Newsflash: Cheerleader Denied Justice (Again)But what started all this was…(OK, take your blood pressure medication now)
Ms Blog
by Caroline Heldman
May 4, 2011
In a Texas case I wrote about on the Ms. Blog in October, Hillaire S. was 16-years-old in October 2008 when she was taken into a dark room at a house party by four high school athletes, one of whom raped her while another held her down. When three students in the hall heard Hillaire’s cries of “stop,” they broke through the locked door as the athletes fled through a window, breaking it in the process. The rapist, Rakheem Bolton, fled into the woods without his clothes, then returned to demand them and threatened to kill everyone at the house.
Three months after the rape, a grand jury chose not to indict Bolton or his accomplice, Christian Rountree. In private interviews I learned that Bolton’s family pastor was on the jury, and that his cousin, Thomas Tyler, is also a powerful member of the city council, under the employ of District Attorney David Sheffield, who presented the case.
Cheerleader Required to Cheer for Man Who Assaulted HerSo here is this kid who commits a brutal rape, gets no prison time and put back on the basketball team and she refuses to cheer for him and she is kicked off the cheerleader squad. She sues for violating her 1st Amendment rights of free speech and loses, appeals the case and loses once again. She then appeals to the Supreme Court which refuses to hear the case, so then the school system sues them to cover their court costs.
MsBlog
by Caroline Heldman
October 15, 2010
If someone assaulted you, would you want to then cheer for his performance on a basketball court? A 16-year-old Texas high school student sure didn’t.
High school football star Rakheem Bolton and two others were indicted for sexual assault of a child–identified only as H.S.–at a post-game party in 2008. According to H.S.–a fellow student and cheerleader at Silsbee High–Bolton, football player Christian Rountree and another juvenile male forced her into a room, locked the door, held her down and sexually assaulted her. When other party-goers tried to get into the room, two of the men fled through an open window, including Bolton, who left clothing behind. Bolton allegedly threatened to shoot the occupants of the house when the homeowner refused to return his clothes.
In September 2010, Bolton pled guilty to a lesser charge of Class A Assault and was sentenced to one year in prison, a sentence that was suspended by the judge in lieu of two years probation, a $2,500 fine, community service and an anger management course.
Silsbee school officials had two responses to the incident. First, they urged H.S. to keep a low profile, such as avoiding the school cafeteria and not taking part in homecoming activities. With the support of her family, she refused to do so, rejecting the notion that she had anything to be ashamed of. Secondly, school officials kicked her off the cheerleading squad for refusing to cheer for Bolton. No kidding.
First of all local justice in Texas is not justice, I firmly believe that judges should not be elected. It makes a very bad judicial system where judges will not go against popular opinion. Second, in Texas athletes are raised to the level of gods and have free reign.
You can't make this stuff up. Even if Kafka had written a story like that, people would say, "Oh, come on!"
ReplyDeleteIf you want an idea of how bizarre Texas politics is, consider this: Two years ago, it became one of the last states to allow a court order for a person's gender "change" to be used as documentation for obtaining everything from a driver's to a marriage license. Now the legislator who wrote that law is, in essence, looking to overturn it. That would be bad enough for trans people who want to get married. But it would leave those who were married during the past two years in a legal limbo. Would the State annul all of those marriages?