Idaho town braces for sentencing after alleged high school racism and rape
Source: Guardian
Three football players were accused of assaulting a black, disabled team-mate with a coat hanger, and the aftermath has torn apart this mostly white town
Maria L La Ganga in Dietrich, Idaho
@marialaganga
Thursday 23 February 2017 05.00 EST
The young black man sat in a big leather chair in his lawyers office, recounting the song that one of his team-mates on the Dietrich high school football team had taught him. He sang it, the lawyer said, like it was the Star-Spangled Banner. He didnt know what it meant.
Moon man, moon man, cant you see, he sang, Spics and niggers need to hang from trees.
. . .
The young man, who is developmentally disabled, was allegedly raped with a coat hanger 18 months ago by John RK Howard, the white team-mate who taught him the song, and two other football players.
On Friday, Howard will be sentenced but after agreeing to a plea bargain designed to limit his punishment, he will avoid prison. The prosecutor in the case claimed the attack, which occurred after months of racial abuse and bullying, was not racially motivated and did not constitute a sex crime.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/23/idaho-football-coat-hanger-rape-john-rk-howard-plea-deal
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)I cannot read the whole story...it will make me sick!
still_one
(92,176 posts)and did not constitute a sex crime, that tells you everything you need to know about Dietrich, Idaho
brer cat
(24,560 posts)not racist, not a sex crime?!
still_one
(92,176 posts)Else You Are Mad
(3,040 posts)Of good, white football players!
These stories make me sick.
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)This is a HORRID outcome!! Has this whole country just gone insane?
Solly Mack
(90,762 posts)and the judge, Randy Stoker is no better.
John RK Howard is a rapist and a racist who got away with his crime.
raccoon
(31,110 posts)MrScorpio
(73,630 posts)secondwind
(16,903 posts)politicat
(9,808 posts)He's the one that let the weatherman rapist off with no punishment (not even probation) because the weatherman lost his job after he was arrested, and "that was punishment enough." He's the one who gave no meaningful punishment to the rapist who admitted he preferred to groom young girls via social media, who blamed the little girl for her own rape because she had a social media presence, and sentenced the rapist to abstinence or marriage. And as a prosecutor, dropped thousands of sexual assault cases rather than even try for a plea.
He googles up interesting.
neohippie
(1,142 posts)This is outrageous, and he consistently fails to his job both as a prosecutor and judge
politicat
(9,808 posts)He belongs to the right church, wears the right underwear, and is committed to keeping those whom his faith believes must be eternal servants always in their place.
He ran unopposed in 2014. He's up for retention in 2018, so he can be turfed, but it's going to take organization. Judges are hard to get rid of, because they're so far down ballot and they're almost always up for retention in off or odd years.
Local elections matter. This is an example of why.
phylny
(8,380 posts)Such cruelty. I wonder how the players' parents are spinning this?
Mc Mike
(9,114 posts)Glad the prosecutor established the ground rules, or casual observers might have developed incorrect notions, and been confused.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)IF the situation had been reversed, racially, those three black men would be under the state prison now or dead by 'suicide', aka Sandra Bland death, in the local jail. These three WILL AVOID PRISON time with a plea, what pleas were those, "come on, he's just a n*****". AmeriKKKan justice and the trumpnation at it's most hypocritical worst.
Wuddles440
(1,121 posts)and another soul crushing story. Beyond despicable. What the hell is wrong with these people and why are they still members of any decent and just society? We are so very screwed as a nation.
Blue Idaho
(5,049 posts)This is what happens when you have 23 years of uninterrupted republican supermajority in the state House, Senate, and you own the governor's mansion. Even though it's geographically separated, Idaho is part of the old south - you will see confederate flags flying in front of houses alongside American flags. Toxic place.