It was one night
Mary Leonard
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Redemption
After being suspended, Jane had a lot of free time on her hands. She decided self-loathing was beneath her and decided to put her energy toward moving forward with her life. She would be going to college in the fall and soon none of this would matter. Jane began going to yoga every day, going to church to reconnect with God, and spending as much time as she could with her family. However, losing all her friends before they were all about to start a new chapter in their lives was hard to overlook.
She said it took a few months of some serious self-reflection before she began to heal. This all became very easy after starting college. She made friends and new memories began to drown out the old.
She has triumphed over her past and has not let it define her future. Today, she is a licensed yoga instructor and going into her senior year of college. Soon, she will be graduated with a degree in psychology and hopes to get her master degree after that.
Guilty Before Proven Innocent
Although Jane was found innocent by the court, her peers weren’t so convinced. Vicky was very popular and had people’s respect. No one would think that she would make up something so heinous as to be raped by her best friend and her boyfriend.
Jane was shut out by a lot of her alleged friends, bullied maliciously on social media, and shamed by her city. Her school even felt that they couldn’t have an accused rapist attend there. She was suspended from school and banned from walking at graduation. She received her senior year book with no signatures in it, her cap and gown, and a simple “good luck” from her principal.
Devastated and ashamed of her mistake, Jane had never felt more isolated. She said, although what she endured was unbearable, the worst of it was the shame she put on her family. Her sister got made fun of and her parents’ abilities were questioned. “There’s nothing like the feeling of disappointing your parents and letting down your baby sister,” Jane said.
Jane got too drunk and made a stupid decision and it changed her entire world.
... a couple days after the encounter, Jane got a phone call from the police.
They briefly asked her some questions and then explained she would need to go to the police station that afternoon for questioning. Jane had her assumptions but wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. There was a pit in her stomach all day because she knew it had something to do with the sexual encounter. She went into the police station that night and was horrified at the thought that she was in trouble for something and that something had to do with her threesome with Jake and Vicky. The police befriended Jane at first; joking around with her and trying to gain her trust. They began questioning Jane about her relationship with Vicky and Vicky’s relationship with Jake, the boy involved in the threesome.
Jane had never been questioned by the police before and, only being 18, knew very little about the justice system. The police had made her believe everything would be fine and she wouldn’t get into trouble as long as she told them the truth about everything that happened that night.
So, Jane did. She explained how they were hanging out, had been drinking, and eventually things led to them having a threesome. The police began questioning Jake. They wanted to know if he had gotten them drunk and took advantage of them? Did he pressure them? What kind of guy he was? Why a 22-year-old man would want to date an 18-year-old? Had he ever been in trouble for sexual assault before?
Jane immediately began to defend her boyfriend; saying he was a good guy and he hadn’t done anything wrong. She explained they had all consented to what had happened and that it was just a drunk mistake.
At the time, she didn’t realize that by being honest with the police and defending her boyfriend she was criminalizing herself. She had chose to talk to the police without a lawyer present and, unintentionally, gave the cops exactly what they needed to arrest her and her boyfriend.
The next day, Jane was getting dressed for the day when the cops showed up at her door. They explained they had a warrant for her arrest and she was being charged with rape. Her bail was set at $25,000 and Jane had no idea how her parents would come up with that money. She thought she would have to stay a night in jail and for an 18-year-old that’s about as scary as it gets.
An extensive investigation took place. Jane’s, Jake’s, and Vicky’s phones were all looked through. They carefully read through text messages and examined photos taken that night. They found little to no evidence to corroborate Vicky’s story, which was that she had been forced into a threesome with Jane and Jake. During the trial, Jane’s lawyer also pointed out Vicky’s very peculiar history. She had accused two other boys of raping her, had been expelled from school and was forced to go to military school by her parents. The judge found that there was lack of evidence of an actual “rape” occurring this night, exonerating Jane. However, since Vicky was only 17, Jake was charged with statutory rape.
Vicky Patrina
...and when she was 18 she was accused of rape.
Jane grew up in a large city with her mom, dad, and younger sister. She went to a prestigious, private school where she had a serious boyfriend and a lot of great friends.
Her junior year a girl named Vicky transferred in from military school. She was beautiful and outgoing which got her a lot of attention. She soon became one of the most popular girls in school.
Jane, also being one of the popular girls, became Vicky’s best friend. They grew extremely close, almost instantly. Vicky became like part of the family. So much so that she would drive Jane’s sister to soccer practice and hang out with her parents when she wasn’t home.
