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Banned words debated in sex assault case ( Liberal Judge )
Lincoln Journal Star ^ | Jun 17, 2007 | CLARENCE MABIN

Posted on 06/19/2007 8:45:29 AM PDT by george76

Tory Bowen says she knows what happened to her ...

But she won’t be able tell her story to jurors... because a judge’s order bars witnesses from using words like “rape” and “sexual assault” in the trial of Pamir Safi, who is accused of sexually assaulting Bowen.

In my mind, what happened to me was rape,” said Bowen, 24. “I want the freedom to be able to point in court and say, ‘That man raped me.’”

Last month, Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront denied a motion by prosecutors that would have prohibited Safi’s attorneys from using words like “sex” and “intercourse” when describing the encounter between Safi and Bowen.

The Lancaster County Attorney’s Office had argued the words would imply Bowen consented to have sex.

Cheuvront also has sustained an earlier motion by defense attorneys barring the words “rape” and “sexual assault kit.”

In Bowen’s opinion, Cheuvront’s ruling means she will have to lie on the witness stand.

“The word ‘sex’ implies consent,” she said. “I never once would describe (what happened) as sex. He’s making me commit perjury.”

“I have a problem (with a judge) directing a witness, not the government, to say certain words. It impugns their candor, their credibility.”

Most of all, Murphy said, Bowen won’t be able to explain to jurors why she’s using clinical words — or, worse, words that imply consent — when she describes the encounter with Safi.

“Jurors will go back to their room and say, ‘She didn’t feel it was harmful. After all, she called it sex,’” Murphy said.

“It’s like saying to a robbery victim, ‘You can’t say you were robbed, because that’s a legal judgement. You can only say you gave your stuff to the defendant,’” she said. “That’s absurd.”

(Excerpt) Read more at journalstar.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: assailant; govwatch; judiciary; liberals; rape; sexualassault; sexualassaultkit; victim
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1 posted on 06/19/2007 8:45:32 AM PDT by george76
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To: george76

So what did happen?


2 posted on 06/19/2007 8:47:23 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: george76
But she won’t be able tell her story to jurors... because a judge’s order bars witnesses from using words like “rape” and “sexual assault” in the trial of Pamir Safi, who is accused of sexually assaulting Bowen.

there is more to this case...

3 posted on 06/19/2007 8:48:13 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: george76

There’s ways around it.


4 posted on 06/19/2007 8:48:32 AM PDT by wastedyears (Check my profile for links to anti-illegal immigration T-shirts.)
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To: george76

Safi and Bowen were strangers to each other when they met at a downtown Lincoln bar the night of Oct. 30, 2004. According to testimony from the first trial, the two had drinks and then left together after the bar closed at 1 a.m.

Bowen told an investigator the following day she could not remember most of the previous evening and that she did not willingly accompany Safi, according to a Lincoln Police report from November 2004.

She told the investigator she could only recall waking up in a strange apartment with an unknown man who was “having sexual intercourse with her.”

Now I ‘get it’.


5 posted on 06/19/2007 8:48:59 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: george76

I wish I could take a stick to the judge. Then later, I wish the police would refuse to allow the jolly jurist to describe himself getting sticked as “an attack” in their report. He could only describe it as “an encounter [with a stick]” or a “chance meeting [with a stick]”.


6 posted on 06/19/2007 8:49:24 AM PDT by Asclepius (protectionists would outsource our dignity and prosperity in return for illusory job security)
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To: george76

I wonder where the feminist groups are. Shouldn’t they be protesting this idiot judge’s ruling?


7 posted on 06/19/2007 8:50:02 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: george76

I have also begun to wonder if Mr. Safi is a practitioner of the ROP?

Deconstruction of the language - and the failure to have a national language - will destroy this country.


8 posted on 06/19/2007 8:51:32 AM PDT by trimom
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To: george76

Judge “Jeffre”! Puhleeze!


9 posted on 06/19/2007 8:51:41 AM PDT by acapesket (never had a vote count in all my years here)
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To: Badeye

” He raped her. “


10 posted on 06/19/2007 8:52:59 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

This judge seems to have been studying the vocabulary of bill clinton.


11 posted on 06/19/2007 8:55:29 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: 2banana; SJackson

More uncovered meat ?


12 posted on 06/19/2007 8:55:59 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

Did he? There has already been one hung jury.

Woman picks up a man in a bar, leaves willingly, goes to his home, and then claims ‘rape’?

I’d say its he said she said....and she should have known better. Not saying it wasn’t ‘rape’ as defined, just that this is going to be almost impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

I don’t see anything remotely construed as physical abuse, like bruises being referenced. Or scratches on either one of them.


13 posted on 06/19/2007 8:56:54 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: wastedyears
There’s ways around it.

Appeal the findings and order on the defense motion...
Put the lib judge on notice...

14 posted on 06/19/2007 8:57:54 AM PDT by Wings-n-Wind (The main things are the plain things!)
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To: Badeye

Just guessing : He could have used a date rape drug...

or she is a ...?


15 posted on 06/19/2007 8:58:42 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

just another example of how our judicial system has gone wrong. last night on o’reilly they were talking of a judge that gave a convicted rapist probation because he felt that he was depressed when he committed the crimes. people better wake up soon before it is too late, or is it to late already?


16 posted on 06/19/2007 9:00:56 AM PDT by tatsinfla
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To: george76

‘Just guessing : He could have used a date rape drug...’

Or she was buying her own drinks.....

‘or she is a ...?’

I won’t speculate. I just know if you pick a man up, go to his house, and then claim to ‘wake up to find him having sex’ with you....well, why did you go home with him, again?


17 posted on 06/19/2007 9:05:59 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: Badeye
Camille Paglia has had interesting things to say about these things. She doesn't excuse the man for his behavior, but she takes women to task for theirs. Drinking in a bar, leaving with a man, going to his apartment -- she thought nothing would happen? How about a little personal responsibility?

Now, if a date rape drug is detected, I think that absolves her to a large degree. But if she's simply drinking too much, blacking out, and winding up in bed with a stranger ... well ...

18 posted on 06/19/2007 9:07:19 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Enoch Powell was right.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Yep, I agree with Paglia.

If a date rape drug was present, that would have come out in the first trial. I also suspect the judge wouldn’t have insisted on these stringent rules of what can be stated, and what can’t.


19 posted on 06/19/2007 9:09:40 AM PDT by Badeye ("In 2 weeks, I join the list of UNEMPLOYED". ...Goldi-Lox (karma comes around))
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To: george76

Why doesn’t censorship apply? A government agent is restricting her speech.


20 posted on 06/19/2007 9:09:56 AM PDT by coloradan (Failing to protect the liberties of your enemies establishes precedents that will reach to yourself.)
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