In many small towns in America a few families become dominant forces and exert a lot of influence over all sorts of affairs, even criminal affairs. The Kansas City Star reports on one of these affairs.
In this case it concerned teenagers, drinking and sex. A 17-year-old high school senior from a prominent family in the small town of Maryville, MO, got a 14-year-old girl drunk, had sex with her and left her dressed only in a T-shirt and sweatpants on the lawn of her house on a cold January night. The girl's family had moved to Marysville three years earlier. The boy acknowledged the drinking and the sex but said it was consensual. The sheriff who investigated the incident felt confident the office had put together a case that would “absolutely” result in prosecutions. The sheriff was wrong, as two months later the prosecutor dropped the case
The boy was arrested and charged with sexual assault, a felony,
and endangering the welfare of a child. He was not charged with
statutory rape, as that Missouri law generally applies in cases when a
victim is under 14 years old or the perpetrator is over 21. But felony
statutes also define sex as non-consensual when the victim is
incapacitated by alcohol.
Not only was the case not prosecuted but the girl and her family were subjected to sufficient harassment that the family left town. Furthermore, the girl's mother lost her job and their house burned down.
Would the result have been the same if the affair happened in a large town or city? Would the result have been different if the perpetrator did not come from a prominent family in the town? What do you think?
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