Reporting rape

Editor’s note: University of Idaho student Margaret has asked that her last name not be used to protect her identity. 

Margaret didn’t think he was that drunk. She was at a friend’s house during the summer at a party. She felt completely comfortable and had spent most of the summer crashing on the couch after long nights. After a long night of drinking, everyone started heading home. Her friend and her friend’s boyfriend were in the next room. Margaret took her familiar spot on the couch to sleep the night off.

Another apartment frequenter was on the other couch in the room. He asked her if she was still awake, and they started talking. They shared a brief impersonal history, though he didn’t remember who she was.

“After a while he came to my couch,” Margaret said. “Then everything he said started being weird and perverse and I wanted him to go away. Then he said basically ‘I want to fuck your brains out’ so he tried to kiss me and I jumped away.”

He had ahold of her wrists, and she thought throwing him off would make him go back to his couch and go to sleep.

“In my drunken stupidity, I thought he would stop,” she said. “I grabbed my purse and ran to the door. He followed and grabbed my wrists and pinned me against the wall.”

She said he proceeded to make advances at her, so she tried to punch him, but he still had her wrists firmly grasped.

“Because he had my wrists, he threw my head against the wall,” she said. “Then I was falling but thought ‘you need to get out of there,’ so I stood up and was able to get out of his grasp and out the front door.”

But she forgot her phone and went back to grab it. She said she thought he might have returned to the couch, but was still up and advancing toward her. So she jumped off the apartment’s balcony.

“It was the second floor, but the grass sloped so it was less than half a story,” she said.

She thought she could do it because she had been there so frequently and had previously wondered if she could jump off the balcony.

Once landing, she got in her car and left. These events all occurred in about 20 minutes, around 4 a.m., Margaret recalled. She said she texted her friends inside and told them to call the police if he was still there.

The next day was the Fourth of July, so Margaret said she had things to do all day, but noticed herself feeling off.

“I spent the whole day shaking and not into anything,” she said. “I was tired but didn’t feel like sleeping.”

She decided to report the incident to the police because if it had been anyone else he advanced on — because she is fairly athletic — she was sure he would have succeeded in raping them.

“If I reported it he’d have a record at least,” she said.

The invasiveness of the procedures for rape charges lead many victims to leave their crimes unprosecuted or unreported to law enforcement. In 2011, there were seven forcible rapes reported to the police department, but 30 reported to Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse according to Bekah MillerMACphee, volunteer intern coordinator for ATVP. Twenty-one have been reported so far this year, and the official number reported to the police department was unavailable.

For many, ATVP is a first contact that offers emotional support and guidance for the next step.

“When someone contacts us because of sexual assault we meet them at the hospital because if a sexual assault is reported we are contacted by the hospital and we always show up so they can start working with us,” MillerMACphee said. “Other times we get them from the hotline. We do a lot of referrals and provide information for people to report to law enforcement, but if people don’t want to we definitely work with them anyway.”

MillerMACphee said ATVP provides support groups and one-on-one advocacy during the entire process.

“If they do decide to report we can go with them to the interview and if it goes to court we can go with them for support,” MillerMACphee said.

Rod Hall, City of Moscow prosecuting attorney, said some victims are afraid to face their rapist in trial, but others fear that nothing will come of their efforts to charge their rapist.

Lt. James Fry of MPD said reporting any incident is what is most important.

“I can always tell you they will be investigated and looked into and there will be tough cases that are hard to prove but if we don’t have the information to prove then we can’t do anything to stop them,” Fry said. “A couple of years ago, a few individuals kept coming up in reports and they were removed from the university. Even if we may not get a rape charge, the lesser charge will get them removed from the university.”

MillerMACphee said while people may report to ATVP, personal reasons may lead them to opt out of informing law enforcement.

“Sometimes people are really scared of retaliation from the perpetrator,” MillerMACphee said. “Working with the system can be frustrating, but the whole process can be daunting. A sexual assault case can be hard to build because there is not a lot of evidence. It’s just frustrating if you’re going through the process and reliving the experience is frustrating and exhausting.”

Process
Margaret went through the basic elements to file a charge with police, but Fry said the process takes much longer for a rape charge.

“We typically like them to go to Gritman and then they will call the on-call lieutenant,” Fry said. “Most of the time they end up calling me because I am the lieutenant over the detectives and I will decide whether a detective will come to Gritman to start the interview and collect evidence.”

Fry said the victim meets with a sexual assault nurse and ATVP at Gritman to start dealing with the situation. In the case of rape, the meeting includes a full body examination and internal and external swabbing.

“Typically I like to sit down and interview the victim with the SAN and ATVP nurses with us,” Fry said. “This allows the nurses to hear the victim talk about if certain things occurred — if she needs to collect evidence from the young lady’s or male’s body. They go in for the exam, collect evidence and bring it to us.”

Fry said at that point police can determine if there is a crime scene to close down.

“It depends on how far the attacker went, for a lot of them a patrol officer handles it,” Fry said. “Sometimes it depends on if we have enough evidence.”

After getting a statement and collecting evidence from the victim, police interview the defendant and collect bodily evidence from them if necessary. At this point, police begin filing a report.

Once the police finish the report, the decision to file a charge is in the prosecuting attorney’s hands and the decision depends on the amount of evidence.

“That’s why the most important thing is that they go to Gritman so we have evidence as soon as possible to strengthen the case,” Fry said.

Hall said charges depend on evidence, but was unable to comment on how many rape charges actually see trial.

“It depends on what the facts are, what they can remember and what the defendant says,” Hall said. “It’s usually only two people involved so it’s ‘he says’ versus ‘she says.’ Usually alcohol is a factor so that makes it harder. A lot of the story will change with memories coming back and that causes a problem.”

Charges
Hall said battery is a common charge when rape cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Probable cause is an easy standard, but to be convicted you need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt which is held to a higher standard,” Hall said.

Margaret’s attacker’s charge started as battery but was dropped to disturbing the peace. Hall said instances like this could be due to lack of evidence or conflicting stories after the police interviewed the defendant.

“I’m definitely still glad I reported it, but angry for a couple of reasons,” she said. “A, because it took so long, and B, I got a disturbing the peace for a noise complaint and I got the same fine. Knowing the difference in the charges first-hand is annoying and (my charge) was carried out much quicker. That’s also kind of infuriating.”

Her attacker received a $250 fine — the same Margaret received for playing her music too loud. Her trial also went much faster. She said she was in court within the week, whereas her attacker did not face a judge until September — more than two months later.

Lingering confusion with her case still exists. Despite Margaret’s effort to remain informed about the progress of her charges — and what Hall said is standard procedure to involve a victim in the proceedings as a witness — Margaret did not find out what happened to her attacker until research for this story began. While she said she is glad to know what actually happened, the culmination of events leaves her dissatisfied and frustrated with the judicial system.

She came out of the event with a divot over her right eyebrow and a few bruises, but Margaret said despite the results she is glad she reported the attack.

“I did it because if he tries again and a girl reports it that (the charge) helps,” she said. “That’s the main reason I reported it.”

Katy Sword can be reached at [email protected]

1 reply

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