It’s neither sad nor true. This system is the best in the world. As a defense lawyer you have to go with what you’ve got and if you were arrested you certainly wouldn’t want your lawyer to tell you, “well let me ask the victim if this defense is ok.” You zealously represent your client within the bounds of ethics and the law, period. I am so tired of all this victim’s rights bs. Look at Duke lacrosse. What if their lawyer was like, well damn, this looks bad, forget it guys, let’s plead guilty.
Now in the instant case, yes, it looks very bad, but then this is the only thing the lawyer could do. So the system will likely work and they will go down swinging, as it should be.
BS.
There have been many cases (usually rape-related) where the victims have been vilified, and it's been going on for years. Victims have had to fight and claw for any rights at all. We bend over backwards in this country for the alleged criminals.
This case is nothing like the Duke case. That was a witch-hunt extraordinaire perpetrated by political motivations on the part of a DA. I was 100% on the side of the lacrosse players. How did I know they were innocent of the charges? Because they didn't argue that it was consensual sex. They said the sex never happened. That rarely happens when it comes to rape cases.
In this case, the defendants are arguing that the girl gave implied consent. However, she was too impaired to give consent, and there is plenty of evidence to support that.
I'm not suggesting that the young men involved don't deserve the best defense, but I am hoping that them blaming the victim here will backfire on them.
“Now in the instant case, yes, it looks very bad”
While I agree with your premise, what looks bad is a Black lawyer using nonsense before the court to get his Black rapist clients off! And I agree with the other posters who say that those who were “witnesses” should be prosecuted too.