Attorney says 11 year old lured boys to gang rape her

[moodygirl86]

Some people just deserve a long drawn out death, don't they? How old the girl looked is beside the point anyway because even if somebody is of or over the age of consent, rape/gang rape would, by definition, make it non-consensual. This attorney should lose his licence just for having the IQ of a fruitcake (no offence to cakes, they're very nice). Shame I can't seem to find a puke emoticon because that's the only appropriate reaction!

[Shasta ODonegal]

Admission: I tried to find Steve Taylor online. He doesn't seem to have much of a web presence.

I have no idea if other people do this or not, but when I hear about someone being such a douchetard, I want to see what they look like.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

However, I don't know many eleven year olds who both look AND act much older than they are. Once you talk to them, you can tell they aren't as old as they look. And I highly doubt any of them would consent (even disregarding the fact that they really can't at that age) to filmed sex with multiple partners.

My thoughts exactly. Some people can pass in still photos, or maybe even silent video, but once you interact at any level at all it's obvious they've just not got the life experience or outlook. People change hugely from 11 to 17. Often young kids trying their hardest to seem older are the most obvious fakers of all, even.

I will never understand this argument. It's the same one used in the courts for prosecuting underage prostitutes. Whatever kind of horror show justice system believes that a TWELVE year old can consent to prostitution is fucking beyond me. This is disgusting, and I can't even imagine what kind of person would be able to sleep at night after making this kind of argument. Don't care if it's his job, don't care.

Creepy thing is that argument sounds amazingly like what actual pedophiles pretty much all say - to them, their victims are always somehow "mature for their age" and being wronged by society because really, they're "mature" enough to want sex, and have "mature" relationships, so yes, they're consenting to sex (for pay even!!!) and it's only you prudish mainstream society that just really doesn't understaaaaaaaaand....

(pardon me I need the brain bleach now)

Just now on my facebook someone posted that her 16yo daughter had gotten 10 calls threatening to "rape" and "kill" her. They went to the cops, who were going to open an investigation, so then a "friend" of hers confessed. They decided not to press charges. And then she finds out his parents are excusing behavior saying she had "said suggestive stuff" to him before. And that she had blown it all out of proportion, especially by going to the cops. WHAT could she have said that was suggestive that would have justified her being threatened with rape and murder??? Its not ok to excuse your kids rotten behavior, people.

...and of course an excellent example of gaslighting, also common. "How dare you accuse me? I didn't really do anything at all, you're just too sensitive and blew it all out of proportion, haha, you were really taking me serious??? Plus you brought it on yourself..." Gross. Sadly far too common though. This line of thinking connects directly to the "legitimate rape" concept, also.

[hearyoume08]

The statute for Texas: are the age of consent is 17, there is a romeo and Juliet law that says as long as years apart consenting partners are at least 14 and no more than 3 years a part, i.e. a 14 and 17 year old or a 16 and 19 year old would not be considered statutory rape if it is consensual. If the the victim is under 14 the statutory rape charge goes from a second degree felony to a first degree felony.

Many states have a if you have sex under a certain age then it is illegal to have sex at all even if the partner is the same age.Around 12 seems to be that number for most states. It is not stated in black and white, but with the repeated mention of 14, I wonder if that is the de facto age for Texas.

When I was younger I knew a couple of girls that got pregnant at 11/12 years old with their same age partners through consensual sex. I know at least one of them had the police involved but I not sure of anything else like charges or anything like that.

So if she wouldn't be able to consent to have sex with someone her own age, how the hell could people think she could consent to have sex with adults?! It boggles my mind.

[luckystone]

I have seen shows in which men were prosecuted for having sex with underage girls who claimed to be older and there was not even a huge age difference. Adults are responsible for knowing the ages of their sexual partners and establishing that they are not about to rape a minor. Maybe laws are different in Texas, but how is this an effective defense?

Yeah I don't get it...surely it's irrelevant so why even bring it up? Is it a jury? Maybe they are trying to change the mind of the jury, even though it would be applying the law incorrectly? That is one of the problems with the jury system.

[bluelady]

I teach Grade 7. My students are 12. There is one girl in my class who towers over me and I'm 5'8. She's easily over 6 feet tall and she looks older than she is. My school is a Grade 7-12 school with two separate wings - one for the 7-9 and the other for the 10-12. One day, this student asked to go to the washroom. She came back very quickly, saying that the washroom in our wing was closed because one of the toilets backed up. I told her she could go use the washroom in the high school wing if she wanted. She declined, saying she'd wait until phys ed and could use the washroom in the change room. She was scared of the older kids (as most 7th graders usually are). I remember saying to her "But Emma, they won't know you aren't one of them!" Physically this child looks like a high school student, but emotionally she is probably a little behind her age peers. That's a really scary thought, now that I've read that article.

[chaotic life]

The linked article quotes this child's father in an interview. Dad says she was sneaking out of her bedroom when this incident happened and they were trying to deal with it. Dad says even now she has a bed covered in stuffed animals. It doesn't matter what her body looked like. That's the entire POINT of the laws. Even if she did look 17, it didn't change the fact that she was 11!

Normally, I would say the onus is on the man to make certain the age of his partner. In this case, I think it's far, FAR more sinister than that. How on earth did those men imagine that ANY teen was consenting to so many of them???? Anyway, even if they found a 17 year old who truly was consenting, WHY would they want to be involved in that. Might as well be fucking each other sharing one female like that and sharing bodily fluids with each other ganging up on her like that. What moron actually thinks ANY woman would consent to those circumstances in the first place???? Of course she was a CHILD, it would take a CHILD to be coerced into something so stupid and demeaning in the first place, I suspect.

I think these jerks knew she was young and knew what they were doing. I think they just figured she was so scared and so isolated she would NEVER tell anyone. Sadly, she didn't tell anyone. Their own disgusting bragging gave them away, not her. She was too young to even understand WHAT they had done to her.

[mirele]

Well, despite the testimony from the victim, the rapist was found guilty and the jury sentenced him to life in prison.

LIBERTY - Jurors took less than 10 minutes on Wednesday to hand a life sentence to Jared Len Cruse, who shook his head and dabbed his eyes with tissue after being convicted of participating in the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl.

Convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in concert with others, the 20-year-old will not be eligible for parole.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 073766.php

Ten minutes is just long enough to get into the jury room, get settled down, read the sentencing document, take a vote and then everyone sign the document.

In closing remarks on Wednesday, the defendant's attorney, Steve Taylor, reminded jurors that the victim had admitted being a "willing participant" but that prosecutors will "tell you the law doesn't care … off with their heads!"

He questioned whether the law can be that absolute.

"People don't come with signs telling their age," Taylor said. "How does a young man know? You can't cut off their legs and count the rings like a tree."

Prosecutors countered that the law provides no excuse for sex with children. Because the assault was videotaped, the only defense Cruse can raise is say to say it's her fault, prosecutor Joe Warren said.

"Look at how proud he is on that video as his buddies say 'beat that ho,' " Warren said.

The stories don't tell the composition of the jury. I'd like to know that, plus the substance of the jury charge. I still think the prosecution should have objected every time a mention of age came up, but perhaps that didn't play well with the jury and the prosecution was content with having the defense attorney continue to dig himself deeper into a hole.

[chaotic life]

The sadest part of the article is that apparently she ran away from CPS custody last year and was raped AGAIN. That child may never be able to recover from what has happened to her, and her lost innocence and future lies squarely on the heads of everyone of those 20 who gang raped her, ESPECIALLY the adult men who did this to her.

[moodygirl86]

The sadest part of the article is that apparently she ran away from CPS custody last year and was raped AGAIN. That child may never be able to recover from what has happened to her, and her lost innocence and future lies squarely on the heads of everyone of those 20 who gang raped her, ESPECIALLY the adult men who did this to her.

Bloody hell, the poor girl! NO ONE deserves to go through that, ever. I'm glad the rapists got life, though, so they can't do it to anyone else. The child has lost her innocence, but people (even kids) can be surprisingly resilient in the face of adversity, and I do hope for her sake she is one of life's survivors. I'm agnostic, but just in case there's a God, I'll be sure to send some hopeful prayers her way.

[roddma]

We had a similar case with my 12 yr old neighbor. Consensual but she is below the age of consent for sex which is 12 and under. She was fooling with three memebrs of the football team, 16- 18 and the 18 yr old was the star QB. Our neighbor caught one of the guys entering her room via outside steps at 4 am back in the summer. She fell pregnant and they aborted. It is really a high profile case which has caused racial tensions. I think it was more about his status than race. The girl was not properly supervised by her gradnmother. She never had a chance with divorced crack head/pill addicted parents and a gradmother who obviusly didn'tgive a flip. I make a point to say no matter how she acted or what she said, it isn't her fault. She is not legal age. I have known this family for years and wonder how they let it get that far. Anyway, what if the victim had been male he? It is rare but happens.

[Gil]

How on earth did those men imagine that ANY teen was consenting to so many of them???? Anyway, even if they found a 17 year old who truly was consenting, WHY would they want to be involved in that. Might as well be fucking each other sharing one female like that and sharing bodily fluids with each other ganging up on her like that. What moron actually thinks ANY woman would consent to those circumstances in the first place???? Of course she was a CHILD, it would take a CHILD to be coerced into something so stupid and demeaning in the first place, I suspect.

This is a pretty sex-negative post and demeaning to the adult women who exist who enjoy consensual group sex with other adults.

What the men in this case did was sexual assault against a child and it's disgusting. Comparing them to people who have consensual sex is inaccurate and I have little doubt they knew that these circumstances were not fully consensual. I think we should shame rapists and not people who have kinky private lives that aren't hurting anyone.

[emmyfair]

I was violently assaulted when I was 23, and I'm still getting over it at 34. My heart bleeds for that poor little girl, I can't imagine trying to process that level of hell with an eleven year old mind. Beyond heartbreaking.

[chaotic life]

This is a pretty sex-negative post and demeaning to the adult women who exist who enjoy consensual group sex with other adults.

Really??? Grown women with a consensual fetish climb out of their bedroom windows, have to be transported, threatened and have the partners brought and control the situation FOR her? Only if the rules and ages are verified AHEAD OF TIME and age and consent are fully known FIRST. It's more than just one woman and many men in a sex fetish situation. It's the totality of the situation, including the need to transport and threaten the child as she was being assualted over several situations. The totality of the situation SCREAMS non-consensual. A smart man wouldn't even participate in a scenario that looks and sounds like assault of a minor in gangbang style until they were 1000% certain BEFORE the situation that it wasn't precisely what it turned out to be.

[BravaAmica]

Really??? Grown women with a consensual fetish climb out of their bedroom windows, have to be transported, threatened and have the partners brought and control the situation FOR her? Only if the rules and ages are verified AHEAD OF TIME and age and consent are fully known FIRST. It's more than just one woman and many men in a sex fetish situation. It's the totality of the situation, including the need to transport and threaten the child as she was being assualted over several situations. The totality of the situation SCREAMS non-consensual. A smart man wouldn't even participate in a scenario that looks and sounds like assault of a minor in gangbang style until they were 1000% certain BEFORE the situation that it wasn't precisely what it turned out to be.

Couldn't have said it better myself. QFT. :clap:

[Gil]

Really??? Grown women with a consensual fetish climb out of their bedroom windows, have to be transported, threatened and have the partners brought and control the situation FOR her? Only if the rules and ages are verified AHEAD OF TIME and age and consent are fully known FIRST. It's more than just one woman and many men in a sex fetish situation. It's the totality of the situation, including the need to transport and threaten the child as she was being assualted over several situations. The totality of the situation SCREAMS non-consensual. A smart man wouldn't even participate in a scenario that looks and sounds like assault of a minor in gangbang style until they were 1000% certain BEFORE the situation that it wasn't precisely what it turned out to be.

Maybe that's the way you feel and I misinterpreted your post, but you don't say anything like this in the post I referred to, though you do comment on how the men are "sharing fluids" and so on. If someone's being threatened into sex, um, it's not consensual. Ever. That's just not how consensual sex works. You commented how no one, not even a person who could consent, could ever be interested in the circumstances. Maybe you referring to the totality of the situation like having to climb out of their bedroom windows, etc., etc., but it looks to me because most of that happened because she was a child being coerced. Of course no one participating in a healthy, consensual situation would do something like this without being certain or even these very specific circumstances and I didn't say that. Was that what your post was referring to: a...somehow consensual situation where someone where age and consent aren't otherwise confirmed and one of the partners is being threatened and controlled? That doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm willing to accept the possibility that I misread or misinterpreted due to the emphasis on the actual practice of group sex as opposed to abusive coercion.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I went through puberty at 9. By 11, I looked 14 or so, but definitely NOT 17

My daughter has precocious puberty. She looks older than some other 10 yr olds, but doesn't look 17.

Did these guys ask to see government-issued photo ID? Didn't think so. The law is fine the way it is, and people should know that they have a responsibility to make sure that the person that they plan to have sex with is in fact old enough to be capable of consenting to sex.

[formergothardite]

"You can't cut off their legs and count the rings." Good god it was like he didn't even realize he was speaking about a human.

[moodygirl86]

"You can't cut off their legs and count the rings." Good god it was like he didn't even realize he was speaking about a human.

:naughty: Now, now Formergothardite, you can't expect a nice respectable right wing lawyer like Mr Taylor to see any child as truly human, especially a girl! Do you want to make the poor man's brain explode? *sarcasm*

[wild little fox]

"You can't cut off their legs and count the rings." Good god it was like he didn't even realize he was speaking about a human.

I had the same reaction. Dehumanizing victims is always the path of a good defense attorney. /sarcasm.

YUCK!

edited to emphasize sarcasm, just in case...