About the Cheerleader
Here’s the situation:
A Silsbee High School cheerleader took her school to court when they kicked her off the squad for refusing to cheer her own rapist.
The week of May 5, 2011 the Supreme Court refused to hear the case and is requiring her family pay the school $45,000 in legal fees.
We want to help – and we want to give you the opportunity to help too.
This girl was raped at the age of 16. When she spoke out against the star athlete, she had to deal with constant harassment from her fellow students. The administration’s way of coping with this treatment was to suggest she avoid the cafeteria and not go to Homecoming. Her rape counselor encouraged her to continue all the activities she did before the rape, so she stayed on the squad, an activity she loved.
She went to the games and cheered for the entire team, but when it came time to cheer her rapist’s name individually as he shot a free throw, she simply crossed her arms and stayed silent. She was summarily, and publicly, kicked off the squad. Her family went to court.
An ABC News article from October 2010 says :
“It frustrates me,” said the teen, who is referred to by her initials H.S. in court documents. “All I’ve wanted out of this all along is for somebody to say they’ve done wrong.” She insists, however, that the fight is worth it, if only to give other rape victims a reason to stand up for themselves. “If everything works out the way that we’re hoping … then it makes a point that it’s not all right,” she said. “And if we keep fighting for that, then maybe other people will too.”
Unfortunately, things did not work out the way they hoped. We have included links below so you can research the incident yourselves and make the decision you feel is right. Our opinion, regardless of the legal issues, is that this girl has been punished enough.
UPDATE:
Thanks so much to everyone who has donated! The appeals are still in process, so this campaign is in a holding pattern until we see what the courts decide. Should the donations no longer be needed, we will be issuing refunds through Paypal. As soon as we know something, we will let you know!
The support for this girl and her fight has been truly incredible. Thank you all, again, and we will continue to update the site as we have news.
Sincerely,
Jessica
For more information about this case, visit Articles About this Case.
To find out more ways to help, see How You Can Help.
Thank you for your time!
This is unacceptable on so many levels.
Ok! First to the person who says they cant believe parents in Silsbee would allow thier children to go to this school an grad…….HER parents let HER go to this school and grad and she was even CAPTAIN of the squad her senior year and had a sibling on Junior varsity. This happened the start of her junior year in 2008. Her mother even still WORKS as a teacher for the SILSBEE school district everyone is putting down. So it must not be that bad a place. See you read on here and get half the story the people in Silsbee have lived it.. So in the future leave OTHER peoples kids out of the mix. They cannot be held resposible for what happened and the turn of events that followed. The kids talked only few seen what went on and formed thier own opinions because they have lived this for what THREE YEARS now…This didnt happen yesturday it happed long time ago…. Leave the innocent alone and dont condemn them for something they had no control over…..
It’s always nice to hear a man’s point of view when it comes to rape. Real nice…
It’s always nice to hear a misandrist with a nice thick tar-brush when it comes to rape. Real nice.
I could comment on my sympathies for the girl bullied into hushing up and plastering on a grin for her rapist, (but it wouldn’t count for anything because I’m a man, and men never get raped.)
I could comment on my ambivalent feelings about the legal case being in a good spirit but legally meritless, and whether or not the court ought to have imposed the legal fees upon the plaintiff or let that action slide owing to the contemptible and relevant actions of the defendant (because I’m a man, you see, and trying to sneak past my super pro-rape views, like what men have)
I could equally comment on my totally unambiguous feelings about the hideous, unethical actions of a school which would rather punish and bully a rape victim than her attacker (but then, men are never affected by rape, or at least if they are then (as we’ve established, because men are never raped) only indirectly, and therefore totally unable to sympathise with, empathise with, or make any valid legal, ethical or social comment on the situation of, rape victims so what would I know?)
I suppose it’s best I don’t say anything at all.
Well why don’t you volunteer your girl to the basketball team, for, you know, building school morale in the form of a rape victim! You guys in that town sound pretty naive to think. A girl wishes this upon herself, wants to use sexually, the leaders who are to protect her don’t and the pain of this to fall on her family, her friends, her school and her town.
Just like they say on ESPN, “Come on man!”. I’m all the way over here in Okinawa, Japan serving my country as a Marine…and this pisses me off! Her school and her town couldn’t protect her from the criminal actions of it’s super star? That’s sickens me to think of this!!!
Oh, an regarding your statements about her mother still working in the school and community. Really? That’s what really bothers you about this whole thing? Man, you really need to review your logic on that one!
Oh…one way this could quickly all go away is for the school to finally do the right thing. Their inaction has allowed this to linger all those years…not the girl, not the family…but your school board! You should push the school board to pay the difference regarding this. It’s then this can just be filed under the, “Another sports star in TX” gets away with raping a young girl file. You have a choice to help or complain now, huh?
Semper Fi from Okinawa.
So, because it happened three whole years ago she should just put it out of her mind? According to ABC news he pleaded guilty.
Not much around Silsbee, Texas. Would you be able to pack up your own life and move? Could you sale your home? Your business…
It´s not the victim who is supposed to “hide at home” and not show up to school plays, sportsgames and her cheerleader practises or whatever.
Why should her mother quit her job there? did she do anything wrong?
You are a ignorant man and rude and should not comment on matters like this.
Chad, your opinion is is a right, however you should really think about this from the perspective of others instead of from your own pov. FACT: A 16 year-old girl was assaulted (she alleges rape, but he plead guilty to a lesser charge). I am assuming by your heated response that you are either a parent or a former student of this school district. Yes, it is true that we have gotten OUR story from the numerous media articles and court documents that have been written about this crime, however, unless you were present with this young lady as she was assaulted, then I don’t think you have the complete story. If you have never been raped, or had a sister, mother, or other female close to you experience rape (especially when it goes unpunished) then I don’t think you would understand why this causes so much anger among those of us who have expereienced it. The mother, as well as the 16 year-old child, have no reason to quit, run, hide, or anything else, because they have done nothing wrong. So as you commented “…the people of Silsbee have lived it…”, I disagree completely….this young woman lived it….she was the one raped….not you and not the peole of Silsbee.
I am confused. So the rapist was still allowed to play basketball? Was he found guilty of rape?
Hi there! Feel free to read the articles that go into further detail on the case. I could explain what I’ve read, but it’s probably better to get it straight from the horses mouth. Check out the “More About This Case” page. The ABC News and AOL articles have the most detail.
So instead of saying, “Yes it was proven in court that he raped her”, you’re deliberately being vague? And, under the guise of “form your own opinion”, people are being directed to “Help the Cheerleader”?
Regardless of how I feel personally, these things aren’t doing much to encourage people to help this girl.
I’ve done extensive reading into this case, and it is incredibly complex. Through talking and posting about it, I’ve found quite a lot of people with mixed feelings about it. I passionately want to support her, but I don’t feel it’s my place to tell people what to think. So I set out all the resources necessary for anyone who would like to get all the facts and form their own opinion. I could have written a biased and inflammatory post, but that’s not what this campaign is about. It’s just about giving anyone who would like to help the girl the opportunity and ability to do so.
All the links are stories about her being forced to cheer for her rapist, and they are, quite understandably, biased. Do you know of any stories or legal decisions that discuss the initial rape trial (if such a thing actually occurred) before the rest of the story came out? I can’t find anything that says he was convicted of anything, or even that he was formally charged with a crime.
The AOL and ABC articles came out back in 2010 and have a lot more details about the timeline of the case. I’m also linking a Sports Illustrated article brought to my attention recently that has quite a few details. Thanks for your interest!
That’s actually pretty big of you. The only problem with it is a lot of people you’re going to find on the internet are pretty spoiled, information wise. They don’t want to be told where the information is, and to form their own opinion. They essentially want to be told to be angry and then given a bunch of soundbites to explain why they should be. Sadly, that’s about the only way people get involved anymore. Not based off their own opinion, but merely because they’re told to be. But in all honestly, I appreciate your approach to this.
My apologies, but there is a difference between putting down facts (such as if he was proven guilty) and putting emotions into the equation.
aMEN, i AGREE, SO LET US ALL COME FORWARD TO HELP HER AND HER FAMILY JUSTIFY THEIR RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH….law enforcement should not have taken so long to charge the boys and convict them. THERE WERE 3 GRAND JURY HEARINGS BEFORE THEY WERE CHARGED…………WHY??? SOMEONE OWES THIS CHILD A BIG APOLOGY…… NOT ONLY THE OFFENDERS………SO STEP UP TO THE PLATE A ND BE AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE YOUNG GIRLS TO SEE. THIS IS WHY THE VICTIMS DO NOT COME FORWARD AND REPORT THEIR RAPES…. THERE IS A GAME PLAYED IN SCHOOLS ALL OVER THE WORLD, WHERE THE POPULAR SENIOR JOCKS SET OUT TO SEE WHO CAN END UP WITH THE HIGHEST SCORE OF HAVING SEX WITH THE MOST VIRGIN GIRLS IN THEIR SCHOOL BY GRADUTATION. THIS GAME IS CALLED ‘SCORE” AND MUST BE ADDRESSED IN A SERIOUS WAY IN ALL THE HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE USA. THE SCHOOL OFFICIALS MUST ADDRESS IT A ND LET THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR JOCKS KNOW IT WILL LAND THEM IN PRISION AND IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR A 18 YEAR OLD MALE TO HAVE SEX WITH A GIRL 17 OR UNDER….THIS IS THE LAW IN TEXAS…….IT IS PUNISHABLE BY AT LEAST 25 YEARS, AND MAY MEAN THEY GET LIFE IN PRION OR MAYBE DEATH, DEPENDING ON THE SEXUAL ASSUALT OF A MINOR. WAKE UP AMERICA, IT IS TIME TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS AND ISSUES OF OUR SEX RIDDEN SOCIETY AND THE GAMES OUR KIDS ARE PLAYING AT SCHOOL. THINGS ARE OUT OF HAND, AND THIS MATTER HAS BEEN SWEPT UNDER THE RUG WAY TOO LONG. today is the day to stop it…. GO AHEAD H.S. SPEAK UP AND DEFEND YOUR FREEDOM TO SPEAK……..I APPLAUD YOU…..i COMMEND YOU THAT YOU TRIED TO GO ON WITH YOUR LIFE AND GRADUATE, EVEN THO YOU WERE DYING INSIDE. what theses JOCKS STOLE FROM INSIDE OF YOU CAN NOT BE RE-PAID…..THEY MUST CONFESS AND ASK GOD AND YOU TO FORGIVE THEM,, . if either of the boys have made it to the big league you ahve 5 years to bring civil suit against them for monetary damages. i encourage h.s. to do this right away if either of them have done well with their sports ability. OF COURSE, I REPEAT , NO AMOUTN OF MONEY CAN UNDO OR PAY BACK WHAT THESE JOCKS HAVE STOLEN FROM YOU……SO U GO GIRL…….GOD BLESS YOU
I’ve also done reading on this, and there is a very good article from Sports Illustrated that details the early timeline of the case. I’ve got it linked from my own article of support for H.S., shortlink http://goo.gl/SMxIa
I hope this helps you to see that H.S. really was in a no-win situation, and does deserve your support. Instead of getting the restitution she deserved, she’s in a $45000 hole.
As someone who has donated myself, I do believe this to be legit – Jessica has another post at politicsusa.com that led me to the conclusion that this is not a scam website.
Thanks so much for the link, and support Chris! I’ll link both of those articles on the updates page!
If you read the articles, you will see that Rakheem Bolton worked out a plea bargain arrangement whereby he pled guilty to misdemeanor assault–which means, he admitted to a judge that he did, indeed, attack H.S., but refused to admit rape–and was given 2 years probation, community service, and was required to take anger management classes. (A rape kit was taken, but a Texas backlog means the results may not be available for years.) This was a suspended sentence, which means that if he completed all the terms of the probationary agreement in the plea, he would not have a conviction on his record. So the high school–eager to play a star athlete–put him back on the team as soon as possible. The cheer H.S. refused to perform was specifically directed to him during a free throw: “Two, four, six, eight, ten, Rakheem, Rakheem, put it in.”
According to SI, Deanie’s misrepresenting the facts of the case. The cheering incident happened before Bolton pled guilty to assault, and seven months before he was even indicted. What happened was, a month before the cheering incident, a grand jury had found insufficient evidence to indict H.S.’s attackers, and the school let Bolton back on its sports teams–the school might have been on shaky legal ground if they’d kept him from playing sports, since at that point he was essentially cleared of criminal charges. After the incident where H.S. refused to cheer him, there was renewed interest in the case, a second grand jury was convened, and Bolton was indicted. Bolton pled guilty a year and a half *after* H.S. refused to cheer for him.
The school could have spared everyone a ton of legal fees if they’d acted like human beings when H.S. refused to cheer her attacker, but as Jessica wrote above, legally it’s “extremely complex.” The courts basically upheld the principle that when you’re a school cheerleader, the school can order you to cheer for everyone on the team–a principle that doesn’t sound crazy outside of the context of this case. The victim deserves our help because she was treated in a disgraceful way by her school and the local community, but disgraceful doesn’t always equal illegal.
Jessica – can you add Deanie’s notes to the info page. Anyone considering donating should know without reading additional articles, that Bolton entered a plea bargain and that DNA was not entered as evidence because of the state’s backlog. You could also include stats from RAINN: http://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-offenders
Thanks for creating the page. Will tweet.
bOLTON WAS NOT CHARGE WITH RAPE, BECAUSE OF SLOPPY POLICE WORK.tHE rAPE kIT WAS NOT PROCESSED. lAW eNFORCEMENT DID NOT DO THEIR JOB IN QUICKLY COLELCTING THE DNA TO CONVICT THE BOYS OF RAPE. DNA DOES NOT LIE, IT CAN STILL BE PROCESSED AND THE CASE BE-REOPENED. H.S. HAS 5 YEARS FOR CIVIL LAW SUITE AND 10 YEARS TO FULLY PROSECUTE THESE BOYS…..I ENCOURAGE HER ATTORNEY TO GET IT DONE. LAW ENFORCEMENT HAS TO HOLD THE RAPE KIT AND NOT DISPOSE OF IT, SO GET IT PROCESSED TO PROVE RAPE….. SHE WAS A MINOR. HE WAS 18…….. THE LAW IS THE LAW…….NO MATTER WHAT STORY THEY TELL OR SAY AGAINST HER… NO MATTER WHAT THE SCHOOL SAYS, OR DOES RAPE OF A MINOR IS AGAINST THE LAW, SEX OFFENDERS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED BACK IN SCHOOL. IT SEEMS THERE IS STILL A LAW-sUIT THAT HAS NOT BEEN FILED HERE…. just do it. H.S. GO AHEAD AND PROVE YOUR CASE……..THE SCHOOL AND THE SUPREME COURT ARE WRONG IN THEIR RULINGS…….
Unfortunately, our justice system favors the offender. Having had to go through the legal system myself related to an issue of unwanted advances, I have seen first-hand how much punishment the VICTIM receives in legal proceedings. Don’t think for a second because someone’s punishment is reduced to a lesser charge that they are any “LESS” guilty for what they did. These types of plea bargains happen all of the time… they do NOT mean that a person did not commit the crime.
This poor girl has suffered enough. To her school system… GOOD GRIEF… have you no sympathy? It makes me sick to my stomach to hear someone say… “the district has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers…” All she did was refuse to cheer for him. DO THE RIGHT THING!
Bert, she’s being pretty damn neutral compared to most advocacy pleas. And she did tell you to form your own opinion – if you don’t agree, go to another website or do some of your own research like any sensible person would. And how else would you propose other people around the world with their own busy lives can help the cheerleader other than influencing public opinion and offering financial support for the case?
yes dee hart, i agreee with every word you ahve said to BERT.. lET US ALL GET ON OUR KNESS AND START PRAYING FOR
Beg pardon? I’d say that looking into the facts and then
deciding a course of action for yourself — as opposed to simply
following someone else’s opinions or suggestions –
is precisely the correct thing to do.
He was convicted of the assault.
You’re too lazy to read, and rather throw a tantrum? This is a little more complex than a twitter message.
To all the stupid people saying blah blah form your own opinion. Reread the question. He didn’t ask her opinion. He asked if the player was still allowed to play on the team and if he was found guilty. None of that is opinion and could have all been easily answered in one sentence. Please, think before you comment… It does help to actually read the article if you have any confusion about the case though.
The questions were:
Was he found guilty of rape?
…and the short version of the answer is, he was found guilty, but not of rape, due to insufficient evidence, in part due to state backlog on processing the rape kit.
And did the team allow him to play after he was found guilty?
…and the short version of the answer is, he was found guilty after this incident happened; the incident occurred before he was indicted, so whether he was allowed to play after his assault conviction is not relevant to the case.
Which means, even the short answers are long, and leave more questions… therefore, if one wants to know more details, it’s best to go back to the source information.
The problem with short, quick answers, James, is that people will tend to hang all of their emotional judgment on it, and use that as an excuse to avoid many of the realities of the case. In much the same way that you are calling people stupid, and saying blah blah blah.
Would you rather be treated like an idiot, who is satisfied with simple, one word answers? Do you see the problem with this? Please, think before you comment, and make rational statements that are devoid of emotionally pointed insults and judgments. If you can.
Rape is rape, whether or not it was proven by a court.
Funny that, I’ve heard of many cases of falsely accused rape, where said girl was lying to get attention or some other motivation, in fact I’ve KNOWN people that have been falsely accused. So no, if it wasn’t proven by a court, then there is significantly less evidence to support her claim.
I have read several articles about this…it’s an all to familiar situation for young girls who are in these roles. This is the sole reason I will NEVER allow my girl to be a cheerleader, as much as she would enjoy it too. The parents of this community FAILED BIG TIME in protecting or preventing this kind of thing from happening again…it will, I’ve seen this kinda of thing before!
Also, the young man in question seemingly gets off scott-free with a one year sentence that is not served during his admitted plea bargain in the second case? I mean, if he was innocent…why would he plea bargain? I know if I was innocent and charged with so
something like this I would NEVER PLEA bargain and take it to court. But he didn’t, did he?
From the ABC article:
“He argued that when Bolton and Rountree were finally indicted by a third grand jury in the summer of 2009, Bolton was expelled. Rountree had already graduated. Two grand juries had previously refused to indict either boy.
“At the time she refused to cheer for the boy, he had been ‘no billed’ by the grand jury,” Hunt [lawyer for the school] said, referring to the previous grand jury’s ruling that there wasn’t significant evidence to warrant an indictment. “At that point, insofar as anyone [except the young woman who was raped and everyone at that party trying to break down the door and rescue her] knew, he wasn’t a rapist.” ”
I’ve not done much reading into the case, but it basically looks like the school thought it was he-says-she-says and chose the convinience of not embarrassing their star athlete over the feelings of just a cheerleader.
Or maybe she just lied about it? As screwed up as it is, a lot of teen girls will lie about getting raped just so they aren’t perceived as a ‘slut.’ Based on the evidence, he was found not guilty of the rape.
‘As screwed up as it is,’ most rape goes unreported or plead down to a misdemeanor and often the female victim is still perceived as a slut. Sure, the possibility that the rape did not occur is a possibility, but the point of this case has turned into more than a ‘did the rape occur’ case – this is about an obligation to support victims of sexual assault, who are most often female, rather than continually veil the issue simply because it is difficult to acknowledge.
The suggestion that ‘a lot of teen girls’ cry rape, so to speak, to avoid being labelled a slut is reinforcing the socially constructed binaries of female sexuality – victim or whore. It is this fear and repression of female sexuality that allows rape to, not only occur, but be mishandled within the legal system and by the public. Rape and sexual assault is hard to confront because it deals with female sexuality, a traditionally taboo subject. Even your wording ‘about getting raped’ suggests female sexual assault victims somehow invite, or are an active participant, in their having been raped.
Also, his being found not guilty of rape was based on evidence – the evidence not including the results of the rape kit.
Steve, you do know that regardless of how much/often someone has sex, they can still be raped? That if they say “No” at ANY point – and that’s even after saying yes at the beginning – then if whatever sexual action is taking place continues it is rape? A prostitute can be raped, Steve, if they tell the person that they don’t want to perform a sex act and the person forces them to do it anyway. Guys can be raped, too, and not just by other guys.
Also, this cheerleader was intoxicated, which in most states makes a person legally unable to give consent for ANYTHING, and was also 16, which made her unable to give consent due to being a minor. That is legally rape: sexual penetration without consent.
“Based on the evidence, he was found not guilty of the rape.” Not true. He took a plea bargain and pled guilty to simple assault. Usually, when someone takes a plea deal, it’s because the evidence is against them and their chances of a ‘not guilty’ finding at trial are slim to none. Rather than take their chances at trial when the risk of being found guilty and being given a much heftier sentence are great, they plead guilty for the certainty of a lesser sentence. If he wasn’t guilty, or the evidence against him wasn’t strong, he wouldn’t have taken a plea bargain.
Kathy, that’s an extremely narrow and rather naive view of when plea deals take place. Plea deals may be due to a defendant having little confidence in their counsel, wishing to avoid the time, hassle, and expense of a trial, or any other number of reasons. In this case, Bolton had graduated high school and wanted to attend college – an ongoing trial would require frequent return journeys to the hearing court’s jurisdiction. That alone is a plausible reason for accepting a plea.
On the other hand, the prosecution’s willingness to drop a child sexual assault charge in favour of a misdemeanor assault with no jail-time attached speaks volumes about their confidence in the chances of securing a conviction.
Additionally, I’d like to note that there are a lot of people in this thread citing a backlog of rapekits as the reason this case wasn’t more aggressively pursued. Does anyone have any actual evidence to support that claim? It doesn’t even seem to be mentioned in any in the articles listed, or in any I can find in my own research.
Finally, to the authors of this website – why have you decided to label Bolton as a “rapist”, despite there being only allegations to support that claim? Isn’t that a tad presumptuous? Why bother having a justice system at all, if we’re just going to throw out the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” in the opening paragraph? You can disagree with the court’s awarding of costs without libeling people in the process.
Just because a person’s charge is reduced does not mean that they are not guilty of the accused crime. It sounds like they could not admit the DNA evidence in this case due to a backlog in the system? Rape scars for LIFE. Crimes against women and children are atrocious. Not enough is done in our country to support victims in the legal system. It sounds like this poor girl has suffered … again and again… in part because of people who say things like… “she may have lied about it so she wouldn’t be called a slut”…
CNEWS says”Bolton pleaded guilty to misdeameanor assault of H.S, the rape charge was dropped.” Hope this helped!
Regardless of what the News or Supremem Court says, the rape of H<S< and her freedom of speech violated her every right as a person. She was minor , The Law says Sexual penetration of A MINOR IS RAPE…. her civil rights were violated every step of the way. a minor's sex test kit should be immediately processed…why were there three hearing before the grand jury before the offenders were charged? WHY WERE THE SEX OFFENDERS OT EXPLELLED FROM SCHOOL ONCE THEY WERE CHARGED WITH THE CRIME. OF COURSE ONE OF THEM HAD GRADUATED BEFORE THE THREE GRAND JURIES WERE HEARD..SOUNDS LIKE THE DA DID NOT DO HIS JOB CORRECTLY, AND ALMOST SET THE SEX OFFENDERS FREE…..THE BOYS CONFESSED THEY PENETRATED AND HAD SEX WITH H.S. THAT MAKES IT RAPE OF A MINOR.NO OTHER WAY THEY SHOULD BE CHARGED….THE SUPREME COURT FAILED TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION FOR H.S. HER RIGHTS WERE TOTALLYS TRIPPED FROM HER. THIS IS NOT RIGHT,,,THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH MUST STAND JUSTIFIED AND PROTECTED BY OUR LAWS.
I PRAY GOD RESTORE TO H.S WHAT HAS BEEN STOLEN FROM HER, AND HE VINDICATE HER BY MAKING SURE THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN TO ANY OTHER VICTIM. THOUSANDS OF MINORS ARE RAPED EACH YEAR, AND THEY DO NOT COME FORWARD AND TELL, BECAUSE OF THE RIDICULE AND UNFIAR HANDLING OF THE LAW… ATHLETES ARE PROTECT4ED BY THE LAW AND SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES, THIS IS NOT RIGHT. RAPE IS RAPE, THERE IS NO GRAY AREA IN THE LAW. WAKE UP AMERICA AND HELP H.S. DEFEND HER RIGHTS AND PROVE SHE IS RIGHT SHE MUST GET AN APOLOGY FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL, FROM THE OFFENDERS, AND LAST OF ALL FROM THE SUPREME COURT, WHO TOOK ALL OF HER RGHTS AWAY. THE BOYS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AT SCHOOL FOR HER TO HAVE TO REFUSE TO CHEER FOR. THEY WERE SEX OFFENDERS, AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN CONVICTED BY THE LAW AND PUNISHED BY THE LAW.READ ALL OF THE SEX CRIM BILLS THAT HAVE GONE THRU SINCE 07 AND SEE THAT THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THESE DIRTY ROTTEN OFFENDERS GOING FREE AND UNPUNISHED….NOW IN TEXAS WE HAVE GOTTEN THE LAW RE- WRITTEN THAT PUNISHES AN OFFENDER OF A MINOR AT LEAST 25 YEARS IN PRISON AND MAYBE LIFE IN PRISON, DEPENDING ON THE JURY….WE UST CALL FOR STIFFER PUNISHMENT OF THESE OFFENDERS AND MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT GO FREE AND ALLOW THE VICTIMS TO BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR CHOICES. H.S. HAS SUFFERED RIDICULE AND HARRASSMENT ENOUGH. LET'S ALL STEP UP TO THE PLATE IN TEXAS AND HELP HER FINISH HER BATTLE. THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT , BUT TO THOSE WHO ENDURE.LET US HELP HER ENDURE TO ACCOMPLISH HER GOAL OF RECIEVING RESTITUTION FOR HER RIDICULE, AND EMBARRASSMENT FORM THE SCHOOL AND OFFICIALS, THAT WERE WILLING TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY TO PROTECT THEIR FOOTBALL TEAM AND PLAYERS….THIS IS NOT RIGHT. MAY GOD BRING IS VENGENCE UPON ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE ATTACK AND RIDICULE ON H.S. AND GIVE HER COVENANT JUSTICE TO RECIEVE THE APOLOGY SHE SO DESERVES FROM SO MANY OTHERS………GOD GIVE THEM NO PEACE UNTIL THEY MAKE IT RIGHT TO HER.
Frances, “the law” varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I have read that the first grand jury declined to bring child sexual assault charges because, in the opinion of the DA at the time, the fact that all the participants in the incident were within 3 years of age meant that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ provisions within the code prevented such a charge from being laid. Such provisions were meant to prevent child sexual assault charges, wherein consent is not an issue because it can’t be legally given by a minor, from being laid in cases where consensual sex occurred between, say, a partner 1 day shy of their 18th birthday and a partner 1 day after it. The final grand jury obviously disagreed with this initial decision, but whether that charge would have held up in court is something we will never know.
Yes – he was allowed to continue to play basketball and thereby represent the school. Amazing! In Texas, we have “No Pass, No Play” – if a student does not pass any one class, they are not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities. But apparently, they can break the law, commit a violent crime, plea bargin down to a misdemeanor (simple assault) and continue to suit up without so much as a hiccup or hesitation. Explain to me what is rational about THAT???
Every parent with a child attending Silsbee High School, or one who will attend there in the future, should be having an absolute fit. I know I would be….I have two daughters – they were abused by a babysitter who subsequently spent 7 years in prison by the time I finished “tearing down the house”.
The perpetrator should NEVER have been allowed to continue to play after being convicted of any level of assault. As a parent, I would not allow MY child to continue to play, side by side, on the same team as, the perpetrator – not in this lifetime or the next twenty.
Shame on you Silsbee ISD admins! Don’t think for one second that I don’t know how deep the sports – East Texas connection runs….my family is FROM East Texas for several generations now. But you have sold out your souls to punish the victim in this situation while sending the perpetrator the message that what he did was “no big deal”.
Do you even know the details of this case? When he was indicted by the grand jury he was expelled. He was allowed to play beforehand because he had not been found guilty of anything.
I am from Silsbee and no he was not convicted but he was charged with indecencie with a child because of his age and the other guy who was 18 was not charged and neither was the minor. They had no evidence of a rape just her word against his. and they allowed him back to school after the court said there was not enough evidence. Therefore he got to play basketball his senior year. as for her she signed a contract saying that is you are not allowed to be in the possesion of alcohol or drugs. She was found with alcohol and should have been immeadiately removed from the squad period. Most people only get bits and pieces of the story and they get angry.
She wasn’t kicked off for being around alcohol she was kicked off for not cheeering his name and “being the mouth peice of the school” they were 2 years to late to kick her off for that one brittany. And even if you are from silsbee that doesnht mean you actully know what she was kicked off for or what happened to her. where you at the partym in the when she got kicked off? I mean if you were plese inlighten us all.
no he pleaded out along with the other two boys and remember she wasnt innocent either she went to the party and got drunk. so if she was captian of the cheerleading squad then she was not setting a good example for the school and she also got to stay a chherleader
This is unbelievable. I am never at a loss for words but they escape me at the moment. All I can say is that I pray justice will be done by you one day, young lady. Blessings!
I’m completely sickened by this whole affair. This country cannot continue the culture of victim blaming in cases like this; it’s inexcusable.
@H.S., stay strong girl and know that, even though the justice system and school officials seem content to sweep this under the rug, the rest of us support you and will do what we can to help and see that justice is done.
Thank you so much for stopping by and offering words of support to H.S.!
Thanks for setting this up to help the victim and her family. I will be donating some money to this cause and will also do my best to help get the word out. Maybe we can raise enough money for her and her family to get the heck out of Texas altogether?
Thanks so much for all your support and helping to get the word out!
I absolutely don’t mean this as a criticism, but rather it’s my run-of-the-mill check before donating. Can you offer some proof you are connected to the cheerleader or that the money will definitely end up in her and her families hands? I can’t imagine anyone would do this as a scam but it’s fairly easy to throw a website like this together.
The first thing that I thought when I saw that article was I’d like to donate. Thank you for this!
I completely understand. I am in contact with her lawyer, but his office is a very small, one-man operation with no website. The only assurance I can give at this time is my own word and public profile, but I will be contacting him later this week to see if we can figure out a way to verify the campaign, without necessarily flooding his office with phone calls. Thanks so much for your interest!
Came across this in the comments at http://www.politicususa.com/en/texas-cheerleader-rape:
“Scott Rose on May 8, 2011 at 6:45 pm
have activated a State Bar IOLTA Trust From the victim’s attorney Larry Watts: “I have set up an Account at Bank of Texas to receive donations to HS and her parents for court assessed costs, her legal fees and expenses. Contributions should be sent to Watts Associates IOLTA Routing Number 111014325, Account No. 2902216304.”
I would encourage anyone who is uncomfortable contributing here but who wants to help HS out to use the Trust account here.
I cannot believe this. This is an outrage. Our government is deisgned to help us with our problems, not to create them. I don’t know if I can donate money because my family’s in a tight spot right now, but I will sure find people who will. Hang in there hun. We’re feeling your pain.
Thank you for all your support!
Helping to spread the word is a great way to support! Thanks so much!
This is disgusting. I heard about this through another website. Schools can be so sickening. They care more about sports then the do the life of a girl who was raped. Poor Girl. Stay strong H.S., everyone is here for you.
Thanks so much for visiting the website and commenting. We appreciate your support!
That’s just WRONG! I read an article about her in Seventeen if anybody is curious about where to research her. She was violated and she shouldn’t be harassed for taking care of herself and protecting herself. It is completely inexcusable.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Please help us spread the word!
Thanks for all your support!
Okay, I don’t get this. It’s not like she waved a big sign saying he was a rapist or tried to hurt him or his image in any way. She stood there quietly with arms crossed, not cheering for the uncaring, inconsiderate ass that assaulted her. And for THAT she got kicked off the squad?
Now, I’m not trying to compare religion with rape, but if they were having a prayer before the game and she wasn’t Christian, they would just ask her to observe a moment of silence during the prayer, right? So if she didn’t want to participate in that activity, she could do so. So why is this any different? If she doesn’t want to participate in cheering for this ONE guy during his free throws (and notice, no one said she was refusing to cheer period….just during this one particular activity), then shouldn’t she be allowed to abstain from that activity in the same respectful manner?
Just my opinion.
Well, apparently, according to the court decision, “this act [i.e. refusing to cheer for Bolton] constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, H.S. was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily.” If yo find that insufficient… that makes two of us.
I wonder if the coach of the cheerleading squad knew what happened to her (I haven’t read any of the supporting articles, sorry) — if so, why not just let her sit that cheer out? If she didn’t speak to the squad coach about it then it’s awful that she felt she couldn’t talk to her cheerleading coach! If anyone should care to create an atmosphere of trust and health and well-being it’s the squad coach!!
If the squad coach knew about the assault and didn’t care to let her sit-it-out, or chastised her for not cheering, shame shame shame.
You know, this is what I was thinking too. If she was just standing off to the side and not being disruptive or inflammatory (which teenagers are wont to do), then I don’t see what the concern was on the part of the school.
Poor girl.
It’s digusting that victims of rape are often portrayed as the guilty party, it was increbibly brave of her to continue to go to school with her rapist let alone her other protests. She should be really proud of herself, and Jessica to for setting up this site, soceity needs to accept that rapists are crimanls with no expection. It’s a wonder he even was able to return to school after what he did and admitted to doing, while she is punished for using her basic human rights.
Thanks so much, Becky.
Hi! If anyone wants to read the case ruling, it is at http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/09/09-41075.0.wpd.pdf
I definitely think this ruling could have gone differently in a different circuit.
Jessica, I’ve donated, but I will feel more comfortable asking others to donate once there’s a way to verify that the funds will go directly to H.S.’s legal costs. Thanks for doing all of this!
Thank you for posting that link! And your reservations are understandable. We are doing what we can to find a way of verification without overloading her lawyer with phone calls, or violating the privacy of the victim. Thanks so much for coming by and donating.
When you hear the story it sounds unbelievable. However, when you read the court ruling, the judges had little room to decide otherwise. There is no legal right to stay on the cheerleader team if you do not follow the rules, and at the time it was a she-said he-said situation.
Imagine the situation the other way round (and at the time it could have been both ways, as far as the school knew) where a white girl falsely acuses a black boy of rape and the school kicks the star athelete from the team and the school without a conviction (and he is later found innocent).
The school exhibited a remarkable lack of sensibility, understanding and common sense, this delicate (and at the time ambivalent) situation could have been resolved much more amiably.
However, despite the disgusting situation, the school was in its rights to act as it did AND the judges had no choice but to acknowledge that.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ’0 which is not a hashcash value.
That’s bull! The judges HID behind the law, plain and simple, and even the merits of their argument is at BEST debatable and at worst outright cowardice. In dismissing the 14th amendment claim they cited a case involving NCAA regulations which itself cited someone trying to skirt the “No Pass/No Play” rule. In the cited cases, there is either a state LAW or an official “regulation” (in the case of the NCAA) that governs actions. I find it difficult to believe such regulations exist (or at least, existed at the time) for what a cheerleader “must” do.
But worse by far is the dismissal of the First Amendment claim, they cite another case to show that free speech is not protected ‘when that speech would “substantially interfere with the work of the school.” ‘ Call me crazy, but I thought the “work of the school” is to EDUCATE THE STUDENTS. How is an extra-curricular activity (and worse, the SUPPORT of an extra-curricular activity) considered “work of the school” for the purpose of suppressing a student’s free speech. And even IF one wants to claim that fielding a winning team is part of the “work of the school” how is the girl’s refusal to cheer one player impeding that any more than her not being on the squad? Does the school fail at it’s “work” when at away games (when there are few or no fans to cheer the team in the stands)? That is the worst example of judicial cowardice I can think of in recent memory.
The fact that we seem UNABLE to apply “Common Sense” to the law (which I thought was the whole POINT of having judges and juries in the process) is the most depressing thing in this day and age.
I’m with Courtney. One iota of solid proof that this is for real, and I’m happy. All I can see from here is someone asking for money and posting links to news articles. Not exactly hard to set up. I’m not making accusations, I’m just trying to point out that trust has to be established.
You are entitled to that opinion, and we understand your reservations. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read about the case. If you don’t want to donate here, we encourage you to donate to any number of victims advocate groups in the name of H.S.
Came across this in the comments at http://www.politicususa.com/en/texas-cheerleader-rape:
“Scott Rose on May 8, 2011 at 6:45 pm
have activated a State Bar IOLTA Trust From the victim’s attorney Larry Watts: “I have set up an Account at Bank of Texas to receive donations to HS and her parents for court assessed costs, her legal fees and expenses. Contributions should be sent to Watts Associates IOLTA Routing Number 111014325, Account No. 2902216304.”
I would encourage anyone who is uncomfortable contributing here but who wants to help HS out to use the Trust account they set up.
I look forward to the day that Texas joins the 20th century. Sigh.
I would like to know, does a donation go to pay for the $45,000.00 tab or does it go to fighting it? I don’t think any money should go to a school that rakes in that much money at every football game, and this poor girl certainly has legal fees from earlier rounds. change.org suggested sending the school 1 cent towards the balance. I think that speaks volumes if that many people could send 1 cent. Check out change.org. They have over 41,000 signatures telling Silsbee H.S. to not require the money to be paid. I don’t think the school should get any payment whatsoever, not even pennies, really, and I’d rather help her pay her legal bills. To hell with the school district.
These donations will be allotted to paying the damages owed to the school. Any amount going over the $45,000 will be given to H.S. in order to help cover their own legal expenses.
Jessica-there is no damages for the school The money is for frivolous lawsuits.The kept going to court. Her claim that she has a First Amendment right not to cheer while remaining on the cheer leading squad is legally frivolous, and the court was right to shift the costs of defending those frivolous claims away from the local taxpayers. We have a system.This is the system You should be trying to get the policies or other changed. Until the money is put in an account to be doled out TO the family and proof that it is going to them, people take a HUGE risk. I took a situation to court and had to pay the cost also. This is how our country does not descend into chaos.I have NO idea who did what and would NEVER daunt her or he boy until I heard all the facts and all the facts are NOT available. Most of you are deciding this based on an emotional response. I hope the young women gets counciling and help for what happened if it did indeed happen.
Jessica-may I suggest something? I went though something similar but not about me so trust me when I say I am TRYING to look into this but most people will not. You might want to get the rulings,and the facts and post links. people are lazy these days and even as an almost pro researcher I had issues finding info that was not repeated, Don’t leave out that it took 3 times to plea bargain the boy and make sure you give all details. This article from Psychology Today takes about the harassment the family went through and also that the girl was being mocked by fans in the stand as she cried at the game.This is a well known publication and is trusted in facts. Here is that article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/witness/201011/rape-victim-should-cheer-rapist-court-says
I can try to get some links together for you that have the information that people want and that is easy reading and understandable. IF you want people to give money,there must be NO doubt in their minds to facts an you need to find a trusted bank or place that will collect and dole out.Too many scams these days.Good luck
We do have the “Articles About this Case” page, and I’m happy to get any additional links you would like to offer. The family’s lawyer has set up a bank account, but I don’t feel comfortable giving that information out publicly. Thanks so much for stopping by and offering your advice.
Came across this in the comments at http://www.politicususa.com/en/texas-cheerleader-rape:
“Scott Rose on May 8, 2011 at 6:45 pm
have activated a State Bar IOLTA Trust From the victim’s attorney Larry Watts: “I have set up an Account at Bank of Texas to receive donations to HS and her parents for court assessed costs, her legal fees and expenses. Contributions should be sent to Watts Associates IOLTA Routing Number 111014325, Account No. 2902216304.”
I would encourage anyone who is uncomfortable contributing here but who wants to help HS out to use the Trust account instead.
Thank you for sharing this!
The fact that she lost her First Amendment claim does not make it frivolous. A loss does not equal frivolity. The court can only award attorneys’ fees in a Section 1983 case when the plaintiff’s claims were frivolous, unreasonable, groundless, or without merit. Frivolous means “not having any serious purpose or value.” Just because she lost her case does not mean that the lawsuit had no value. It was a legitimate legal question, whether or not she had the First Amendment right to free expression–to remain silent when the man who raped her was shooting free throws and not cheer “2, 4, 6, 8, 10, Go Rakheem! Put it in!” I still think the court was wrong, she wasn’t creating a substantial interference with a legitimate pedagogical purpose. It was a basketball game, not a classroom lecture, and she didn’t create a disruption anyway. Any disruption was caused by the family members of the rapist. But that’s Texas and sports for you, especially in Texas small towns.
If it where my daughter he would be taking a dirt nap.
Next fall, I want to organize a huge protest at the big homecoming game at Silsbee High School, and chant “DOWN WITH RAPE” And carry protest signs, call the tv stations and film it!
What I think you should chant is. “HO HO HEY HEY WHO DID YOU SEXUALLY ASSAULT TODAY!!”.
The school wants cheerleaders for the monster. give them some.
Being a victim that went through the judicial system and there was injustice in the verdict. He only got assault. I agree that these signs be held at the games. Shame him!. I would hug the girl and give that ass a good hard kick *you know where*
Oh, please do!
I will absolutely support you with this protest.
Keep ur head up n b strong young child. As for the state,the school,both parents,the boy,the courts/judge
All parties should have your heads examined taken and taught AGAIN the correct morals and values u all should abide by.”and I’m not talking legal ones”. I pray to see u all find the corrective measures before ur god does.good luck livin w ur decisions. “just say’n”
That just makes me sick, that is like telling a high school athlete that rape is perfectly acceptable when it never is under any circumstance. I just hope she remains strong and feels the love pouring out for her in these posts on her behalf.
I’m at a loss for words to this whole situation. I’ll just wish this girl the best of luck dealing with this and make my donation.
What amazes and sickens me most is that the court finds it acceptable to fine this girl. No one ever cares to place themselves in the other persons shoes, to think about what they might be going through. It occurs to me that no one in the court has taken the time to think about how this will continue to affect her. This showcases yet another problem with today’s society-unaccountability. It’s always someones else fault or problem. I wonder if at any time the people who made this decision really took into account that she’s a person who had a horrible experience and strove to survive. She pushed past it and stood up for her belief and is being punished. I hope she comes through this as strong as ever, and that the people who made this callous decision never have to put themselves in her shoes. I doubt they’d survive as she has.
From what I read on the ruling, it seems more like the cheerleader sued for the wrong thing, but wasn’t wrong in her decision to go to court in the first place (according to how I interpret the ruling anyway).
This society and culture needs to stop accepting rape as “okay.” I remember high school… there was something about being arrested and/or convicted of a crime while on a team that said that you weren’t allowed to play on that team any longer? Apparently that isn’t the issue here. As for taking a plea for rape. Is there really anything lower? “Hey, you destroyed this girl’s life, but why don’t you volunteer at a hospital for a few hours and we’ll call it even?”
The court ruling doesn’t make me want to vomit. I’m used to old jerks saying “If you didn’t like it, why did you go?”
The school board. The superintendent. The city. The county. The entire community makes me want to vomit.
Have made a donation. This has not made it’s way to Europe yet, as I just read about it today via a friend from FB. It doesn’t give a good message to any high school student out there who feels that they would be supported if something happened to them.
It HAS made its way to europe, just now. I am german, found this, and will make it public as much as I can. I cannot understand how she could still go back to that school…I could never have. luckily laws here are at least a BIT more strict, although people get away too easy here too, as I know from personal experience…
Let us hope that, at some point, there will be cheering for people who get back to life after falling victim to a horrible crime – and all the opposite for the people who did the things to them.
Excuse my bad english please.
the whole situation certainly feels wrong but it would seem he was offered a plea bargain because rape could not be proven definitively. my point being organizing a rallies to publically defame this athlete is opening yourself up to potential law suit because to my understanding as far as the courts are concerned he did not commit rape. you can avoid legal issues and still have the rally thanks to the free speech so long as the athletes name isnt mentioned. I DO NOT HAVE A LAW DEGREE i have only taken a business law class that covered some basic stuff.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ’7 which is not a hashcash value.
I’ve donated, please do the same.
I’m a survivor of child molestation, domestic violence and sexual assault (last two by a boyfriend when I was an adult). When I spoke about my experiences, I was called a liar. My family hid the molestation, and people that I call friends had a hard time accepting that I’d been victimized. What this girl has gone through is deplorable, and the fact that the adults around her refuse to help makes it even worse. These people are supposed to protect her, and instead want to pretend that it doesn’t happen.
For anyone reading this who is a victim or survivor, you aren’t alone. Please seek help, and don’t ever believe that it was your fault, or that you deserved it. Here’s to hoping that this young woman, and others like her, can find some peace.
http://www.RAINN.org
http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/
http://www.ncadv.org/
As so many others have said, this is unbelievable. The whole situation from start to finish is appalling, particularly the school’s complete lack of support. What does it say about your organization when you allow someone who has admitted attacking a girl and is accused of raping her to continue to play on for their team, but throw off the girl for not cheering his name? What sort of warped mentality puts the second thing worse than the first? I’ve donated to this cause, and will be spreading the link; I hope that this gets more media coverage because it’s so disgusting and something should be done.
As a young man, I am pissed. What gives anyone the right to think they can do that. Go cheerleader.
thank you, Bob. It is men like you that bring me hope.
Most of these links are stating an opinion, one way or another. Here is a link to a local news channel that contains reports from the initial incident up to the final court action.
http://www.kfdm.com/articles/former-39394-school-high.html
That is… so wrong.
That girl deserves justice, not a fine. She had the balls to stand up, admit she was raped, and try to get help, and she gets a god damned fine?? The world is just fucked up…
I’ll donate what I can, and that girl can bet that I, too, will be supporting her any way I can.
How is that bastard even still at large? He should be in jail having it put in by his cellmate, not playing sports in school. >.<
And on top of having been raped, this girl now has to magically dig out 45k? Something is wrong in this rotten world. Very wrong.
This is horable it goes to show you what are world is going to straight out hell this whole stiutaton males me sick so the school is saying basically It’s ok for the girl to live in guilt and flash backs all her life as long as she cheers the rapist on what is that showing our,young teens today rape someone and u well be popular the school is,sick and for the girl that this happened to you did the right thing cuz if I was in the same situation as you I wouldn’t cheer his name either my family well keep u in prayer and dnt give up keep fighting until you win more people need to fight like you are,
I would encourage everyone to contact their local talk radio and news programs. Get Silsbie as much bad publicity as you can. The idea of tracking down any corporate or community sponsors is also a great one. People in the town who attend sporting events at the High School should be able to do this easily. Pressure them to withdraw sponsorship. Make it clear their relationship with this school will be publicized.
H.S. and friends: I am an internet radio DJ, and I will be talking about this on the air tomorrow and helping to spread the word. The way you’re being treated is not okay, it’s not right, and I am so glad to see that you’re strong enough to want to stand up and show people that. We need to stop blaming the victim for situations like this, and schools and courts need to learn to act with more compassion. Best of luck to you, and remember-there may be a few scumbags like this boy in the world, but there are many people who are good, upstanding, and supportive of you. Don’t let one rotten apple sour you on the rest of the barrel.
If I save the cheerleader, will I save the world?
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ’0 which is not a hashcash value.
It’ll help.
I like how everyone completely throws “innocent until proven guilty” out of the window whenever rape is mentioned. It’s exactly the reason why girls can go around accusing people they don’t like of rape and ruining their lives. Yes, the guy assaulted her and he admitted that, but that doesn’t mean he raped her. In fact it could probably be the reason she’s claiming rape, so that she can get revenge. Note that I’m not saying that she’s claiming rape for revenge or that he didn’t rape her, but it’s ridiculous how you people would be so willing to throw away some kid’s future because she said she raped him without any real proof.
No one throws “innocent until proven guilty” out the window in rape cases. In fact, rape victims are often times the most blamed for what happened to them. Society shames girls and women by telling them that they’re sluts, or that they deserved it, or “they’re trying to get revenge.” I for one am pleased to see that the people who have stumbled upon or been sent to this site aren’t immediately jumping to victim blaming, because in the real world, people tend to put the blame on the female who was raped, and not on the actual male who raped her.
Throwing “innocent until proven guilty” out of the window is exactly what most of the commentors here have done. At this point in time, nobody should be placing blame on anybody because neither side has any proof against the other.
Regardless of rape, he admitted he assaulted her. He plead guilty to aggravated assault. She shouldn’t have been punished for not cheering for him, and she certainly shouldn’t have to pay $45,000. She is a victim of an assault, possibly of a rape as well. She’s not the criminal here.
As a cheerleader, her job is to cheer regardless of what’s going on in her personal life. By not cheering, she’s making the rest of the squad look bad/lazy and taking up space for someone else who’s willing to cheer. The basketball player served his time for the crime that we know he committed so now nobody is the criminal at this point. Whether or not she deserved the $45K fine is debatable but there’s probably a reason for it.
Riku, you’re such a typical victim-blamer/rape-apologist. One day you’re going to look back at this and be ashamed of yourself.
I’m not blaming the victim nor am I apologizing towards the “rapist”. I’m saying that getting kicked off of the cheerleading team was a justified consequence. If she’s not going to cheer, she can’t be a cheerleader.
Picture this. You’re a parent, the parent of a beautiful, lively young girl. Your daughter is in school. I beat the holy living shit out of that girl, mentally and emotionally damaging her in the process… and go up to the courts, plea my way into a small slap on the wrist, and go party while your daughter suffers. Then your daughter is told she has to walk up and tell me how awesome I am in public or she looses the thing she loves the most.
If you would NOT be furious about this, and if, if it were YOUR child that was hurt, you would STILL feel that “nobody is the criminal at this point” even though you could read the pain on your daughter’s face every single day… then frankly, you should never be having kids. Ever. “Nobody is the criminal at this point” is the single most ignorant statement I think I’ve heard all year.
If someone beat your mother to within an inch of her life, plead guilty to a lesser charge, served a few years in jail and got out on ‘good behaviour’, saved a kitten from a tree and then she was told that she, personally, to give them the good Samaritan award herself would you not be pissed off? As a note, I wish no harm on your mother- this is just a what-if scenario under the presumption that your mother is someone you care about. I know in rare cases that’s not how it goes, but most people do genuinely love their mothers, so what if someone hurt yours and essentially got away with it?
If someone you worked with assaulted you, got off on a lesser charge than what they may have deserved, and then you got fired for not walking up and handing them the “Employee of the Month” award yourself, would you really believe that “nobody is the criminal at this point”?
“Nobody is the criminal at this point” my ass. What else is perfectly forgivable to you if people only do the time and pretend they’re sorry?
I’m not a person who holds grudges. If somebody assaulted, my child, mother, or myself, I’d let the legal system handle it, however well or poorly that may be, and be on with my life.
Also, stop doing “what ifs” as your argument. It can be used to twist anything your way. What if it was YOUR successful son who was still being accussed of raping a girl even after he wasn’t found guilty in a court of law? Would you not be furious that somebody is trying to ultimately ruin your son’s life by having the title “rapist” stamped onto him whenever he needs to apply for a job or a loan or anything else in life?
What if your mother was accussed of a crime and took a lesser charge simply so that ordeal could move even when she didn’t do it and when she got out of jail on good behavior, she was still labeled as a criminal?
Are you seeing my point here? And if she doesn’t want to cheer for her attacker then she needs to join a cheerleading squad that isn’t through her school. She knew she’d have to cheer for him since he’s a basketball player.
“Making the squad look bad” is a worse offense than forcing a person to cheer for their attacker?
Way to have a sense of priorities.
It does not matter if he attacked her or not. She was there to do a job and when she didn’t, she got cut. That’s it. All outside matters are completely irrelevant.
In response to your counter what-ifs: If my son was ever accused of rape, for one thing, I’d be the one heading the freaking investigation. Why? Because if he did it then he DOES deserve what he gets, as much as it would hurt me, and if he did not then I need to know why this accusation was made. The courts calling him innocent would not be enough for me. I would need to know why this girl decided to say this boy had raped her. There has to be a reason, and I would not rest until I knew what that reason was. What if it WAS revenge? What if there was something else he HAD done to her? As a mother, I would want to know.
And as for my mother being wrongfully accused of a crime: Been there, fucking done that already. My single mother had a nice contract on her rented home that wouldn’t let her landlord raise the rent because there was too much damage he wouldn’t repair. so he called Child Protective Services, lied about my mother selling drugs, and had my sister taken from her just to evict her and charge someone else higher rent. The authorities proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she had never done any such thing, and CPS WOULD NOT RETURN MY SISTER TO MY MOTHER ANYWAY. She had to live with that punishment, even though she had done nothing wrong. I have been on the absolute shittiest end of wrongful accusations. I had to watch my baby sister practically be destroyed by this. I am STILL willing to put my faith into the eyewitnesses who were there at the time of H.S.’s rape and the rape kit that, to no fault of the prosecution, has not been processed yet. Are you seeing MY point here? If you really love someone, you do not just get on with your life. You feel the pain for years. I can take your scenarios head on instead of trying to dance around the case and pretend I’m not pissed about what happened to my mother, or H.S.’s situation. The evidence is there. You’re the one choosing to pretend it doesn’t exist because of an innocent verdict.
I know a rape victim. She was drugged by a lawyer’s son. They attacked her character and played the system and pulled every string they could and he got away with it, and she had to live with the trauma of the unwanted pregnancy. She gave the baby up for adoption because she couldn’t bring herself to have an abortion, but by God she could not raise the child herself either. I have seen the worst of these cases, specifically what happens when people like you don’t feel like thinking for themselves and follow the judgement of a judicial system that, sadly, is tilted too easily. But I suppose you could never understand that. You can’t see anything but your own black and white little world, can you? Just leave this page. It’s intended to support a woman, not condemn her, and you’re not welcome.
Actually- at every paid job I’ve worked, I have had the option of leaving a customer to be dealt with by a co-worker. I would never have been required to deal with someone I had a negative past with. In fact, I was actively encouraged to avoid such situations. Quietly sitting out of a single cheer seems completely reasonable, especially when the school was aware of what was going on. Especially as this is an extracurricular activity, which is supposed to be fun, NOT a paying job.
Wow, really? Yeah, she was probably faking it. That’s why she appealed three times and suffered “friends” calling her horrible names. She probably just wanted REVENGE. Her little sister transferred schools because of the tormenting that was happening. The fact that this girl didn’t sit down and shut up when her peers wanted her to is amazing. Instead of going “what if she thought it would be funny to call rape” how about we accept that getting called a slut every day and jeered at in the cafeteria is NOT something most teenagers want to go through.
People like you are the people who make victims stay quiet. Shameful.
If I’m the one who makes victims stay quiet then you’re the one who makes fakers think they can get away with it by giving them unwavering support whether or not they have sufficient proof.
Why are you so willing to throw out “innocent until proven guilty” when someone is claiming that they have been raped? You are effectively claiming the victim was not innocent, and she was in fact guilty of lying that a crime occurred.
Here is a rundown on the entire case, including eye witness reports, if you want more information: http://tinyurl.com/3kltnex Most of us are basing our conclusions off this information, and the information that is helpfully linked at the bottom of this very article.
I’m not claiming the victim wasn’t innocent nor am I claiming that she’s lying. In fact, I’ve clearly stated that the guy was charged for assault.
Yes, I’m absolutely sure that H.S. has benefited enormously from this whole situation.
Sorry, I meant to add an *eyeroll* to my comment… in case the sarcasm wasn’t obvious.
Whether or not she benefited is irrelevant.
Hi Riku. Let’s clear a few things up! False rape accusations occur in about 3-5% of cases, which is the same rate as false theft charges – the belief that women frequently use rape accusations to “get revenge” on men is a myth. It’s also sort of odd that, even if this myth were more true, people still believe it: as evidenced by this case (and many others), rape charges often have little or no effect on the defendant and drag the plaintiff through a horrible ordeal. There’s a reason H.S. specified that she wanted to encourage other victims to come forward – her experience is a normal one for rape victims, and as a result only 25% of rapes are ever prosecuted. Of the convictions, just 5% serve jail time. What person would want to put themselves through that on false grounds, knowing it would likely ruin their life and not end in any real punishment for the perpetrator?
We’re bringing to light the fact that H.S. was horribly mistreated regardless of the outcome of the case. Silsbee High offered H.S. no sympathy or help, told her to avoid normal social activities instead of addressing the harassment she experienced at school, and refused to compromise so she could continue cheerleading, which she loves so much she continued even after the assault. Such treatment is unacceptable, and H.S.’s family should not suffer financial ruin for their daughter’s bravery in the face of such trauma.
Listen, I’m not saying she was lying, but I’m going to agree with the person with whom you are disagreeing.
Evidence falls on the prosecution, not the defense.
If I’m going to claim someone shot me, I have to provide evidence they did, not just say they did. I’m not saying he’s innocent, but he should be assumed so until proof is given. Since he did not plead guilty to rape, and was not convicted of rape, one cannot assume he committed it (regardless of how it sounds, you were not there. You cannot verify.).
Also, 78% of statistics are made up on the spot. Please do not quote statistics without data to back it up. I get so sick and tired of people claiming numbers they have no way to claim (except that they totally saw it on this one website this one time, although they can’t find it anymore but that’s not important, because they know they saw it!).
The rape kit hasn’t been processed yet. This isn’t H.S.’s fault. She got the kit done, something a lot of rape victims have a hard time with, and they didn’t get the results to her in time for her to take it to court. What would you be saying if they tested it tomorrow and it turned out that the evidence DID say he did it?
You know, I think even if this were a case of ‘crying rape’ (and I’m not saying that I think it is), I still don’t see that the girl should have been penalised for refusing to cheer for him. From what the news articles state, she wasn’t being disruptive towards him during the game, merely didn’t want to cheer for her rapist (even if it was assault and not rape I think that would be reasonable). But this is my opinion, you’re obviously welcome to yours, even if I don’t agree with you.
I’m confused.
It’s of course great for her to be on the squad, but couldn’t her squadleader give her the match-day off? She knew she would have to cheer for the guy, after all.
Horrible thing happening to her, and I don’t get what she is being fined for, but wasn’t that a little bit naive?
The school was already recommending that she “keep her head down” and lay low. Most likely, she just wanted to get back to participating in a sport she loved, and piece her life back together. Being asked to sit out of an entire game when she wanted to participate sounds more like a punishment. I don’t think allowing her to skip a single cheer is unreasonable accommodation, and I think her school should have backed her up on this.
As a former athlete and now coach I have witnessed this ugly truth time and again: A school will allow a star player to get away with anything short of murder so long as it allows that player to participate in the next big game. This is possibly one of the most detrimental and selfish attitudes towards discipline I ever seen, as it deprives the player of need character and important life lessons for the sake of the school’s winning records as well as teaches that child’s peers that all students are not, in fact, on equal ground.
I am completely against this sort of favoritism as it is horribly damaging for young men. If a player does something reprehensible, that action should be punished accordingly. As a coach I reward hard work, dedication to the team, and most importantly, good conduct and sportsmanship on and off the field. I don’t care if you’re my star player or 3rd string. Missing a some games (or being kicked from the team entirely) will help you more in the long run than ignoring it and teaching you there are no consequences for your actions. You are not special, buddy.
Sports favoritism in the schools is damaging to everybody. You are absolutely right. As someone whose education suffered because of the heavy focus on sports in my district, I am in favor of completely divorcing sports from public schools. I know that will never happen, because we value fun over intelligence, so I support extremely high standards for school sports games instead. This guy’s assault charge should have gotten him kicked off the team for good.
I am really disgusted by the comments I’ve seen that it was the cheerleader’s responsibility to not make the team “look bad” by not cheering. Is that honestly more important than her individual wellbeing?
I’m a bit concerned that this man wasn’t convicted of sexual assault, but is still being labelled a rapist. Can I assume that the people throwing this label around know more than the prosecutors who saw fit to instead convict him of assault?
From what i have read, the collected evidence could take several years to process due to severe backlog.
the young man chose to take a plea for assault rather than go to trial for it and have to wait several years for the evidence.
which i think is stupid honestly, if you have evidence in a case that is ready to go to trial, shouldn’t it take greater priority than a case that isn’t? or maybe thats what all the backlog is…
This link has a rundown of the case, including eyewitness reports: ttp://tinyurl.com/3kltnex You can also click the “Articles About This Case” link at the bottom of this article. If you truly are curious about the details of this case, you can check there for more information instead of doubting the veracity of this young woman’s claims on a post that is trying to aid her.
Read this: http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/05/27/a-cheerleaders-rape-in-a-small-texas-town/ Her story is confirmed by several eyewitness accounts, including another athlete who was in the room and actually WATCHED the rape. He was charged with sexual assault, but then allowed to plead down to misdemeanor assault anyway.
I was shocked when I began to read about this. Are these school “officials” completely out of their minds? I cannot believe that an educated person, never mind being a paid educator, could possibly be so imbecilic, callous, immoral and money grubbing to pursue this. When these charges against this athlete first came to light, the school should have removed him from the team. Assault is a crime in itself. The judges sitting on the courts should be ashamed for their ruling for the school board and along with the prosecutors for accepting this rapist’s plea bargain. Everyone in the state of Texas should hang their heads in shame for electing these officials. Where has common sense and civility gone from our society?
I cannot beleive the courts would drop the rape charges! That is ludicris! It also shocks me they punished her and family and raped her again by telling her she was supporting her school NOT him, but how can they say this? Now on the other hand, if she had cheered for him, then this would have never happened, but people would call her names and whatnot saying “Why would you cheer for someone who “apparently” raped you? This poor girl and her family! I am so glad to hear you and organizations are out there helping her!
Sadly it is Texas – my home state – and in many of the school districts outside the major cities, sports are the supreme activity of the high schools. Everything else is only there to support it, and school districts and universities even will go to absurd lengths to keep a ‘star player’ playing. :/
The order of actual events is hazy, but at no point does it excuse the school district for A) Not having any kind of policy to address sexual assault situations in place to protect the victim and investigate properly B) Refusing to admit they made a mistake and that what they wanted that girl to do (telling -her- to keep a low profile, and cheer for the rapist) was cruel.
I heard about this, and it is truly awful.
Not to sound like a jerk, but is there a way to make sure that any money i donate will actually go to the girl and her family? There are people on the interwebs that wouldn’t hesitate to set something like this up just to get some extra money (no offense).
Chris, please email us at helpthecheerleader@gmail.com.
Thanks for your interest!
This is completely unacceptable on so many levels. I think that she has EVERY right not to cheer for the guy. I mean, come on. HE RAPED HER.
I wonder what would have happened had it been a star basketball player accusing a male member of the cheerleading squad of rape?
The ultimate dilemma for the politically correct: black male allegedly rapes white female. In politically correct land, black = victim of racism and white = perpetrator of racism; female = victim of sexism and male = perpetrator of sexism. So, for the politically correct, this one’s such a tough call.
It is certainly interesting to see the many liberals on the web who automatically deem Bolton guilty (they’re the ones who virtually invented the word ‘allegedly’ in their zeal to protect criminals — oops, alleged criminals).
All in all, it appears likely that H.S. is telling the truth but that carries no legal weight, so the school was correct in keeping the unconvicted (of rape) Bolton off the team and confronting H.S. with an ultimatum. It may seem rather over the top for them now to sue her for their legal costs, but, remember (as liberals tend so consistently to forget), it’s not the school’s money spent on those legal fees. It’s the taxpayers’ money. It’s money people like me work hard to earn and is then confiscated and given to school districts to waste on things like cheerleading.
I am appalled and disgusted by the actions of these boys as well as the adults who should have had the decency to protect and defend her. I hope to God none of these ‘adults’ (if you can call them that- they sure don’t act like it) have daughters. Jessica, I can not donate at this time, but I will link to this on my facebook and get the word out. We need to get this on every tv station and news outlet there is and shame the hell out of the people who let this injustice happen. What about the school board members? Lets flood them with phone calls and letters and emails. We need to call the state representatives, too. And to the girl this happened to: Honey, I am really impressed by your bravery in coming forward. You are going to go far in life, and we will be cheering for you!
There’s no proof he raped her is it? Then people shouldn’t be making blanket statements.
There was a witness to the assault and multiple witnesses who heard her screaming for help and found her half naked and sobbing as her attacker fled out a window. There was a rape kit, but due to an evidence backlog, the girl was told that processing would take up to a full year.
anyone else think that all rapists should be tortured to death?
and am i the only one actually willing to do so (with legal sanction)?
I came across this from a webcomic that I read on a daily basis. This makes me feel so sick to my stomach. It is so common for sick bastards who rape others to get away with almost no jail time. The fact that she is now stuck with a $45,000 debt after what she already had to go through is horrible. She needs help, not debt. And like it has been stated, because he is the star of the team, the school is going to do what it has to to have him play on the team so that they can keep winning. I just hope that she is able to get help and that justice will be done.
Was it Girls With Slingshots?
What you’re doing is wonderful.
My sympathies to the girl.
However, after reading all the articles I come to the conclusion that the courts decision is right and the girl’s lawyer an idiot. Instead of arguing the case on humiliating and degrading treatment or something like that, he tried to argue it based on the first amendment. Which was a horrible mistake. Of course you have the right to speak your mind, but if that interferes with the task you were “hired” for your organization has the right to “fire” you.
This does not mean that I agree with the decision of the school. In fact, I believe that the situation was humiliating for the girl and that the school had no right to force the girl to humiliate herself. But I strongly disagree with the argumentation of the lawyer – as did the court. And the court can only judge what is presented before it. Which, in this case, was a non-existing first amendment infringement.
After reading through multiple articles, as well as the denial form for the appeal, I can safely say I am in no ways an expert on the case, but I can speak with at least an attempt on understanding it. As far as I can tell, LEGALLY the school and the cheer squad were LEGALLY in their rights to take her off the squad for not cheering for the player, but morally they are horribly off the mark.
This is a situation I really hope gets looked at, and influences some change. If a member of a cheer squad will support the team on a whole, yetfeels uncomfortable cheering for an individual, regardless of the reason, it shouldn’t have to be the cheer coaches discretion to allow that cheerleader to abstain from the individual cheer.
The thing I find the most despicable is the lack of any compassion the school and the school district are showing. There will never be an admission of wrongdoing, but to force this girl and her family to pay their legal fees is reprehensible. H.S., you have my sympathy as well as my support. I really do hope you can use this as a platform to influence a change.
How desperate and confused is this school that they offer star athletes emperor levels of power? This boy should be in jail. Even if it was never proven, for them to be so drastic about her one little voice not pow wowing for some moron speaks volumes about their priorities.
I keep calling the high school to cuss them out but no response. I’m sure its because they’re out for summer break but I just want to give them my personal thoughts
Dear H.S. you are brave. This situation is so wrong, and your courage is truly amazing. I hope that karma comes around and gives those people what they deserve.
This is such a joke, i feel ashamed as an American because shit like this actually happen.
I’d rather pay HS’s legal bills than Silsbee High School’s, but would be willing to send a penny to the school I suppose… check out Scott Rose’s challenge to the Silsbee Superintendent on PoliticsUSA (I’m a conservative, but this transcends politics!) and Change.com’s corresponding petition. Here’s the text of my letter to Superintendent Bain:
10 June 2011
Richard Bain, Jr., Superintendent
Silsbee Independent School District
415 Highway 327 West
Silsbee, TX, 77656
Dear Superintendent Bain, Principal Franco, Director McGallion, and Trustees:
It is possible to be legally right and morally wrong. You find yourselves in exactly that position regarding your legal victory in the suit brought by “H.S.” You were within your rights, and yet you were wrong. Be glad that you are legally secure, but do the right thing and refuse the legal fees to which you are legally entitled. In fact, if you really want to show some class, pay the young lady’s legal bills as well.
If you are so genuinely foolish and heartless as to refuse both these pleas, then please accept the enclosed $0.01 as a small portion of the payment of what H.S. and her family “owe”. Hopefully a few million more folks will do likewise so that your school can have every cent to which you are “entitled” without this young lady or her family having to give you a single penny of their own.
Sincerely,
Jason G. Gillmore, PhD
Holland, Michigan
Ack… wrong URL for the Change.com Petition in my post above. Should be http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-silsbee-hs-dont-make-victim-pay-35000-for-refusal-to-cheer-rapist. (I accidentally put in the politicsusa url twice.)
Anyway, thoughts and prayers HS and fam…
USA! USA!!!!
As much as you may sympathize with this wretched victim, had you been peers, chances are good she’d never have sympathized with you.
Instead of venting his aggressions on her, imagine he’d taken them out on you in the form of viscous ritual humiliations. The sort at which pampered high school athletes are so talented. Would she now be drawing you cute pictures or perhaps giving you a sympathy cheer? Or would she have spared you not a thought and continued to bray his name at every game?
Like tigers and water buffalo, jocks and comics nerds are mutually opposed species. What does it matter to you if they occasionally bloody their own? Life isn’t an after school special about growth and understanding. Let minks and their kinfolk eat each other. Except as spectacle it’s none of our affair. Loyalty to our own. Disdain for the other. Across the generations. Unto death. All else is folly.
A young woman was raped and has to pay $45,000 in legal fees, and you’re hung up on the fact that she was a cheerleader? I do not care if she would have given me or anyone like me the time of day or not, no one deserves this.
and you sound like a bitter douchebag. differences between people should not matter, ever. i don’t care if you’re my worst enemy, i would never wish this kind of misfortune on anybody. maybe you should let go of your old high school troubles and grow up.
awwwwww someone got picked on in school for being a bad poetry writing emo.
I’m from Silsbee. It is quite possibly one of the worst places on Earth. Sadly, I am not shocked at all that this is how things went down. Priorities there are f***ed beyond all belief.
So, did anybody actually force her to file a frivolous lawsuit? It was a loser from the start, and she should have just moved on with her life like everybody else. She filed a lawsuit, forcing the school board to defend itself with taxpayer money, and she lost. She has to repay the taxpayers. Nothing unjust about this, I’m not donating anything.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ’0 which is not a hashcash value.
Aww, do you feel ~powerful~ and good about yourself now? You must be so proud of yourself for coming all the way to an aid page for a rape victim just to say, “I’m not going to help out the rape victim”.
Thank you. That is the most sensible comment I’ve read. wtf ppl, this is an aid page.
When YOU get raped, Justin, you might not be able to “just move on with your life like everybody else”. You might feel you are entitled to a little human decency.
Or, maybe, when you get raped, it will be, oh, you know…no big deal.
I remember hearing that. I thought nothing could shock me any more, but I was wrong.
20$ donated. Hope it helps you bring the school and the bastard down!
While I am sympathetic to her plights.. what the high school did was not wrong. You cannot go around saying that someone raped me and expect the world to condemn him/her before they are legally found guilty. I believe the high school had to act in the best interest of the school which is YOU ARE NOT GUILTY UNTIL A COURT FINDS YOU SO. This girl did not have to re-join the cheerleading squad. I am not saying that she has to dis-connect her life from everything she loved… but she knew the responsibilities of the being on that squad meant. And if she could not (or would not) perform all of these duties, then the high school had no alternative but to kick her out. The high school did nothing illegal.
There is a fine line about rape. I know personally of a man who was wrongfully accused of rape because after they had sex, he wasn’t interested in seeing the woman again. So she got her revenge by claiming it was rape. My friend liked rough sex, which only boosted her claim it was non-consensual. In the end andyears later, he was found not guilty. But his life is ruined– for no reason. Men get raped too. And few seem to take them seriously as well. And yet, when it really is rape, I think the rapist gets off too lightly. I think the rape victim is traumatized necessarily and their past/present life should not be taken into consideration (so what if she was a hooker, that doesn’t mean she can’t get raped). They should not be allowed to plead to a lower charge. Personally, I think the punishment should be that they are brutally raped publicly. Prison is too easy..
I still stand by unless you have it on video tape or the court has proven that the person has not committed a crime… they are innocent.
PS: I think the Americans are too “sue-happy” in that they have to sue someone to blame their problems on.
Sharing a story about someone you know who was falsely accused on a story where a rape occurred and there were eye-witnesses is horribly cruel at worst. By stating that here, you are claiming that she was not really raped and that she is claiming this to get revenge somehow. The fact that men are also raped is not relevant to the topic at hand, which is that a young woman was raped, then fined $45,000 in legal fees for something so harmless as refusing to cheer for the young man who raped her.
If you are honestly doubting the veracity of this woman’s story, here is a link that contains eye-witness accounts from the scene. http://tinyurl.com/3kltnex You can also click the “Articles About This Case” link at the bottom of this article for more information.
Just because you don’t see a bear shit in the woods, doesn’t mean he/she didn’t. The fact that he did finally admit to assault, should tell you something.
There is no fine line about rape. No is no even if it was hot and heavy just prior to actually penatration.
As to your friend, perhaps its best to be upfront about where you stand. If your looking for casual sex, then say so. If your not sure of your feelings regarding your present partner, let them know. There are alot of vindictive folks out there on both sides. Honesty is the best policy, even if it hurts.
After researching the facts of this case, I can’t support this effort.
If there’s any question you should be asking yourself here, it’s whether or not you think the suit was ‘frivolous’, since that’s why they’re being made to pay the school’s legal fees. I for one think it is. The school was fair to a fault – they held her to the rules whether they were sympathetic to her situation or not.
1) A cheerleader alleges rape; The alleged rapist has not yet been brought to trial, as a grand jury has voted that the evidence is insufficient.
2) The cheerleader wants to keep cheering for the team, even though the alleged rapist is part of it.
3) While participating in a school activity, cheering for the team, the cheerleader disrupts that activity by not participating in a situation where she feels she’d be cheering specifically for the alleged rapist.
4) The cheerleader is removed from the activity for the remainder of the season for refusing to participate fully.
Also keep in mind that the school didn’t prevent her from trying out next season or take any other action. They simply held her to what she agreed to when she joined: Participate or you’re out.
The alleged rapist was ultimately brought to trial and not convicted of rape. If this suit was intended as a symbolic gesture it was misguided, and in my opinion, you are all misguided in making this about the rape or the (alleged, not convicted) rapist. The simple fact is that she broke the rules and was removed from the squad accordingly.
On a personal note, if she didn’t want to cheer for this kid, she shouldn’t have been cheering at all. He’s part of the team, so if you cheer for the team, you cheer for him. By the same token, if you can prove that the (alleged, not convicted) rapist actually did rape her and got away with it, I’ll happily testify that you were at my place when the lynch mob visited his house to remedy the situation.
Actually, the alleged rapist took a plea bargain. He was never charged with rape, despite numerous eyewitness accounts, because an evidence backlog meant that it would have possibly taken several years to get to trial, and because it’s cheaper to have someone plea out than it is to take them to court.
Did some more reading, revised my opinion but my conclusion is the same.
It’s worth noting that there is no such thing as a ‘rape’ charge in Texas. He plead guilty to aggravated assault, an offense which carries exactly the same penalty as sexual assault and is also a felony under Texas law. If he had threatened her with a knife or similar weapon, he could have been charged with aggravated sexual assault, which carries a significantly harsher penalty, but I don’t think anyone is trying to say that’s the case here.
So if we’re being realistic instead of blindly indignant, he took the plea bargain to avoid the stigma of being labelled a ‘rapist’, but still faced the same legal ramifications. Even if they could have processed the rape kit and found his DNA, they certainly had no evidence that she was threatened with a deadly weapon, so you change the name of his crime but keep the penalty the same.
In my opinion they need to more clearly separate the crimes, and maybe he got off too easy, but it has no bearing on the facts of THIS case, which doesn’t actually have anything to do with the assault. This is a simple case of someone saying “I should be allowed to not participate because x”, when there is no provision for x in the terms of the agreement to participate.
As a first amendment case, this is clearly frivolous. You don’t have a constitutional right to not cheer having agreed to be on the cheerleading team for the purpose of promoting school sports any more than you do to not wear the silly chicken suit having accepted a job wearing a silly chicken suit for the purpose of promoting a fast food joint.
I know you’ve stated that you’ve researched the facts of this case, but your use of “alleged” and your statement of “if you can prove that the (alleged, not convicted) rapist actually did rape her and got away with it” suggests that you have not read this article. http://tinyurl.com/3kltnex It contains eye-witness reports stating that he did in fact rape her, and he also assented that his DNA would be found in a condom at the scene.
I read court documents, you posted a link to an article on a teen magazine blog site. Note that the court case this site is soliciting donations to cover has NOTHING at all to do with the alleged rape. The events that led to this case happened after the assault, but before the perpetrator was charged with anything. Assume he raped her, or assume he didn’t. That isn’t relevant. What’s at issue here is that she refused to participate in an activity and was removed from that activity, per the terms of agreement to participate in the first place. The reason for her non-participation is irrelevant, no matter how sympathetic you may be.
Why do you think the family sued the school? They certainly weren’t trying to get her back on the squad, she wasn’t prevented from trying out again next year. They wanted to get paid – they felt they were entitled to damages because their daughter was removed from the cheerleading squad. Now they’re $45k in the hole because they sued without any valid legal grounds to do so. This sounds like a perfect example of people trying to abuse our legal system being taken to task for doing so.
How do we get the judge removed and the school board all fired?
Posted this link on various facebook group sites and tumblr.
This is awful!!
Sport being put first over the rape and trauma a young girl has gone through!
The boy is living a life relatively unaffected by his actions, yet she is suffering everyday and its highly likely she will for the rest of her life, as well as possibly not being able to go to college due to the debt her family are facing from this legal stupidity.
How could the school board over look someone who’s accused of being a rapist?? star or not he should be considered a threat to rape another girl
The Principal should have looked into it
As a former teacher at a high school about 8 miles from Silsbee I want you to know that Silsbee and rape and no prosecution has happened before. Also, Hardin County and statutory rape and no prosecution has occurred.
I was teaching a 16 year old female who was gang raped after a Silsbee High School football game. I am sure this occurred because I saw her cuts and bruises on her legs, face and arms. Also, her personality totally changed and she began going to a therapist at a nonprofit organization I have personal dealings with. She was very careless to leave the game with males she did not know, but these people were still responsible for horrible acts. They were never prosecuted.
About 5 years later I taught a young women of 15 who was ‘dating’ a 39 year old. She admitted to sexual contact. The high school principal attempted to get him prosecuted but the DA refused. The principal did forbid him from driving onto the campus. He used to pick her up after school each day. So I talked to a policeman from another county and he took up the cause. Of course, it had to go back in Hardin County where she did tell an officer about their activities. The next day she decided to ‘take it all back.’ The DA refused to prosecute. At 16, she married the now 40 year old. But an interesting fact is that this man did work FOR THE COUNTY.
All of this sickens me. As a high school teacher who has taught students on championship teams I can assure you that the athletes (both male and female) get special treatment. No pass, no play is a joke because if you want to retain your sanity they will pass. Also, classroom misbehavior is often overlooked. That game for the state championship is all that is important. In the meanwhile a lot a student athletes get ruined for life because they are not taught responsibility.
Ah yes, we cannot kick the poor football player off the team until he has been convicted.
Bullspit.
When I was in high school, it was a very small high school, and we had the same coach for football and basketball. His students had to sign a conduct pledge. One year, we looked like we had a really strong chance to be State Champions. We didn’t. Seems that some of his team were drinking on the bus so he kicked every single junior and senior (the drinkers) off the team. They were never convicted, never charged, never even arrested. And he kicked them off the team for the entire season. That’s what happens when you have a coach more concerned with coaching boys than with winning games.
I don’t think the girl was raped at all, and the school wasn’t preventing her freedom of speech. They kicked her from a team which they can really do for any reason. she lost the case because she/her lawyer went for the First Amendment, which was not really infringed on by the school. I don’t think she deserves any help.
You are an ignorant moron. What if it were your daughter? Oh that’s right, it’s ok to do whatever you want to a woman, right? We’re all liars, right? WRONG! You’re probably some dumb jock that no one remembers from high school. Keep in mind there’s plenty of ill treatment towards women out there and that each woman is someone’s mom, daughter or sister…you misogynistic ass.
Unfortunately he was found not-guilty and there’s really no reason to believe otherwise aside from people throwing “innocent until proven guilty” out of the window automatically if it’s a rape case. I know women that have actually been raped, and I also know guys who have been falsely accused of rape by girls who regretted the sex afterwards and didn’t want to be looked at as a slut (which ruins their life forever). I see no evidence she was raped, so I can’t assume she was.
My point of the post was barely about the rape anyway, it was on the poor choice that her lawyer made for her case of not cheering. So clearly I’m not the misogynist, you’re just the idiot that can’t comprehend basic opinions.
Your comments “I don’t think the girl was raped at all.” and “I don’t think she deserves any help”, just shows that you Barely did any research.
Sexual Assault is the conviction. That was a plea bargain due to back log of rape kit evidence.
I have posted this story on my blog, “Are you the cancer killing your fandom?” which talks about bad behavior in the geek community. Know that you my full support and I hope that justice will be served because this is the a great injustice that has been done to a victim.
Karma will get this Bolton piece of shit eventually, and to the person who said “maybe she lied” you are a fkin moron…he plead his way out of rape because he could throw a stupid round ball through a hoop. Texas and thier sports are all fked up!!
I’m so sick of men saying “maybe she lied” or “IF a situation occurred”. It DID occur! He coped to the fact that he did it. Not all women are liars so stop being sexist jerks. This asshole needs to pay for what he did, and I hope someone throws him into a back alley and annihilates him. Sports stars on all levels need to learn that NO MEANS NO!
All the emotional part aside and not thinking how messed up this whole affair is in so many aspects, I have to wonder… Why was this person in the cheerleading squad for a team where she knew her rapist/assaulter played? Many have said in these comments that she had no choice – that the school was forcing her to cheer for the twerp, but I don’t understand how.
I admit, I don’t live in the US and don’t know all the ways things are handled there, but I find it hard to believe that anyone would actually be forced into an activity such as cheer leading. Please do correct me if I’m wrong in this and there is some iron-hard authority forcing the participation to such activities.
In this context, as weird as it feels even to myself on the emotional side, I have to agree with the original court decisions. I would see cheer leading almost a as a “job”, a responsibility that you have taken by your own volition. Then, when the show is rolling, you decide you don’t want to do it anymore. That’s just plain wrong no matter how you look at it. No business or political representative, assistant or other part of a team could do that without getting sacked or quite hard reprimands in the least. You refuse to play the part you’ve committed to, you get fired. Tough luck, but that’s how society works most of the time.
On the other hand, no one is forced to become a business or political rep. for a company / party / ideology / person that they don’t want to.
Cheerleading isn’t the equivalent of being a “political rep” for an “ideology”. It’s a popular sport that high school girls engage in for social value, physical exercise, and most of all, fun.
She should have every right to stay on her team and have fun dancing and singing with her teammates like every other cheerleader in America. The fact that she was raped does not mean that she should have to give up an activity that she clearly enjoys.
Her rapist got to stay on his team, why shouldn’t his victim be able to stay on hers?
I am very saddened by the victim blaming comments and the remarks suggesting that this young woman lied to avoid being labeled as a slut. False rape accusations (and valid accusations for that matter) are rare in part because no one wants to navigate this hell of the legal system. The court hearings, legal fees, probing personal questions, social stigmas, etc etc create a horrific ordeal, not to even mention the ordeal of the rape itself.
H.S: You are ridiculously strong. I hope you know how inspiring your courage and conviction is. Thank you for standing up for us survivors. I know from experience that going to the authorities is a hard road, but please don’t forget that you won this battle the moment you stood up and said “This is Wrong”. Hang in there, we are all rooting for you.
Very true and great words of encouragement for her, Inspired
Thank you for what you are doing to help H.S. and her family.
Silsbee is my hometown, and I still live in the area so I have followed this case from the beginning. In addition, I have known and respected HS’s mother for over 35 years. These are good people who deserved justice but have instead been penalized for doing the right thing.
I still remember the Homecoming parade just after the rape in which HS participated with her cheerleading squad. She was a child who had been raped and dared stand up and fight back and continue to live her life. I was ashamed of my hometown when I heard grown men and women openly jeering her and allowing their own children to do the same.
Adults calling out insults to a teenage rape victim is only one slight example of what HS and her family have endured – but endured with dignity.
What most don’t know is the blame this community placed on this young victim. The rapists were hailed and supported while a raped child was blamed, harassed, jeered – by adults and students alike.
I support HS and her family 100 percent, and I am so glad someone has stepped up to bring attention to this issue and to help. It is well-deserved.
As for Silsbee ISD, I have always been a proud supporter, but how could you? How could you penalize a child rape victim – one of your own? Forgive the fee and call it a day. The job of the school district is to educate and support students. That responsibility outweighs “fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers” any day of the week. Poor administrative decision-making is to blame and the consequence for that should be for SISD to assume those legal fees and make better decisions next time. Silsbee ISD is effectively terrorizing students and parents – taxpayers -from speaking out and speaking up for what’s right. Those who claim to be concerned about fiscal responsibility would no doubt be outraged if it were their child who was so cruelly mistreated. “Fiduciary responsibility” excuses would be an insult – as well it should be.
I will be making a donation in hopes that attention is drawn to the cruel injustice here and that other young rape victims will not be afraid to fight back.
HS, your dignified courage inspires me.
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Not attempting to diminish the young girls rape or ensuing saga. Nevertheless, I wonder why the attorney and his pleadings have not been called into question. Sounds like he may have not researched some viable causes of action to withstand dismissal. Then the sloppy Police work goes unchallenged in court? OMG. The whole legal scenario appears to be as much a travesty as the everything else.
This was obviously a gross miscarriage of justice. The girl’s First Amendment rights were clearly violated, as she sought to silently protest a crime against herself. It was not “disruptive” to the school whatsoever, so the school had no cause to punish her, especially in light of the fact she was eventually proven correct in court. It’s not like she and the other cheerleaders got together and led a cheer shouting “Rapist! Rapist! Miss the shot, rapist!” (though that would have been AWESOME!). Classic Texas BS — the school should have settled with the girl, admitting fault.
I’m donating $ 20 (wish I could do more). This girl and her family should be allowed to move on as her attacker no doubt has.
Maybe the 16 year old teenage girl should not have been drinking.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been born with a vagina either, moron. The fact that she was drinking means that under the law, she could not consent.
Maybe the teenage boy shouldn’t have had sex with someone without getting their consent first.
I hate the fact that this is what it always comes down to. “She shouldn’t have been drinking. She shouldn’t have been dressed that way. She shouldn’t have gone out alone.” It’s like we’re so okay with living in a culture filled with this kind of thing that we get upset when a person isn’t constantly on guard–INSTEAD of being upset that another person committed a fucking crime against them.
I commend this young lady for standing her ground and not cheering. It takes a lot of courage to do something against the grain. Young Lady please continue to stand your ground in your causes for the future. Life at times is so unfair but at your age, I can tell YOU will suceed in life. FOR ALL OF THE MEAN PEOPLE out there, watch out, it may happen to your own, so stop trying to rationalize what she did and didnt do. Her stance not to cheer says a whole lot. I am the mother of two daughters and I am African American. It doesnt matter what color the person was, a crime was committed, and he willl have to deal with his spiritual advisor forever about this situation. That is a very long time and a long lesson.
As I read more about this, the whole story make me just SICK!!!! This is just an injustice for women as a whole and no one should take this situation lightly. Bless the 16year old and her family for bringing this horrible story to the news.
In parts of Texas, it is still like the 50′s and females are veiwed as lesser than male atheletes; especially good ones. Texas law is kinda outdated and skewd in some parts. If you are not in a major city in Texas, beware.
This case is a sad one but I’m not surprised at how it turned out. You’ve got a small town where the locals worship the high school athletes. The athletes can do no wrong and are never punished for anything they do. The school is run by a bunch of mind numbed jocks who decided to punish the girl for the crime of failing to chant “put it in put it in” for the guy who raped her. The case was probably investigated by small town cops who also worship the basketball playing rapist. So it’s no surprise the dna test is taking so long. I’m guessing someday we’ll find out the rape kit was “lost”. I’d like to see the rapist and school board made to pay dearly for what they’ve done.
Its not victim blaming when the courts and the facts show that she wasn’t a victim to begin with.
Don’t call yourself a rape victim when you aren’t and then expect everybody to support you. Its disgustingly insulting to the real victims out there.
If I wasn’t so lazy I’d make a website “Help the Player” to get donations to get his life back on track. Can you imagine being a young man and some girl you thought liked you ends up trying to trash your life just to save her reputation?
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As a parent and a teacher I am mortified by your reply “Average Man.” Your statements tell me that you are by no means educated in this area. Your comments that she wasn’t a rape victim, when in fact her rapist pled to a lesser charge would indicate that she was raped!
HS didn’t ask anyone for support- this website was created BECAUSE of the injustice done to her, and seen by a compassionate person who knows that what was done AFTERWARDS by the court IS INEXCUSABLE and she wants to help her. The district knows he raped her, and because the kit has yet to be processed (Texas is good at killing people for murder, but can’t get rape kits processed in over 3 years??!!), he was able to get a slap on the wrist, and no record. She CHOSE not to cheer for him BECAUSE he raped her. She was drunk when she was raped by him, so that makes her a “willing” partner? That might be what your “Average Man” may think, but rape is rape. Did she consent? No.
The player has his life on track- he has no record and will not be having memories of people taunting him and making fun of him for having sex with a 16 year old. I wonder if the same can be said for HS? Three years after this all happened, she has a financial millstone around her neck because the adults didn’t do their jobs- from the parents who had the party (they had to have bought the alcohol for the underage kids to drink) to the coaches who possibly turned a “blind eye” to their players indiscretions, to the teachers and administrators whose reactions set the mindset of the school against HS, to the community whose sole concern is for “winning at any cost” and that cost being the life of a 16 year old girl at the time.
The “reputation” you so glibly address in your posting is the “reputation” for ALL women, not just 16 year old girls, who have been attacked by your “average man” who thinks every female wants him, whether sober or drunk. You live in a sad state of delusion and maybe it’s a blessing that you are lazy as you are- you have shown an ugly side to the “average man” and I sincerely hope IF anyone reads your posting finds it as offensive as I do.
I look forward to contributing to this cause and I pray that she receives enough monies to pay for the court costs as well as re-file and go back to court again (if possible- double jeopardy may be the reason it couldn’t be re-tried, but because the kit wasn’t processed in a timely fashion she may get her day in court, due to the fact all pieces of evidence were not availabel when this trial took place.)
Reading comments is a killer.
1. In Texas, rape is titled sexual assault.
2. He plead to misdemeanor assault, that’s how he got probation. Has nothing to do with sexual assault at all. Had there been a conviction of sexual assault, he would be forced to register and therefore unable to attend school.
3. Sad statistics (see http://www.rainn.org) – this is a huge reason why 60% of rapes are not reported!
4. Rape victims don’t just “get over it” – this is a life changing event and it impacts every part of a victims/survivors life. Once again there is a TON of information supporting this – start with the RAINN website!
5. Way to go school district for your thorough re-victimization of a victim! It is your responsibility to keep her safe and do no further harm – so she is told to stay away from the cafeteria and not go to homecoming?!?! Great message – report a rape and they will support making you the bad guy to protect a star athlete! Is there an issue there??? Oh yes there is!!!
6. What society does to victims of sexual assault is horrid – she was let down by so many in this situation! Sadly this is not uncommon – except that she tried to stand up for herself.
7. The basis of all the issues here is lack of education regarding sexual assault, suspects and victims/survivors, as well as a disgusting social expectation of what “real rape” looks like! But sadly, many won’t ever learn because they don’t care and don’t think it will happen to anyone they know. Reality is – it has happened to several they know – but who wants to tell someone who will blame the victim/survivor all while showing large amounts of ignorance! Take this opportunity to learn something! You may be surprised at the reality of sexual assault………and if you are lucky, will be able to help someone who has experienced the most invasive, personal crimes ever perpetrated on society!
It’s all about him being a sports star….sports trump grades, attendance, substance abuse and criminal actions of players…..You can see it from high school athletes to the pro leagues in sports!! How many pro ball players have you seen in the past, commit crimes and get fined a few bucks and back to playing the next game??? They are so worshiped by the public, they get a slap on the wrist and all is forgiven!
I stand behind the victim 110% and will be sending her and her family a few $ to help them fight this injustice. It is really sad what our schools has become to allow things like this to be swept under the carpet for the sake of sports!!
I empathize with the cheerleader. In college, I was sexually assaulted by a star football player; I was sober and wearing a turtleneck long-sleeved shirt and jeans when he assaulted me. I thought he was my friend. Afterward, I stood up to him and his teammates who tried to harass me into silence. One of his teammates was about to hit me when one of my male friends saw what was happening and stepped in just in time. At first, the school administration told me that I should be the one to change my dorm and my class schedule because it was my problem and the player’s coach didn’t want him to be affected during football season or have his reputation tarnished. The college counselors I saw said I wasn’t assaulted enough to be as distraught as I was and blamed me for what happened. I held my ground and kept my dorm room and my schedule and made the player change his daily life. The football player was banned from having contact with me or was at risk for expulsion. However, his friends trashed my reputation and harassed me up to my graduation ceremony. It took years to regain my trust in people. After 20 years since this assault, I still can’t watch any movies or TV shows that involve sexual assault. It is NEVER okay to assault a woman in any way, shape or form; she is NOT asking for it under any circumstances and anyone who feels otherwise is incredibly ignorant. Good for this young woman for defending herself and good for her family for defending her; her school and the surrounding community should be ashamed of themselves for how they’ve treated her. May she enjoy the rest of her life and be blessed with inner peace, trust, security, calm, joy, laughter and a life-long love.
Rape is a serious crime. A murder of the soul. Rape victims are scared for life and will repeatedly relive the act over and over again. Until the day they die.
In the Declaration of Independence, by Tomas Jefferson there is this simple and innocent statement, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”, but some are clearly more equal than others. According to the justice system, women do not hold these rights. This is a fact in almost every country. By protesting injustice and demand equal rights we can amend this. It is now up to us to do something about it.
And in this case to support a young girl who is a victim here. For her and all others we want justice.
Truly unbeliveble! Was reading about this in the local new here and am tryly horrified!
I haven’t seen any explanation, can someone explain to me how a student who pleads assault is still allowed to participate in intramural sports? Isn’t there any school standard about conduct and participation? Or does Silsbees “standards” excuse sexual assault?
And then we wonder why? When professional athletes commit similar crimes.
When I was raped in Texas in 2004, it was my waiter that was suspected for drugging me through my drink. His strange behavior was noticed by others that evening and I had physical DNA when I went to the hospital. Yet, Austin PD told me that I was “in a long line behind other rape and homicide victims” and to swab his saliva to compare DNA would be a violation of HIS rights, that it would have to go through a judge to allow obtaining his sample and “it rarely passes”. I’m glad H.S. has support and hope that Texas will learn that Rape is a serious violent crime and they need to stop penalizing the victim of such a horrendous act. You can not just turn a blind eye.