Criminal defense attorney Joseph DiBenedetto explains why a 14-year-old girl should have expected to be sexually assaulted.
If there's anything we can expect after hearing the news that a young girl has been raped, it's the accusation that she somehow wanted it, deserved it, or is lying about it.
The cases of Daisy Coleman and Paige Parkhurst—who were 14 and 13 respectively during their alleged attack in Maryville, MO last year—are sadly, no exception.
In this case, the accusations are coming from criminal defense attorney Joseph DiBenedetto, who this week appeared on Fox News to give his expert opinion on 14-year-old Daisy Coleman in particular, stating that "I'm not saying she deserved to be raped, but..." And so it begins...
DiBenedetto claims that Coleman is lying about being raped to cover up the fact that she snuck out of her bedroom to hang out with friends at 1am.
He brings up the fact that "nobody forced" the 14-year-old to drink alcohol that night, which is true, but DiBenedetto forgets a very important point: Choosing to drink isn't actually the same thing as consenting to sex.
And what's also true is that hours after the incident, Coleman's blood alcohol content was still so high and she was so incapacitated, she wasn't capable of giving consent under current Missouri laws. (Unfortunately, those laws were enacted in August of this year, meaning that Coleman's case can't be prosecuted under them.)
Finally, DiBenedetto asks, "What did she expect to happen at 1am after sneaking out?" The answer to that seems painfully obvious; when Coleman left her house to hang out with friends, she expected to hang out with friends—not get raped.
There are more counter-arguments to be made against the legal consultant's talking points, but Fox News' Sheperd Smith actually summed up DiBenedetto's argument quite artfully on his own. "What you’ve done, Joseph, is taken an alleged victim of rape and turned her into a liar and a crime committer. That’s a far jump from a 1,000 miles away."
(where do they find these people? and he likely procreates too.---alexis)
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