-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Las Vegas Rape Accuser Moved to Federal Court
- Thread starter Unkindled
- Start date
So the moral of the story, if you have the cash you get away with crimes.
Boring, heard that so many times before.
Once you assume something, you can go all the way and assume all you want.
This is true, and only for the victim to take a stance regarding.
While also true, there is a limit of when it goes from very likely assumption to 'Are you drunk?'.
The problem is Ronaldo basically admitted to the rape (and admitted to the extent of physical harm that Mayorga experienced, as well as the lack of consent on her part to what he wanted to do), and Mayorga had a smoking gun to his head for him to face consequences for his actions. Frankly, I find it stupid that all it takes is money to make the charges disappear. If you commit a crime, especially one as egregious as rape, then you deserve to go to jail.
Of course I get it but when offered a large sum of money going through the trail and the stress with no garuntee of a guilty verdict does not seem worth it. Even after a guilty verdict that large sum of money is just so so tempting. Could be millions, never worry about money again.
Isn't this just a US legal system thing? I'm no expert on US criminal law, but say that this crime was committed in Belgium, the victim 'dropping the charges' would not have any concequences at all. The crime is completely seperate from the wishes of the victim. If the crime is committed the authorities will decide whether to persue it in court or not.
Yeah I'm not against settling out of court, but settling a crime that carries prison time out of court is weird AF.
The most frustrating thing is that never knowing the truth has horrible implications. On one hand, I'm not a fan of thinking a man can't ever be cleared of the tag of rapist even when charges are dropped - all it takes is the accusation, and to some you'll be forever a rapist. On the other, the idea that she gave up because she felt she couldn't win and that there was no way for her to get justice is ten times more terrifying. Even if she settled for money as some form of compensation, she should be able to get justice.
There's no silver lining or happy ending in these cases. Even if you can prove the truth, you end up with a victim and a monster. If you don't, you still end up with a victim and a monster.
Okay but there's still the justice system to worry about, and the idea that a man can simply pay his way out of criminal charges (especially one that carries major implications like rape) is asinine. In civil cases, I understand completely, but this should not be happening at the criminal justice level.
The money should not be the primary focus (otherwise, go ahead and pursue a civil suit for damages). What should matter is sending the message that no matter where you fall in the socio-economic classes, that all rapists will face their time. Assuming that the dropped suit is because of money, It's bullshit that Ronaldo can just pay his way out of rape charges twice.
From what I understand, Mayorga was the one who initially sought another lawsuit with the justification that emotional trauma prevented her from pursuing justice, which in turn, led to LVPD re-opening the investigation. LVPD was not going to look into this without her bringing up a lawsuit. Now that she's apparently dropped the charges, I'd think LVPD would just close the investigation.
Makes sense I guess. It's probably too long ago to make any kind of case without the victim's involvement.
justice isn't fair, guys.
A case like Ronaldo going to court with practically unlimited money? He'd be able to get the most competent lawyers and can you ever say you could find a completely unbiased jury if Cristiano Ronaldo was sitting at the defense bench?
OJ? Oscar Pistorius? MJ?
It's basically a coin flip regardless of evidence if a major celebrity is up for a serious case.
Couple that with the repercussions of the victim if he is found innocent...
A case like Ronaldo going to court with practically unlimited money? He'd be able to get the most competent lawyers and can you ever say you could find a completely unbiased jury if Cristiano Ronaldo was sitting at the defense bench?
OJ? Oscar Pistorius? MJ?
It's basically a coin flip regardless of evidence if a major celebrity is up for a serious case.
Couple that with the repercussions of the victim if he is found innocent...
Yeah, agree.
In this case though you have indicatments where CR more or less admited rape, then when he realize that his written statements looked bad, his lawyers redacted them.
Then the answer should be to bridge the gap and be as fair as humanely possible, not delude ourselves into thinking that the criminal justice system is doing its best.
Juries and settlements in a criminal case are amongst some of the most egregious things that I think should be eliminated.
I feel the criminal justice system is viewed by politicians (and in essence voters) in a similar way to prisons. It's not a priority and I don't think it will ever become one.
No one seriously thinks about it until they're in the middle of it. Considering the ratio of the population committing and being put on trial for crimes is quite low, you can't imagine the opinions of the majority will change anytime soon.
Ronaldo's initial statement is particularly puzzling because either you give it an incredibly charitable and unrealistic reading in terms of him being extremely clumsy about it, or you have to assume he was completely oblivious to the implications of his actions. Which is... scary.
It's the most logical conclusion seeing as he admitted to rape on interview, whether he understood what he was admitting to was rape or not
I mean you're free to believe what you feel you need to. It just appears to be the most logical conclusion (or assumption if you would prefer).
Not that I would blame her, it's her life
Either she got the money and ran, or she didn't have enough to jail him and was risking a counter-lawsuit.
In the first case she got good money the first time, then came out because she had to do it blabla and then she got some more money, the social justice warrior we all need (/s)
In the second case, it sucks if it all really happened and I guess we will never know which one it is
Just buy reading the OP, yes, that is a possible scenario (the one where she did it just for money), but then you have this:
So it is way more likley that he is guilty but paid her of.
That says nothing in the context of sex, and the first answer contradicts the other one. And she still chose, like ten years ago, money over justice, so yes I do blame her because if she got raped she now let a rapist roam free. Because we're here for this, right?Just buy reading the OP, yes, that is a possible scenario (the one where she did it just for money), but then you have this:
So it is way more likley that he is guilty but paid her of.
That's some awful phrasing. A victim settling out of court doesn't make them less of a victim, and the words used here make it sound like it was about the money.
The first answer is before he realize that 'Wait I can't say this, this incriminates me', hence the second statement.
And you are in no position to judge a persons decision how to proceed, since a trial can be very hard and break you mentally, and you woud even victim blame her which is frankly disgusting.
English is not my first language, but.. She already did that once.
I was hoping they would go all the way to make everything clear.
User Banned (permanent): Dismissing sexual assault + Victim blaming over multiple posts.
I hope she can find some peace with hundreds of thousands of dollars then.
I'm kinda sceptical because a football avatar while having these opinions is just.. Irksome. In any case, I don't think there is any blame to be placed on her.
...okay, so it's not just a phrasing problem. That's a pretty fucked up view, man. A trial isn't exactly fun for a victim. And potentially life changing money is a huge incentive. You shouldn't blame a victim for choosing the money
I'm even rooting for the team he plays for now, but I don't give a shit about him. She chose to let an alleged rapist roam free after talking about inspiration from the me too movement etc, these are the people that disrupt the wave in the eyes of common people.
Next time I'll wear an anime profile pic.
I'm blaming you all on always jumping on the same wagon without asking yourselves why could things happen the way they did, she could've asked for all the money in the world and if she got it good for her.
But people usualy don't jump on that wagon, but in this case you have written statement that they redacted and changed, if that isn't damning I don't know what. You even gave that statement the benefit of doubt, while it is way more likley that "Stop" and "no" means, just that, as in don't do it.
Nothing would help, not even jailing Ronaldo. We just choose to cope however we can with what we're given, it sucks that it always comes down to cash.
Well... That's not true. Therapy is freaking expensive. I genuinely hope the money can help her, but it feels like Ricky didn't quite mean it that way. What he wrote is clearly lacking empathy.
Well, in the US I guess, meanwhile here in Sweden it would cost... 0, and yeah, I feel Ricky have taken a hard stance for CR even with the incriminating evidence.
There are other cases where it would make more sense to have a "both sides" approach, this is not it.
It doesn't matter if she dropped it for money or because this whole process can be mentally exhausting especially in a high profile case like this or whatever her reasoning may be. It is her choice. Framing this in a way that she "let a rapist go free" is fucked up no matter what the circumstances are.
For a rape victim, or in general? I'm in Austria, we got cheap healthcare, and while I admit that I have no idea what support victims of sexual violence receive (something I ought to find out), therapy in general is super expensive still
In Sweden, healthcare cost zero (well you can have a 10 EUR fee, I guess symbolic fee to deter unnecessary cases), medicine is free after you spend 220 EUR / year.
That includes all types of healthcare (except dental after you turn... 20 I believe).
Of course, all is paid by taxes, so it is "free"