General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I believe Vanessa Tyson for a couple of reasons. One of which is... [View all]EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)I have no problem with Dr. Tyson not filing charges in the past. That was purely her choice and it in no way calls her credibility into question. If, as she said - and I have no reason to disbelieve her - she was too traumatized and humiliated to want to come forward and put herself share such an intimate situation, that makes perfect sense.
And if the statute of limitations had run out and then she thereafter decided to come forward, I would never question her decision not to press charges.
HOWEVER, that is not what happened here.
In this case, she decided, on her own, not only to publicly accuse Fairfax, but to offer the most intimate and humiliating details of the assault she alleges. Her decision to do that suggests that she no longer is too afraid or traumatized to publicly discuss the incident. And now that she IS willing to publicly discuss it, she has the good fortunate to still be within the statute of limitations and, thus, can actually press charges and make it likely that her alleged assailant can be held criminally liable for the assault she says he committed. She is in a much better position than many assault victims who would give anything to be able to press charges but found their voices too late to do so.
Now, the second woman who came forward may be one of those people. I don't know what the statute of limitations for rape was in North Carolina in 2000 when she alleges her incident occurred, so I don't know if she can still press charges. If she hasn't felt comfortable or safe speaking about this until now, it's understandable why she hasn't pressed charges previously.