The St. Pete Times takes a look at gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith and his decision not to prosecute in a famous 1999 rape case:
A rowdy group of university men hire a pair of strippers for a booze-fueled party. Hours later, one of the strippers turns up outside a fraternity house half-dressed and distraught.“They raped me,” she says.
The college community is swept into a national controversy with tough questions about class, justice and reasonable doubt. Stark divisions open over whether to believe the woman, and whether an ambitious prosecutor responded fairly.
This isn’t another story about the Duke University lacrosse team. This case involved the Delta Chi fraternity at the University of Florida in 1999. The Gainesville prosecutor who drew picketers and second-guessing from all sides was Rod Smith, now a strong contender for governor.
The local chapter of NOW was incensed by Smith's failure to prosecute, and brought in the ACLU to investigate. In a hilarious turn of events, after viewing the reams of film of the heavily-videotaped incident, not only did the ACLU support Smith in his decision not to prosecute, but said that the accuser should be prosecuted for filing a false rape charge.
The case lives on in the film Raw Deal: A Question of Consent.
Posted by floridacracker at June 25, 2006 01:54 PM