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

[i7omahawki]

Some folks are saying that she chose to be on the cheerleading team and so should've expected this but, to be honest, I think the victim should not be the one who is constrained.

She shouldn't have to stop doing something she enjoys because she doesn't want to clap for a rapist, the school should be looking out for her more than making sure their rapist b-ball player.

I would definately oppose giving that school any money whatsoever, if they value sports more than the safety of their students, they don't deserve any, much less the money of victims.

 

[Ketsuban]

I just read the rape charge was dropped after he got 2 years of probation, community service and went to anger management. And being a cheerleader means she has no free speach rights and what sounds like no humane rights? The fuck is wrong with people these days!

He pled guilty to misdemeanour sexual assault. The charge of rape was dropped. He was punished for the crime he was found guilty of, and then released. This is how justice works.

The ruling of the case in the news article was that when someone acts in the role of a cheerleader they aren't using THEIR right to free expression - they're using the school district's right to free expression, and the school district wants to disseminate support for its students. By refusing to participate she was (and this is the slightly dubious bit) curtailing the district's right to free expression.

The bit I really question is the frivolous-suit charge. That doesn't seem at all appropriate.

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

A retarded justice system punishes people for crimes they're found guilty of? I don't understand what you're saying.

 

[Naheal]

There are no words.

 

[Sharalon]

What is this I don't even... Wait, WHAT?

 

[Yokai]

...the FUCK?

She has to pay $45,000 because she didn't say his name? Because he raped her?

Sorry if I'm simply restating the obvious, but I'm having trouble here. How, in any form of democratic system, is this even remotely acceptable?

She rebelled against someone who did her every kind of wrong in a completely passive and harmless way, and she has to pay him money? What, did he claim crippling emotional damage because one person wouldn't congratulate his slimy ass for an unimpressive and pointless accomplishment?

I...fuck. I don't even know what to say here. Either some very important information is missing here or a couple of lawyers need to have a boot shoved so far up their ass they'll be coughing up hobnails. Son of a *****.

 

[Ketsuban]

She rebelled against someone who did her every kind of wrong in a completely passive and harmless way, and she has to pay him money?

No, she has to pay the school district money.

 

[LuckyClover95]

This is absolutely disgusting.

 

[Yokai]

She rebelled against someone who did her every kind of wrong in a completely passive and harmless way, and she has to pay him money?

No, she has to pay the school district money.

Yeah, I reread the article when I stopped bursting capillaries and noticed that. Doesn't make it any less appalling. The notion that cheerleaders surrender their right to free speech is fucking unbelievable. Christ on a bike.

 

[DeadEyeDragon]

I could understand her anger and refusal and disruption of the cheer and subsequent removal from the squad, but to fine her is just to much. It is only human that she would react like that, I mean she most likely saw it as celebrating a rapist. Also despite the claims that she could have quit on her own or moved away, isn't the victim entitled to trying to continue on in life without having to stop everything and cowering in fear? This is just few steps away from putting victims in jail because they got mad at the offender just because they couldn't cool off because of their memories of what was done to them. Ugh just when I tried to build up faith in justice.

 

[teebeeohh]

as much as i feel for that girl the moment you join a team or company or any institution at all you give up part of your rights if you value you membership. Keep a job is linked to you showing up and doing some work and if you talk shit about your company in front of outsiders you risk being fired too (laws might technically prohibit this but how hard is it to fire someone if you really want to). What happened to her is horrible but she must have known that there was the chance she might have to cheer for him and could have talked about that with the coach or a school counselor or something.

Despite this i still think the school was wrong, this sounds just too much like "forgive and forget as long as he rocks at shooting hoops"

 

[Dimitriov]

Okay so reading through that, the $45,000 comes from her having to reimburse to school for suits and appeals she brought against them and which she lost.

Lost becaue, while performing as a cheerleader girls and women apparently don't have the right to free speech.

That bold part right there is a far bigger issue if you ask me. I say she'd get much further if she were to appeal this new rooling based on the fact that one of her basic rights was being violated.

Unless there is some sort of epic fine print contract that high school cheerleaders sign (akin to non-disclosure agreements) that I am unaware of?

Why would freedom of speech extend to a voluntary activity you put yourself in? Just because you have the right of free speech doesn't mean you have the right for it to be free of consequences. You have the right to call your boss a fuckhead in the middle of a business meeting, and you would have no recourse under free speech when you were fired. The cheerleading team would have been a voluntary association - if she had been yelling out racial slurs and offensive language rather than keeping silent, do you believe the team still shouldn't have the right to remove her?

A lot of people in this thread have a fundamantal misunderstanding of how the law works.

And how US freedom of speech works. I'm Australian and it appears that I know more about American law than most people in this thread do.

I don't think the issue for any of us is the law here. Do you know why we have juries and lawyers and judges? Because the law needs to be interpreted and applied on a case by case basis, it needs to be humanized and imbued with some common sense.

The case here should be as simple and common sense as: girl is sexually assaulted, then expected to cheer for her attacker, then punished for refusing to do so.

That is all you should need to look at to reach a conclusion.

 

[emeraldrafael]

It happened in the US in Texas btw.

That seemed sorta obvious just that the Pound worth was second.

and, you know, the rape victim lost. That doesnt seem to happen outside the us.

-editted out cause I dont need to sound like more of a psychopath-

But yeah, how high id she go? Like, I would have just kept appealing this till I got to the Supreme court, then said, you know, HE RAPED ME!!! Oh... wait. They refused to hear it. They probably ddint wnat to look bad say that rape was legal, cause thats a constitutional amendment right there.

Actually, (and i really should read the source) but it seems like all you'd have to say is he raped me, and if you can prove it, and its pretty open and closed. Wiat... oka, she did, and they dropped the rape charge. Really? Is it cause he play sports, cause Kobe got the same deal. Must be a basketball thing. you odnt see hockey players running around raping the shit out of people.

And this:
In September last year, a federal appeals court upheld those decisions and announced that HS must also reimburse the school sistrict $45,000, for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against it.

So (EDIT) Free Speech is "frivolous" now? Isnt the whole first amendment one of our more hotly contested amendments?

this has me so full of rage it just seems so common sense. I mean, yeah, I can KINDA see where they're coming from with her as the mouth piece of the school and separation of personal life, but the guy raped her and got off on misdemeanor. I think at that point she has to right to say no. Or hell, that he shouldnt even be allowed to go back to sports. Christ, you get off on a misdemeanor after doing weed and you cant even go back to the team, even if it is a misdemeanor. The whole thing should have ended with him serving some jail time and never being alloed back in that particular high school's sports program, or any sports progam, as well as a spot on the list of people who might sexually abuse you.

 

[The Wooster]

Two points here.

Unless I'm reading this wrong.

1: The girl in question was not fined. She was ordered to pay compensation to a party she had brought a law suit against.

2: The man in question was never actually convicted of rape.

I can't say I agree with the courts decision but the headlines and statements in regards to this event are very misleading.

 

[thahat]

Okay, fine. I can see how she would be dropped from the team: after all, she was refusing to participate. Albeit that kind of reasoning is kind of deluded. But the fines are entirely beyond me.

It sounds like a considerable amount of this story is not being told.

Or perhaps the situation in question really is just that insane.

if i read it right compensation might be equal to the lawyers costs. making it not a fine but more a of a you should not have sewed. since the rape and the doing of his name have nothing to do with each other, and the team does expect you to do it., since he is on the team and all, and chearleader should work in unison right? so no then a chearleader that wont work along is no longer usefull, and get put off the team. so thats why she lost in court, and had to pay the legal costs of the other guy. i might be horribly wrong though but this looks to me like the most logical explantion.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Okay. I think I'm going to be the dissenting voice here.

HUGE FUCKING DISCLAIMER: I don't believe that the douchebag that only avoided a rape charge due to a plea bargain should have been allowed back at that school, much less back onto the god damned sports team. That kind of bullshit would only fly in a state that's as insane over sports as Texas(which is where I'm from).

BUT

HS obviously decided that her enjoyment of cheerleading outweighed her anguish over rape when she chose to cheer for a school that allowed her rapist back on the team she was cheering for. She then decided not to cheer for the guy, which is well within her rights. The school then decided that they did not need a cheerleader that would not cheer when and what they asked her to. Incredibly fucked up, considering the circumstances, but also within their rights and hardly surprising considering they let him on the team at all. Everything after that is on HS and her family. Suing over a high school activity is frivolous. Her rights were not violated, and the school's actions, if you ignore the emotional aspect of it, were predictable. You wouldn't keep a pitcher on a baseball team if he refused to throw the ball because he didn't like the batter.

Basically, the story is fucked up, but not the part that the article focuses on. He should have never been let back on the team. After that, though, it was the girl's decisions that ultimately landed her family with that fee.

 

[Dimitriov]

Also to those who can see some legal logic to this let's look at an analogy.

If your employer for example required you to do something that went against your religious beliefs they would not be allowed to terminate you if you refused to comply. The same logic holds here: forcing a girl to cheer for her attacker is an act of coercion on the part of the school.

I am quite certain that when she joined the team they did not tell her she would have to applaud her rapist.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

So she's doesn't want to chant the name of the person who raped her (rightly so.) So she got dropped from the team and find, not right. I think the goverment and school needs to look at what they're doing before they proceed.

 

[Nickompoop]

Remember, this is Texas, the strongest, most conservative area of the South. It's where all the stupid in the country gathers strongest (the crazy gathers in Florida and Arizona, but that's a different topic).
There are three people who badly need a case a lead of poisoning: the rapist (obviously), the school official who removed this girl from the cheerleading squad, and the judge (though he may have actually had a good reason for his decision, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt).