So let's get this straight: Girl likes guy, girl agrees to go out with guy. Guy and girl engage in sex, which gets rough, and girl asks guy to stop and he doesn't. Girl breaks up with guy and stays the hell away from him. One month later boy rapes girl. Girl gets rape kit and presses charges. Girl is ordered to list by name, date and contact info any person she has ever had sexual relations with. (Objection: Relevance??)
Case is dismissed because Girl had at one time engaged in consensual sex with the Boy, and Girl is obviously not a virgin. Girl's evidence collected from rape kit is thrown out because lacerations and bruising could have occurred during shaving.(??) And moreover, since Girl can not remember the crime, most likely due to her theory of being drugged, there can be no witness to the crime. Judge dismisses case, but not before ordering the Girl to pay 150,000 for the Boy's court fees, and thanks Girl for wasting everyone's time.
So, if you intend to pursue a rape case in Georgia, prepare to have your sexual history paraded and scrutinized on the stand, despite the fact that it violates BOTH state and federal law.... And remember that if you have engaged in consensual sex at one point in your life, the state of Georgia, who I can only guess is taking their logic from the School of Phyllis Schlafly, will only see you as a ho.The judge found that since Ross and Day had previously had a sexual relationship, Ross should have known her claims were "frivolous... there was no reasonable belief that a court would accept Plaintiff's claims..."
The nightmare of this case, for Melanie Ross and for all future rape victims in Georgia, is that she was forced to discuss in elaborate detail her sexual past, and then she had her claims dismissed in part because she wasn't a virgin. Moreover, not only did Ross lose her case, the judge fined her $150,000 for bringing it in the first place - a fee sure to dissuade other victims from coming forward with their own claims. This case is currently being appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia, which can choose to hear it or not - let's hope they right this wrong before it hurts more victims.
Via Feministing
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