Woman sentenced for 2013 Windsor rape hoax

[AngryAmish]

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/local/2014/10/24/woman-sentenced-windsor-rape-hoax/17841039/

"GREELEY – The woman who fabricated an elaborate hoax about being kidnapped and raped at knifepoint by a Windsor national guardsman fought back tears Friday as she exchanged her jewelry for handcuffs in a Weld County courtroom.

Katherine Bennett, 21, was sentenced to 32 days in the Weld County Jail, 180 days of electronic home monitoring and five years of supervised probation during a hearing that included an emotional statement by the man whose life her false allegations decimated.

Snip

As a result of the false report, Toth said he lost his job at OtterBox and was barred from deploying with his Army National Guard team to Cuba. He has since struggled to find work, been denied on multiple apartment applications and has become prone to anxiety attacks, he told the judge Friday.
"Her actions have made it all the more difficult for real abuse victims to come forward," he said, trembling. "This is unacceptable. No woman should have to live in fear of wrongful judgment because others have abused the system.""

[Nye Bevan]

1. 32 days in jail for ruining someone's life like that?

Ridiculous.

[Mercy_Queen]

2. Most of these false accusation cases never get prosecuted.

[bigwillq]

3. Should have gotten life in prison (nt)

[littlewolf]

5. no not life, but more then 32 days and 5 years probation. nt

[bigwillq]

6. Thanks goodness I'm not the judge!

[hifiguy]

27. About ten years in the slammer sounds

about right to me. Serving every last day of it.

[littlewolf]

4. how long will it take to scrub his records and remove

these false accusations from his records. is it even possible in this
day of "the internet never forgets"

[gollygee]

8. The story says he was arrested but the case was quickly dropped

so there should be nothing on his record to scrub.

[exboyfil]

9. You mean like this

http://www.mywindsornow.com/news/9105891-113/toth-woman-police-affidavit

No retraction linked to this story. Sure the later stories are out there, but the paper should follow up with updates and links on prior stories.

[gollygee]

10. That's irresponsible journalism

Yes, they should preface that story with a clear update as explanation that the accuser was mentally ill and her charge was quickly found to be untrue.

[exboyfil]

11. That is not the only story

not followed up on. I found one from the Denver Post as well.

[gollygee]

12. My response was that there are no legal records to scrub

as he was quickly released and never charged with anything.

Every place that reported on this, particularly if they reported in the manner of hte first article you posted, needs to preface every instance where it is online with an update.

[exboyfil]

13. One nagging thing

when you go for a job and fill out an application:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/as-arrest-records-rise-americans-find-consequences-can-last-a-lifetime-1408415402

"There is a myth that if you are arrested and cleared that it has no impact," says Paul Butler, professor of law at Georgetown Law. "It's not like the arrest never happened."

But her job application brought the matter back to life. For the application to proceed, the Census bureau informed her she would need to submit fingerprints and gave her 30 days to obtain court documents proving her case had been resolved without a conviction.

Clearing her name was easier said than done. "From what I was told by the courthouse, they didn't have a record," says Ms. Daniels, now 39 years old. She didn't get the job. Court officials didn't respond to requests for comment.

Once the case was dismissed, Mr. Hernandez assumed authorities would set the record straight. Instead, he learned that the burden was on him to clear his record and that he would need a lawyer to seek a formal expungement.

Many sites charge fees to remove a record, even an outdated or erroneous one. In the past year.

Further analysis by the University of South Carolina team, performed at the request of The Wall Street Journal, suggests that men with arrest records—even absent a formal charge or conviction—go on to earn lower salaries. They are also less likely to own a home compared with people who have never been arrested.

[Inkfreak]

7. I'm curious if this will ruin her life, also.

Will a few days in jail prevent her from finding employment? I hope so.

[mercuryblues]

14. One of the

reasons she got a light jail sentence is that she has multiple medical issues that a prison can not address. Some of them mental health issues; that she was being treated for prior to the false accusation.

Yes she nearly ruined this guys reputation and life. That should not have happened. Thankfully her lies were exposed before full damage could be done. And thankfully this is not a common problem.

But the real question is what should the judge have done? Give her a lengthy prison sentence, where psychiatric treatment takes a back seat to punishment?

Weld County District Court Judge Timothy Kerns, however, considered the "extremely unique situation" worthy of a "strong but appropriate" sentence that included jail time. Bennett faced prison time, but Kerns said the department of corrections would not adequately address her numerous mental health concerns.

[belzabubba333]

15. "Give her a lengthy prison sentence" yes

give her a longer sentence and assign her a case worker - they go to homes they can go to a prison or she does her time and when she gets out she can address her "mental problems"

[mercuryblues]

18. her

mental issues are real, so no quotes needed. They existed before she made the accusation. She was seeing a psychiatrist even before this.

What you are suggesting is that she stop seeing a psychiatrist, setting her recovery back years for a harsher punishment. I would agree with you, if prisons actually provided treatment. They don't.

http://tacreports.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars.pdf

[belzabubba333]

19. what im suggesting is a longer prison sentence

there's no one in prison with mental illnesses like depression or ocd?

[Comrade Grumpy]

22. There are tons of people in jail and prison with serious mental issues.

It should be a national scandal. And no, they don't get adequate treatment.

[belzabubba333]

23. the judge can order it right? the treatment for her

what she did deserves more than just a little scolding-

[mercuryblues]

24. read the report

I linked to. Sure there are people in there like that. The problems stem from unreliable availability of medications. Improper staffing. prisoners with mental issues have longer stays than their original sentences for many reasons, one of them lack of access to the meds they need. They suffer abuse at a higher rates.

IOW she has been in treatment for quite a while now, a long prison sentence would reverse that. The plus side is, she has 5 years probation. If she truly has not gotten better and reoffends, she will serve time.

[belzabubba333]

25. i did read it and for all we know her visits to the psychiatrist started with a lawyers advise

the day she did this but regardless of that - she puts someone thru hell gets 30 days after which she's released to go after this guy again or picks a new victim spending 5 years in jail might help the next victim to not become her next victim. i hear what youre saying but instead of focusing on her well-being how about thinking of public safety

[mercuryblues]

28. apparenty you didn't

She was being treated before the false accusations. The article states she was on medications at the time.

uhm, apparently you think the police would believe her, if she made a future claim against this guy or another guy? Really, you are going with that claim?

[belzabubba333]

31. yea i didnt think of that thanks. they'll be less likely to believe her which is unfortunate

in case she runs into real trouble.

[mercuryblues]

33. it is

unfortunate that she won't be trusted in the future. It is also a consequence of what she did.

Another consequence is that the police, esp there will not believe women with real complaints. It is already hard enough this just makes it harder. Let alone, the people who seize stories like this as proof all women lie about rape.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. the fundamental question is do we take something like the Norwegian approach where we

see sentences as a way to try to change people so they are less likely to re-offend or do we sentences as an opportunity to extract revenge

[branford]

20. Punishment is not revenge

This woman knowingly and willfully almost destroyed a man's life, and he still seriously suffers today. It was also admitted in court that her mental health conditions were not the cause or excuse for her behavior.

I certainly have no objections to rehabilitation and mental health treatment during incarceration, but punishment is definitely appropriate, particularly as a deterrent to others.

False rape claims destroy lives and often result in jurors not believing actual rape victims. Accordingly, I believe that if someone intentionally files a false charge of rape, and is convicted of doing so beyond a reasonable doubt, their sentence should be no less than the penalty for rape, many years in prison.

[upaloopa]

26. No punishment or sentence acts as a

deterrent. People can turn their lives around and become contributors to society again. That is what "corrections" means. We are not in the business of punishment.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

30. Wait, what?

"No punishment or sentence acts as a deterrent."

Do you really mean that literally? It seems such an insane statement that I wonder if I've misinterpreted it.

[branford]

32. Really?

Would you care to provide links to peer reviewed studies that demonstrate that "no punishment or sentence acts as a deterrent" to future criminal activity, either for the specific defendant or other?

Moreover, our penal system, is most certainly in the business of punishment. Regardless of whether you disagree, our criminal justice system most definitely punishes convicted defendants, and punitive or retributive justice is supported by an overwhelming majority of American across the political spectrum, including our own Party.

[Douglas Carpenter]

34. I agree that it is the popular opinion and I can relate to the idea of wanting revenge

Hell, I have wanted to get revenge against people who didn't break any law but simply did something nasty to me. But I see this as something from the darker side of my nature and not the better angels of my nature. I agree that it is currently supported by strong majorities in America. From the language I see revenge is probably supported by the vast majority even here on DU. I simply don't agree that it comes from the better angels of our nature. If punishment removes from society people who are highly apt to harm society one can argue that is necessary. If punishment instills a deterrent - which is doubtful - but let's say for the sake of argument that it might - that could claim a utilitarian value. If correction rehabilitates and attempts to change the ways of the offender rendering them less likely to reoffend - that sounds morally solid. But punishment as is supported as you correctly point out by the overwhelming majority of Americans is a throw back to the to primitive instincts and certainly not enlightenment values. Unless one believes that there exist somewhere in the heavens a record keeper who demands that wickedness be punished then punishment without a moral purpose is only revenge - pure and simple revenge.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

29. Neither, primarily. Reform and justice (or "revenge" if you prefer) are both good, but secondary.

The really important reason to punish criminals is *deterrence*.

The most important thing we gain from sentencing is neither reforming people who have already committed crimes, nor giving their victims justice or consolation after the fact (or "extracting revenge", if you prefer to formulate it like that, although I think it is misguided to do so), but discouraging people from committing crimes in the future.

[Lee-Lee]

17. Sentence for false accusation of a crime should be

Equal to what the person you falsely accused was facing if wrongly convicted.

[branford]

21. Exactly, particularly because of the lasting stigma of the rape accusation alone

and the effect on the credibility of true rape victims.