Somehow I missed that this was going on, but have read every page and cried when I read about the verdict even though I knew what it was, I am so thankful the jury could see the obvious wrong and brought it back so quickly so that they wouldn't have one more night of freedom.
If I were the parents of these boys, I would be writing an apology to this poor girl. I would say how truly sorry I am and that I somehow failed at parenting because there is no excuse for what was done to her.
I would like to think my parent know, even at my age now, it wouldn't matter how intoxicated I am, if I saw this going on I would stand up against it. Every parent should raise their child with the fear that just being around something and not doing anything to stop it is just as bad as being the main culprit. If this were my child I would have been sitting on the victims side to send a clear message to my child and that would be if you were even in the position to be around something like this going on and you did nothing to stop it, you are GUILTY of a wrong doing.(OT: my dh and I were discussing potential torture of gitmo victims and I said it actually doesn't bother me and he asked if it was our daughter there would I feel different, I said if our daughter was in the position of talking/working with terrorist I would hope that's where she was) I have no pity on ANYONE who hurts others, and am sick of the white glove treatment some of these people get, and how their parents support them. My child will be raised knowing my love of her will never end, but the support will stop if involved in something that hurts another person. There will be no attorney paid for, there will be no support in the courthouse. And I would be the biggest supporter of her being held responsible for her actions. I very rarely think I am absolutely right when it comes to anything parenting because all children are so different, but with this, I feel absolutely right and think all parents should raise their kids knowing that.
Bless this victim and I hope she is right that this can hopefully prevent something like this from happening. And I am so glad that this sends a message to college athletes, there is no culture, no amount of alcohol that can condone these type of actions. May she take a step towards resolution and healing.