's glory. As a Christian, you are "from him and through him," and so you must live "to him." Do not let anything set your heart beating so fast as love for Him. Let this ambition fire your soul; may this be the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow cold. Make God your only object. Depend upon it-where self begins, sorrow begins; but if God is my supreme delight and only object,



Love Endures All Things                

At a fundraising dinner
for a school that serves children with learning disabilities,
the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

Snow Cats HERE

 After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection..Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:
Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play.. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field.. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game......
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!
Run to first!'
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball .. the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!
Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Love and Mrs. Leonard

I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started to go to school, my classmates - who were constantly teasing - made it clear to me how I must look to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and hollow and somewhat garbled speech. I couldn't even blow up a balloon without holding my nose, and when I bent to drink from a fountain, the water spilled out of my nose. When my schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I'd tell them that I'd fallen as a baby and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. By the age of seven I was convinced that no one outside my own family could ever love me. Or even like me. And then I entered the second grade, and Mrs. Leonard's class. I never knew what her first name was - just Mrs. Leonard. She was round and pretty and fragrant, with chubby arms and shining brown hair and warm dark eyes that smiled even on rare occasions when her mouth did not. Everyone adored her. But no one came to love her more than I did. And for a special reason.

The time came for t;he annual "hearing tests" give at our school. I was barely able to hear anything out of one ear, and was not about to reveal yet another problem that would single me out as different. And so I cheated. I had learned to watch other children and raised my hand when they did during group testing. The "whisper test" however, required a different kind of deception: Each child would go to the door of the classroom, turn sideways, close one ear with a finger, and the teacher would whisper something from her desk, which the child would repeat. Then the same thing was done for the other ear. I had discovered in kindergarten that nobody checked to see how tightly the untested ear was being covered, so I merely pretended to block mine. As usual, I was last, but all through the testing I wondered what Mrs. Leonard might say to me. I knew from previous years that she whispered things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?" My turn came up. I turned my bad ear to her, plugging up the other solidly with my finger, then gently backed my finger out enough to be able to hear. I waited and then the words that God had surely put into her mouth, seven words that changed my life forever. Mrs. Leonard, the pretty , fragrant teacher I adored, said softly, "I wish you were my little girl"

Some people understand life better, And they call some of these people "retarded"...

At the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash.

At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win.
All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry.
The other eight heard the boy cry.
They slowed down and looked back.

Then they all turned around and went back......
every one of them.
One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line.
Everyone in the stadium stood, the cheering went on for several minutes.

People who were there are still telling the story........

Why? Because deep down we know this one thing:
What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.
"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"

The Sweetest Santa by mary todd

Burning Hut
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and in which to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

The weary man asked his rescuers: "How did you know I was here?"
They replied: "We saw your smoke signal."
It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, the next time your little hut is burning to the ground -- it just may be the smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

Now that my house has been burned down,

I have an unobstructed view of the rising moon.

Traditional Buddhist wisdom.

A Beautiful Santa Claus (the real santa by mary todd)

not the real santa

The Real Santa by Mary Todd

 The Power of Love Exceeds All Things.

Sweetest Santa by Mary Todd

found this HERE

DO NOT JUDGE (Writer Unknown)
Pray don't find fault with the man who limps
Or stumbles along the road,
Unless you have worn the shoes he wears
Or struggled beneath his load.

There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
Though hidden away from view,
Or the burden he bears, placed on your back

Might cause you to stumble, too.
Don't sneer at the man who's down today,
Unless you have felt the blow
That caused his fall, or felt the same
That only the fallen know.
You may be strong, but still the blows
That were his, if dealt to you,
In the self-same way at the self-same time
Might cause you to stagger, too.
Don't be too harsh with the man who sins,
Or pelt him with words or stones,
Unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure,
That you have no sins of your own.
For you know, perhaps if the tempter's voice
Should whisper
as soft to you
As it did to him
when he went astray,
'Twould cause you to falter, too.

Your Brain

Haiku

do you feel FREE to express yourself?

more on free speech

live birdSongs

what a wonderful world

A speedbump in the road...

the chances that the witnesses to jfk's murder would be dead within 3 years are like, 100 trillion to one... (toward the end of video) if you can watch this entire video and then email or tell me something you think, i am interested in hearing it.

i found 27:00 to 40:00 particularly interesting...