The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘A Little Girl on Her Way to School’

Posted on | June 13, 2013 | 17 Comments

Those were the words Assistant District Attorney Thaddeus West used Wednesday morning in York County (Maine) Superior Court to describe the victim of a brutal attack by Dane Bosley.

Bosley was 20 years old that day in October 2008 when he leaped out of the bushes and raped his victim at knifepoint.

And the victim — the one the prosecutor described to the jury as “a little girl on her way to school” — was 14 years old:

A man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in 2008 as she took a shortcut to school changed his plea to guilty as the second day of his trial in York County Superior Court was about to begin Wednesday morning.
Dane Bosley, 25, pleaded guilty to gross sexual assault and agreed to a recommended sentence that will put him in prison for at least 14 years. In exchange for the guilty plea, the state dropped additional charges of kidnapping, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and assault.
Bosley’s plea reversal came after his victim, now 19, testified about the attack. In testimony Tuesday that had to be interrupted when she became emotionally overwhelmed, the woman described how she was attacked, threatened with a knife and sexually assaulted mutiple times.

Before deciding to plead guilty, the perp tried an interesting defense:

At the outset of the trial, Bosley claimed that the sex was consensual and the victim was fabricating the story about the attack and there were inconsistencies in her story that should lead to reasonable doubt.

But wait — why would he claim that?

The case against Bosley required that the state prove he forced the girl to have sex. Under Maine law, statutory rape . . . only applies when the victim is younger than 14.

Good thing Maine isn’t full of bigoted haters like Florida, huh?

 


Comments

17 Responses to “‘A Little Girl on Her Way to School’”

  1. jimmiebjr
    June 13th, 2013 @ 6:10 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM ‘A Little Girl on Her Way to School’ http://t.co/yz21HBYNBs #TCOT

  2. Ric the Magnificent
    June 13th, 2013 @ 6:37 pm

    Just as Free Kate intends for Florida, facilitating legal loopholes for child rapists

  3. robertstacymccain
    June 13th, 2013 @ 6:44 pm

    This is what some people don’t seem to understand about statutory rape laws: They also protect young victims of forcible rape. All the prosecutor needs to do is to present evidence that sex happened and this obviates the need to prove force, so that the victim can be spared the ordeal of testifying. You see in this case (if you read the whole article) that DNA evidence proved that Bosley had sex with the girl but — because age of consent is 14 in Maine — she had to be put on the witness stand to testify that it was forcible. And as you see, she broke down crying hysterically during that testimony, thus being re-victimized by the legal process that permitted Bosley the chance to claim this 14-year-old has sex consensually with him.

  4. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 13th, 2013 @ 7:29 pm

    I hope he experiences some empathy with his victim while in prison.

    The death penalty should be an option for violent rape.

  5. Summer Koryo
    June 13th, 2013 @ 7:44 pm

    get a load of this guy. In the comments:

    Yes, I’m seeing conflicting reports on Hunt’s age. Which is still irrelevant to me. What is relevant is that these two girls were students of the same high school, on the same basketball team. And it seems the younger girl’s parents have a difficult time parenting. But one high school student being seen as a “sexual predator” of another high school student because of this age difference, when both are arguably adolescents is just madness. High school is where adolescents learn about dating and that sort of thing. I dare say it’s encouraged, with endless dances and risqué cheerleading outfits. If the younger kid’s parents wanted to ground her or send her off to live with with family out of state or similar, I’d argue they have every right. That’s their duty. But while the law may allow for Hunt to have been arrested while in high school, that’s just nutty

    http://www.metroweekly.com/news/opinion/?ak=8413

  6. RS
    June 13th, 2013 @ 7:49 pm

    Thus, do we see part of the endgame which the post modern relativists have pursued for 40 years: It is now assumed that high school is the place for all manner of sexual experimentation, regardless of the age of the participants. Indeed, it is expected and those parents who object and try to protect their children from their children’s adolescent weirdness have “problems parenting.” Quite the brave new world. Welcome to it America.

  7. robertstacymccain
    June 13th, 2013 @ 9:01 pm

    “High school is where adolescents learn about dating and that sort of thing.”

    I guess getting fingered in a toilet stall would qualify as “that sort of thing,” eh?

  8. Becca Lower
    June 13th, 2013 @ 9:21 pm

    A slight typo: if Bosley is 25 today, as the source article states, he would have been 20 in 2008. 🙂

  9. robertstacymccain
    June 13th, 2013 @ 9:42 pm

    No, he was 25 in 2008. Wasn’t he?

  10. Ric the Magnificent
    June 13th, 2013 @ 11:12 pm

    “It is now assumed that high school is the place for all manner of sexual experimentation”… I was going to use the term “Bathhouse” earlier, for brevity

  11. robertstacymccain
    June 13th, 2013 @ 11:15 pm

    OK, I see now — fixed it. Thanks!

  12. Becca Lower
    June 13th, 2013 @ 11:26 pm

    No problem!

  13. concern
    June 13th, 2013 @ 11:41 pm

    The language, as usual, is just disingenuous. It’s doublethink.

  14. Bob Belvedere
    June 14th, 2013 @ 7:44 am

    Damn well put.

  15. Bob Belvedere
    June 14th, 2013 @ 7:45 am

    It’s both Doubleplusgood and finger lickin’ good.

    [I denounce myself for being unable to resist the preceding quip].

  16. Dana
    June 14th, 2013 @ 10:42 am

    No one is really surprised that the defendant’s attorney will try any argument of which he can think to get his client off.

  17. Becca Lower
    June 16th, 2013 @ 2:09 am

    As well you should. 😉