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From: mom@sftri.UUCP (Mark Modig)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: The Dotson Case
Message-ID: <444@sftri.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-May-85 22:56:29 EDT
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Posted: Wed May 29 22:56:29 1985
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> 
> I'm a fool not to keep my opinions to myself, but, GRRR...
> 
> The Dotson case was often on p. 1 of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
> my local paper.  Perhaps the coverage was defective or unbalanced,
> but it definitely was a newsworthy case.  What outrages ME is that
> IT TOOK WAY TOO LONG FOR THE STATE TO RELEASE DOTSON.  The testimony
> was apparently the only real evidence against him, and when it was
> recanted -- Dotson should have been released immediately.
>
Ah well, you can always count on USENET..

The woman's testimony was only part of the case.  There was overwhelming
physical and circumstantial evidence to support her original
testimony.  Officials close to the case have repeatedly stated their
belief that she was raped.  The drawing put together by police
artists looks remarkably like Dotson at the time of the crime, and
his testimony as to his activities at the time is diffuse and
conflicts with that of his friends that he claims were with him at
the time.  The woman's appearance-- her mental condition as
described by both her parents and the police, the semen stains on
her underwear, the scratches that she now claims were self-inflicted,
all point to the conclusion that she was raped.  The testimony of
her boyfriend seems to torpedo her current story that she made up
the rape because she feared she was pregnant by him.

Now, her story this time around could be true.  The police and her
parents could be wrong.  Her boyfriend could be lying.  She could
have scratched herself convincingly and just be good at acting.
The conflicts between Dotson's testimony and that of his friends
could just be the erosion of time since the crime (although the
testimony conflicted when the case was tried the first time round,
too).  But for me there are just too many coincidences-- I'll take
the simplest explanation.

The trouble is, the pieces just don't fit.  Why does all the
circumstantial and physical evidence point to a rape when she
says none ever happened?  Why pardon someone you feel is guilty?
If no rape ever took place, why wait so long to say so?  If a rape
actually took place, why does the woman suddenly recant her testimony?
Dotson's family is certainly in no position to put pressure on her,
or if it is, why not call in the police?  It just doesn't add up.

And that's why I get a bit annoyed when people start talking about
Dotson being innocent, because, at least to me, it is not at all certain
that he is.  As far as the case itself is concerned, I find it a
puzzlebox all the way round, and anyway, it's just one case.  Rape
is a bigger problem in this country than just one case; we shouldn't
let all the hoopla about one isolated case distract us, though we
should try to learn as much as we can from every chance we are
presented with.

Mark Modig
ihnp4!sftri!mom