Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Conviction Overturned by Superior Court Panel

Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2011 by Dahlia Grossman-Heinze on CampusProgress.org.

An appellate court in Chester County, Pennsylvania has overturned the conviction of three men who were tried for the sexual assault of a West Chester University student two years ago. After reviewing the court record, the Superior Court panel found that it was “manifestly unreasonable” that the woman had not given consent to sexual activity.

The 18-year-old West Chester University student testified that she was assaulted in her dorm room on Feb. 7, 2009 after meeting the three men when they visited her dorm mate earlier that night. She testified that she had agreed to let the men stay in her dorm room, but she had not consented to sexual activity and was forcibly held down and repeatedly sexually assaulted for more than an hour. The men were sentenced to two to four years after being convicted of sexual and indecent assaults and false imprisonment, although they were acquitted of rape. Now all three men’s convictions have been overturned and each of them has been or will be released within the week.

The Superior Court ruling is unusual because, for the most part, the panel focuses on points of law, rather than on overturning convictions. While judging credibility is the domain of juries and judges, Pennsylvania law allows appellate courts to overturn convictions when the panel comes to the conclusion that an innocent person has been convicted.

The Superior Court ruling written by the three-judge panel pointed out that "other than her contention that she initially said no to Lewis' [a defendant’s] attempt to kiss her, during an hour of sexual activity," she did not cry for help or try to escape. The ruling also pointed out that she had invited the men into her dorm room to spend the night and that her "physical injuries were minor." The District Attorney’s office argued that she was held down by the three men and was unable to talk or move during the sexual assault.

West Chester County District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll called the decision "the worst legal reasoning I have ever seen in an appellate court opinion." Carroll is particularly concerned that the ruling brings into question the extent of the woman’s injuries as proof of her consent because essentially the panel concluded that "a sexual assault victim is not to be believed unless her injuries are severe enough to meet some Stone Age standard of proof of resistance.” The District Attorney’s Office has asked the entire Superior Court of Chester County to review the new decision.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a judge has not believed that a woman refused consent and reversed a conviction. Most famously in Italy, an 18-year-old woman was allegedly raped by her driving instructor, whose conviction was overturned because an Italian Supreme Court judge argued that “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.” Since then, Denim Day has been founded to provide sexual violence education and prevention. What’s shocking and troubling is that the Denim Day case occurred in 1998 after widespread public outrage against the judge’s decision and more than a decade later, the same ignorant and dangerous reasoning is being used today to free convicted sex offenders and overturn sexual assault convictions.

Dahlia Grossman-Heinze is a staff writer for Campus Progress.