Every Parent's Worst Nightmare: Your Son Indicted for Rape

In this episode of Real Talk, KJK Student Defense Attorneys Susan Stone and Kristina Supler are joined by a parent who we will refer to as “Jane Doe,” who had to experience watching her son face prosecution for rape and kidnapping. And after a long and agonizing trial, her son was found not guilty by a jury after only 15 minutes of deliberation. The conversation includes how a fling turned into a criminal charge and years of distress, the realistic, negative impact of false accusations on victims and their families, and prevention and coping mechanisms for a defendant and their families during prosecution.

Links:

• Susan Stone
• Kristina Supler

Show Notes:

• How a casual relationship spiraled out of control (01:38)
• How the truth became overshadowed by the school, parents, the accuser, the police, and the justice system (03:07)
• The result of a criminal charge, indictment, 2 trials, and years of agony (03:38)
• Why parents need to discuss the dangers of hookup culture with their children (04:30)
• The role hookup and cancel culture has played in her son’s false rape accusation (06:22)
• The agony of witnessing your child’s life stop and become turned over to the justice system (07:46)
• The lack of support from the school administration and the impact this had on the child’s siblings at the same school (09:51)
• A remarkable turn of events: how good acquaintances turned into the best support system one could ask for (10:27)
• How one student’s false accusation instilled a fear on the entire student body (11:35)
• Navigating the unknown world of the justice system as a terrified parent (13:25)
• The living purgatory of waiting for a second trial (16:36)
• Juggling college and preparing for a new trial (17:27)
• The necessity and precautions of seeking external support to cope with the stress of an ongoing trial (18:44)
• What it’s really like for a family to deal with the tension of a trial (20:53)
• How Jane found solace in her community and other mothers going through what her family was experiencing (23:15)
• Finding some closure through filing and settling a defamation and malicious prosecution lawsuit after acquittal (26:50)

Transcript:

Kristina Supler: Today's episode is the epitome of real talk. We're joined by a parent who will refer to as Jane Doe.

Kristina Supler: Jane sadly had to live through the experience of watching her son face prosecution for rape and kidnapping. And after a long trial, agonizing, her son was found not guilty by a jury after only 15 minutes of deliberation.

Kristina Supler: And I'm sure those 15 minutes were the longest 15 minutes of her life. Jane has graciously agreed to talk to us today about her experience.

Susan Stone: And we thank you, Jane for coming today. And, Christina, we deal every day in our practice with not just students going through title nine process, but sadly, we have had a lot of interplay between the national title nine process and the criminal justice system.

Susan Stone: And we privately have conversations and this is the first time. On our podcast, where we have had a parent tell their story. So thank you for coming. And our first question would be without revealing identities, because we want to be sensitive to your privacy and that of your child. But can you briefly describe Jane what the allegations were that were lodged against your son?

Susan Stone: Tell your story.

Jane Doe: I I'd be happy to. And thank you so much for inviting me here today. It's an honor to talk about this, uh, process because of what our family has been through. Um, shortly after he graduated high school, my son was accused of rape and kidnapping by a girl with whom he had a casual relationship.

Jane Doe: They had had an interaction at a party, and again, they were known to each other, but they had interacted at a party and shortly after their interaction was over, she accused him of rape. And, uh, as I say at that moment, the train left the station. And from there. She reported the incident to her parents who then of course, as any parent would do took action, not knowing.

Jane Doe: Any facts, of course, but just what their daughter had told them. And they took action. She went through the process of going to the hospital and a number of events that occurred when you do that, when you make an accusation and from there forward, It just felt like a bomb dropped and there was no, no control over what was going to happen from there.

Jane Doe: And I inte...