The Indy Star has a much more substantive article out with some quores from the prosecutor that talks about how the jury reached it's verdict:
Breaking: Former Huntington coach Nick Johnson found GUILTY of sexual battery
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Absolutely disgusting that the prosecutor dropped the charges of sex with a minor related to his Oregon trip and let him get off with just 30 days of jail. I hope he gets the max sentence this time, which is still way too short.
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BigTex wrote:
Absolutely disgusting that the prosecutor dropped the charges of sex with a minor related to his Oregon trip and let him get off with just 30 days of jail. I hope he gets the max sentence this time, which is still way too short.
Weren't those charges dropped because the minor didn't want to cooperate?
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I would assume so. Sounds like she's been brainwashed seeing as how she still refuses to disassociate with them. Because her parents refuse to step in and protect her, the justice system should have in this instance.
pavement88 wrote:
BigTex wrote:
Absolutely disgusting that the prosecutor dropped the charges of sex with a minor related to his Oregon trip and let him get off with just 30 days of jail. I hope he gets the max sentence this time, which is still way too short.
Weren't those charges dropped because the minor didn't want to cooperate?
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fjb wrote:
Will rephrase so the woke mods don't delete it. Look at Duke lacrosse and the Columbia mattress girl. A ton of these cases are hoaxes
No, a "ton" are not. Also, Duke lacrosse never made it to trial. The investigation uncovered what really happened. Those players were treated badly by the university as everyone rushed to judgment on it. This case made its way through an investigation and trial with a verdict.
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constrained wrote:
fjb wrote:
Will rephrase so the woke mods don't delete it. Look at Duke lacrosse and the Columbia mattress girl. A ton of these cases are hoaxes
Under criminal law, a defendant must be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which means the evidence must be so strong that there is no reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime. That's an extremely high burden to meet, and eight people -- five women and three men -- felt the state met its burden, and it didn't take the jury long to reach this conclusion, which would further suggests that the evidence against the accused was extremely strong.
A lawyer on a podcast I listen to often reminds listeners that none of us hear all the testimony that a jury hears (few cases are broadcast) so it can be dicey to second guess a jury that heard from witnesses (and maybe the defendant).
As noted, the bar on conviction is pretty high and prosecutors are loathe to take a weak case to trial for a number of reasons. Yes, errors can occur, but they are a rarity. For every one you hear about tens of thousands more are the correct verdict (maybe you quibble with the charges or the penalty imposed but those are not really on the jury per se).291 -
SummerSlogger wrote:
This sport is filled with creeps like this. I'd guess for every one that gets caught and charged there are a thousand that just skate through. The girls is embarrassed, doesn't want the attention, assumes nobody will believe her so these guys just go on fondling women, "massaging" them and taking advantage and blurring the lines between coach and boyfriend.
This one may be one of the worst because it's sex abuse stacked on top of drugs and doping AND the wife is in on it too!
I remember reading about a HS coach that referred to himself as The Dizzle. He was hosting alcohol fueled parties at his house, banging his runners, etc. But his situation sounded more like a hard partying dufus that was living out his fantasy of being the most popular kid in HS, this guy at Huntington is next level.Not just this sport...
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astro wrote:
What about this entire situation makes you think the jury got it wrong? Think about the things NJ already fully admitted to and already did jail time for. It is a clear pattern of behavior.
The Federal Court dismissed the title IX claims against the university bc there was no evidence that a responsible person in a supervisory role at the university was aware of the alleged abusive behavior. The decision said nothing else, and nothing about doping. As to that, I would refer to the 28 page police investigation report that is a matter of public record. Based on that, NJ was running some type of Salazar inspired program at HU.
The whole situation was surreal from the beginning. But this is a sport that can be gamed.
I took CGeorgeRun comment about juries getting it wrong to be a very general statement that is factually accurate. They are not infallible and do happen rarely albeit each time is a tragedy.
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BigTex wrote:
I would assume so. Sounds like she's been brainwashed seeing as how she still refuses to disassociate with them. Because her parents refuse to step in and protect her, the justice system should have in this instance.
pavement88 wrote:
Weren't those charges dropped because the minor didn't want to cooperate?
It is really hard to get a conviction if the victim does not want to cooperate or testify.
There are a lot of reasons a young girl might not want to cooperate and this will not be exhaustive. I am sure I will leave out some. (BTW, this comes from talking with young and even older women about filing complaints regarding sexual misconduct against someone in a non-legal situation).
The girl is embarrassed and traumatized by the whole thing and does not want to have to relive it through answering questions from investigators much less in an open court. Even if the court is closed, there are still a lot of people there (jury, bailiff, lawyers, judge, etc.). Then the defense attorney could make testifying miserable. Some of it might be easy enough. "Did you cross state lines with him?" But the key parts could be horrific to relive.
She may think that this will help her put the whole thing behind her. Only time will tell.She might not be traumatized by it at all but does not want to air all that in court either or she does not want him punished for it.
It is easy for people who are not in a situation to judge others and think "they ought to do this". It is easy to say "she should testify to protect others" when you are not the person who has to live through that process. I have seen attorneys depose people. It can get ugly.251 -
The uncooperative victim literally went on the news with Lauren Johnson and spoke out against the other victims. They’re in total denial and the fact they keep aligning with the Johnsons is probably one of the worst things I've seen and heard in sport and honestly just life. Had this case been at a major D1 school, this would've been Larry Nassir level of news and would not have gotten so buried under a pile $hit.
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fjb wrote:
This stuff needs to stop at the top of threads like this. Sexual assault is a complicated issue. This person had their due process & was convicted. Sexual assault is underreported because of comments like this. Don't perpetuate stereotypes. Thanks.
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samcallan wrote:
SummerSlogger wrote:
This sport is filled with creeps like this. I'd guess for every one that gets caught and charged there are a thousand that just skate through. The girls is embarrassed, doesn't want the attention, assumes nobody will believe her so these guys just go on fondling women, "massaging" them and taking advantage and blurring the lines between coach and boyfriend.
This one may be one of the worst because it's sex abuse stacked on top of drugs and doping AND the wife is in on it too!
I remember reading about a HS coach that referred to himself as The Dizzle. He was hosting alcohol fueled parties at his house, banging his runners, etc. But his situation sounded more like a hard partying dufus that was living out his fantasy of being the most popular kid in HS, this guy at Huntington is next level.Not just this sport...
I had 3 coaches from HS> college and 2/3 had what I'll call "issues with the ladies". There were whispers about them being too friendly, too close, too involved, "creepy". Some guys just cannot deal with girls/women without thinking with their d!cks.
And, not to make this about me, but while I wasn't directly affected by those guys behavior it very much DID affect our team, the moral, etc. At an early age I learned that someone can be a great coach, inspire one to perform, have knowledge of the sport, but then have a completely different "bad" side. It really p!ssed me off that they behaved that way and caused such issues, when all they had to do was be a decent human being.
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Small correction, Huntington is not a junior college; it's a university in the NAIA. I actually ran for a school in its conference a few years ago, back before Wiley when their other women were running out of their minds. I agree with the other sentiments of your post though.
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fjb wrote:
Will rephrase so the woke mods don't delete it. Look at Duke lacrosse and the Columbia mattress girl. A ton of these cases are hoaxes
Like comparing apples to watermelons. The Duke lacrosse case was dismissed and the DA who brought the case was eventually disbarred. There was never even an indictment in the Columbia mattress case. Nick Johnson has been convicted by a jury in a criminal sexual battery trial. That requires a unanimous verdict based on a full jury trial of evidence by a jury that was selected, in part, by Johnson’s legal counsel.
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samcallan wrote:
astro wrote:
What about this entire situation makes you think the jury got it wrong? Think about the things NJ already fully admitted to and already did jail time for. It is a clear pattern of behavior.
The Federal Court dismissed the title IX claims against the university bc there was no evidence that a responsible person in a supervisory role at the university was aware of the alleged abusive behavior. The decision said nothing else, and nothing about doping. As to that, I would refer to the 28 page police investigation report that is a matter of public record. Based on that, NJ was running some type of Salazar inspired program at HU.
The whole situation was surreal from the beginning. But this is a sport that can be gamed.
I took CGeorgeRun comment about juries getting it wrong to be a very general statement that is factually accurate. They are not infallible and do happen rarely albeit each time is a tragedy.
Thank you. I am getting downvoted into oblivion. I am not making any judgment on the verdict itself. I did not listen to the evidence, and in my experience, news reporters can miss some of the important pieces of evidence at trial. Rojo asked a question what could some people say in response to this and I answered it. Doesn't mean I think the jury got it wrong here. It's just an answer to his question.
I am also curious about this lawsuit that alleged forced doping. The allegations in that complaint were disturbing.
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Since someone took umbrage with this being discussed in a different thread:
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