Cheerleader must compensate school that told her to clap 'rapist'

[Snooder]

Interestingly, after reading the Court of Appeals opinion on this, it seems like she really deserved the $45,000 hit.

Her suit was originally dismissed for 'failure to state a cause of action'. Which is legalese for "sucks for you, but what do you want us to do about it?" She was allowed the opportunity to fix the suit and try to find something that is actually an offense you can sue for. On revision, her claim was that she had a property interest in being a cheerleader, and by kicking her off the squad they were discriminating against her based on her gender. The court said "no, that's still not valid," and the suit got tossed out. Instead of understanding that no, being a cheerleader is not a constitutionally protected right, she decided to appeal. That's the point at which the Court of Appeals decided to assign costs.

Another interesting note is that she also sued the prosecutor assigned to her case because, and i'm quoting here "Specifically, they argue that subsequent to the grand jury?s decision not to indict Rountree and Bolton, Sheffield ?defamed? H.S. in a press conference and illegally revealed details of the indictment hearing." Suing the prosecutor for "not doing his job well enough" is almost NEVER a good idea, and is usually a sign of douchebaggery.

 

[Xaio30]

*Head desk, desk, desk, DESK, DEEEESK!!*

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?

 

[theNater]

There's nothing unfair about her having to pay it back. What's not fair is the fact that she had to sue because she used her right. I am not sure if you are aware of how the law works, but the rule with the highest priority is the one you're supposed to follow. If you break one rule, but can counter that and back it up with a law the law is rated more important than the rule. If the law is broken because of a rule, that is invalid as long as you have signed a contract saying you waive that law. If this is the case here, then she is guilty and should be kicked of the squad. I have no information that she did. Also as I said thousand times in my post it's a public school. State law rules public schools. She was punished for not doing her duty, true, but she was using her rights.

By this argument, she has the right to not cheer at all, and remain on the cheer squad. Do you believe that is appropriate?

If she was Muslim should she be kicked off for not eating pork when they told her to eat pork?

Kicked off a cheer squad? No.
Kicked off a hot-dog eating team, when the pork in question is the hot dogs at a competition? Absolutely.

Where do you think it should stop?

Precisely where the refusal to engage in the activity does not explicitly prevent her from fulfilling her duties as part of the team.

 

[JMeganSnow]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/rape-high-school-cheerleader-vows-fight-school-district/story?id=11972052&page=1

Two grand juries had previously refused to indict either boy.

Bolton, indicted by the third grand jury on felony sexual assault of a minor, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault.

Rape and sexual assault are two completely different charges though.

This is a better article, but it still makes way too many assertions without giving factual information. It took a year to process the rape kit, they say . . . but they don't say whether the evidence was positive or negative, or even whether they were unable to find out. They report her version of what happened at the party as factual, without giving any other version.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Here is a question, WHY IS THE RAPIST STILL ON ANY TEAM AND NOT IN JAIL??!? This situation should not even be happening...or is it just me?

This. So much this.

I have no words.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Bolton, indicted by the third grand jury on felony sexual assault of a minor, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault.

Rape and sexual assault are two completely different charges though.

Pardon me for saying, but isn't the third juries decision paedophilic molestation? Given she was a minor?

I'd also argue entrapment on the part of the school if they were asking her to do something in a case they must have been ware of.

But, in the end, that's a hell of a PR hit that that school is gonna take at their next game.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

By this argument, she has the right to not cheer at all, and remain on the cheer squad. Do you believe that is appropriate?

Yes.

When I was in high school, and I was in the Pep Band, I would sometimes not play my instrument (usually because I was eating candy). As long as enough other people had the part covered, no one much cared. I sometimes covered for other band-mates while they snacked.

It's a high school club, not a paid job. Why wouldn't she have the right to sit out one cheer?

 

[jumjalalabash]

Here is a question, WHY IS THE RAPIST STILL ON ANY TEAM AND NOT IN JAIL??!? This situation should not even be happening...or is it just me?

This. So much this.

I have no words.

Because he didn't touch her... Its an assault charge meaning he could have been reported for something he said alone.

 

[artanis_neravar]

By this argument, she has the right to not cheer at all, and remain on the cheer squad. Do you believe that is appropriate?

Yes.

When I was in high school, and I was in the Pep Band, I would sometimes not play my instrument (usually because I was eating candy). As long as enough other people had the part covered, no one much cared. I sometimes covered for other band-mates while they snacked.

It's a high school club, not a paid job. Why wouldn't she have the right to sit out one cheer?

Because it's a competitive club, just like a sport. If I sat out of a meet for any reason other than I blew out my shoulder then I would be kicked of the team.

 

[DarkRyter]

She must have had one really shitty lawyer.

 

[Kryzantine]

What happens if she wins and her point is taken? Cheerleaders would be able to propagate almost any message they want about the people they are "cheering" on, without the risk of losing their status as a cheerleader. That's one hell of a dangerous precedent. That would apply to a host of other settings where this would be abused far too much. It could even lead to scenarios where people are legally protected from being fired for expressing negative opinions of someone, and that "expression" includes flat-out not working.

Demanding reparations from her and her family is just plain wrong, though. Demand reparations from their legal office. Their lawyer was the one who took the damned case he would never win. If anyone's the idiot here, it's him.

And I will say this. This isn't really a student's rights case, and it shouldn't be treated as one. It's a workplace case. You can take this same exact scenario to professional cheerleading; and suddenly, the cheerleader seems like the bad person. The female in question does not have to be on her school's cheerleading squad. If she is being harassed in school, and the school won't do anything about it, that's another case entirely, but she might have the possibility of transferring to another school, I dunno. I don't know if she can. But her actions that night are not constitutionally protected, nor should they be. It would be a completely different story if she wasn't a cheerleader and the school told her, as a student, to cheer for him. She would have a point there, it would be a student's rights case, and it would be a slam dunk in the federal circuit. But that's not what happened.

Morally, yeah, maybe it sucks that she couldn't do anything in that situation, but she wasn't placed into that situation by the school. She put it on herself.

 

[jedizero]

The thing is, you're only hearing it from one side.

What if the guy was innocent? What if this was all just a way to get back at him for something?
In which case this is all just causing people to raeg over something fake.

Though apparently that's what a lot of people like to do.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Here is a question, WHY IS THE RAPIST STILL ON ANY TEAM AND NOT IN JAIL??!? This situation should not even be happening...or is it just me?

Because the charge of rape was dropped and downgraded to simple assault. He got two years probation and community service. He also wasn't the only one arrested, there were two others charged with rape but the article doesn't say what happened to them. Is he still scum, yeah he is and I don't blame her for not wanting to cheer for him.

Did it warrant a lawsuit, no not really. In a few years it won't matter beans if she was on the cheerleading squad in high school. Yeah it sucks that she got kicked off and I totally side with her about it being wrong, but you take a risk when you bring a lawsuit against anyone. As I learned in my High School civics class when you are a student or teacher on a public government run campus or are attending one of their functions; the first amendment does not apply to you.

I'm dead serious about that too, there was a book in the library about the various rights afforded to facult/staff and students when participating in the public school system. In not so many words it basically said certain parts of the constitution do not apply on a public school campus.

Before you ask, no I don't remember the name of the book but I'm sure if you run a google search for the rights given to teachers and student in the public school system you'll find what I'm talking about.

 

[Brinnmilo]

Although I think that taking them to court was bloody daft, that it would have been much more effective to play the underdog and let the media whip up a storm of controversy, the town (and indeed the school and coach) has cast a damning light on itself as a community that will willingly support a rapist over the rapist's victim purely for athletic prowess. As if this slight physical skill some how acquits him of his crime and even places him in position of higher standing than his victim.

 

[funguy2121]

However, I find it odd that all of these blogs assume that she was raped, when in our court system and in yours, innocent until proven guilty is the law of the land, in principal if not always in practice. If he did rape her I'd be happy knowing that he would spend the rest of his life in prison, but we don't know that he raped her. We only know that these blogs say he did, and that they concede through their wording that this is an assumption.

It's common sense. He was convicted of assault. Why else would they be beating up a girl.

"Beating up" and "raping" - not the same offense, at all. That's why they're two separate criminal charges. Also, people are wrongfully convicted every day. Because someone was convicted of 1 crime does not mean that they committed another. This would be what you refer to as common sense (which is a myth anyway).

 

[PatSilverFox]

see this is why we need capital punishment in town squares, a man rapes a woman and gets his wang cut off - case closed

instead we have a retarded justice system that allows criminals to get away with this kind of crap

my rant..

It used to be a woman gets raped, she is killed.
I think things have improved.

 

[claymoreguy18]

Thats.... I don't even know. Ridiculous? ludicrous? I can't think of a word that could adequately describe this scenario.

 

[clipse15]

words

Oh. No. Mistakes are fine. Drop a cup? It's okay. Lock us out of the house? Oh well. It happens. Ruin my new shirt? Damn. It's okay though. Mistakes happen. You don't accidentally force someone to have sex with you, however. There is no 'opps'; it's a calculated choice. Hell, I'd gladly end the life of a rapist with my own hands. I see no foul in removing a flea from a dog.

I guess we must disagree.

That's why you're so narrow-minded on this topic. You don't consider the realities of human life. Rape often isn't so black and white. Life itself isn't black and white.

Give me an example where consent would be ambiguous - and intoxication doesn't count. It's called "Informed consent" for a reason, they have to have a reasonable level of awareness to them.

Why on Earth wouldn't intoxication count? Two people, male and female both end up drunk and have sex. That right there is ambiguous consent.

 

[JJMUG]

Because a woman can pretty much decide she was raped, it means a lot of men would get killed for no reason.

Men are raped too. The fact you appear to not understand this weakens your opinion on the subject greatly and renders your post moot.

Not in the U.S.
For UCR reporting purposes, can a male be raped?

No. The UCR Program defines forcible rape as ?The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will? (p. 19). In addition, ?By definition, sexual attacks on males are excluded from the rape category and must be classified as assaults or other sex offenses depending on the nature of the crime and the extent of injury? (p. 20). An aggravated assault is a Part I offense and would be reported on the Return A form. (A simple assault is a Part II offense but also would be reported on the Return A form.) Sex offenses qualify as Part II offenses and would be reported on the appropriate Age, Sex, and Race of Persons Arrested form (pp. 96 and 142).
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/frequently-asked-questions/ucr_faqs#specifics