Three young athletes have been indicted by a grand jury and face up to 25 years in prison for the brutal sexual assault of a fellow senior at a party after prom in Gilmer County.
According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fields Chapman, Avery Johnson, and Andrew Haynes ?turned themselves in 18 days after the alleged assault.? All three star athletes were charged with aggravated sexual battery. Chapman and Haynes have also been charged with sodomy, and Chapman was charged for sexual exploitation of a minor involving a separate individual.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press?reported that three young men were school athletes.?Chapman was a quarterback for the football team. Haynes was also a wide receiver, and Johnson played on the baseball team and had committed to play at Georgia Highlands College.
On May 10, a post-prom party was held at a Coosawattee River Resort cabin. Eventually, it became a wild party with heavy drinking. Afterwards, an 18-year-old girl went to police and claimed she was ?sexually assaulted by multiple guys early May 11?? She had passed out and was unable to remember her attackers. However, she suffered substantial injuries from a foreign object being used to penetrate her.
Despite social media criticism in support of the girl, the Gilmer County Detective Division immediately launched an extensive investigation involving interviews with more than 50 witnesses to gather the evidence to make the arrests in the case. All detectives except for one were put on the case. Sheriff Nicholson explained that the time frame was necessary.
?In a case, especially involving teenagers or young people, once you make an arrest, the information flow tends to shut down. We wanted to get all we could get before we put people in jail. This has been a very emotional case, certainly for the city of Calhoun and Calhoun High School? We have worked as fast as we could work to bring an end to this case. But we did not work on Calhoun’s time or on the media’s time line.?
They did not make an arrest until they were completely confident in the evidence against the three popular boys.
I think Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel said it best:
?Authorities shouldn’t be applauded for doing their jobs, but given this country’s embarrassing history of prioritizing sports achievement over the right of women to not be [sexually assaulted], when police actually give a damn, I reflexively feel like I should applaud. That’s how low the bar is.?
Yea, it’s pretty sad that we have to applaud our law enforcement for doing a great job. However,?I think I’ll applaud anyways. I applaud the police force involved in the investigation, the community members who were supportive, and I applaud the strength it took for a young girl to come forward and report something that others?could have blamed her for. #standforHER
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h/t to The Raw Story.
Liz Lee considers herself a modern woman of the South and hails from the swamps of South Georgia. She votes along no party line and prefers to look at issues from all angles before taking a stance. She takes particular interest in healthcare issues, mental health issues, and the battle for equality. She is also an emphatic advocate for the end to dog breed discrimination legislation. She is a wife, mother of one human child, mother to one furry American Bully, a college student, and also your typical everyday Wonder Woman. When she hangs up her cape, you can find her curled up in her office sewing, writing, playing World of Warcraft, or practicing banjo. You can follow her on Facebook to see what issue she is tackling.
