Comments on: Dear Ann Arbor Police, Sgt. Richard Kinsey, University of Michigan and Yaron Eliav:

By: RB

RB — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:44:49 +0000

Here’s the thing to remember. Ann Arbor has never, and does not now, employ police officers with an IQ above the stapler on my desk. You can’t expect either a compassionate, or reasoned, response to most situations that A2 Police might find themselves in – the best thing is to steer clear. Because this community is so safe ( hardly any murders, for example), the A2 Police have no experience in dealing with anything serious, and will often treat the taxpaying citizenry like crap. don’t count on help from the judicial system either because the judges tend to be more in bed with police/prosecutors than anyone else.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:12:04 +0000

OK, DID I MISS SOMETHING HERE?! ( I did just begin to follow this story.) Did this professor not get charged with ANYTHING????? Even if they could not charge him with assault, is it not also a crime for him to respond to a CL ad and pay for sexual services? Wasn’t he at least charged with the same crime as the alleged assault victim?

Also….why is it so acceptable to charge someone with domestic violence based on a victim’s allegation, but somehow the allegation is not taken seriously in the context of a sex worker / client? This is such an obvious hypocrisy!!!

By: Holy Shit « Bound, Not Gagged

Holy Shit « Bound, Not Gagged — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:40:19 +0000

[...] woman who was charged for reporting her assault has spoken out, sending an email to law school networks and posting a comment on Above the Law. A [...]

By: Michigan Law Student Speaks Out « studentactivism.net

Michigan Law Student Speaks Out « studentactivism.net — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:20:48 +0000

[...] Faculty, Feminism, Gender, Media, Police, Sexual Violence, Students A couple of weeks ago, this story made the rounds. A professor at the University of Michigan answered an ad on craigslist for sexual [...]

By: kissmypineapple

kissmypineapple — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:47:23 +0000

This is insane! To the people who are so quick to act like she was stupid to report her prostitution when reporting the assault, many, if not most, cops will ignore the crime you were committing when someone commits a much more serious crime against you. I work for a victim assistance agency in Flagstaff, and we see this all the time. A woman is doing drugs when her boyfriend/husband decides to beat the shit out of her. She comes to us, terrified to report, b/c of what she was doing at the time, and we always tell her to report anyway, and Flag PD never cares what she was doing at the time. I can walk into the police station and declare that I was just shooting heroin, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be charged with anything.

Secondly, jury trials are not the automatic end result of a person being charged with a crime. A whole hell of a lot happens first, and criminal cases almost always end in a plea agreement. Since this man already admitted to hitting her, it would be quite likely that a plea agreement would be reached, and he would actually serve a little bit of time, if the AAPD could be arsed to file a formal complaint.

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:56:18 +0000

The girl gives her side of the story: http://abovethelaw.com/2008/12/michigan_2l_responds.php

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:25:57 +0000

The girl gives her side of the story: http://abovethelaw.com/2008/12/university_of_michigan_law_stu.php#comment-870773

By: Sailorman

Sailorman — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:40:09 +0000

I can see, fairly easily, why they didn’t charge him. Prosecutors have comparatively limited resources, and they do not generally charge cases which are extremely unlikely to win at trial. The case against the jerk,as best explained by Bloix above, is a loser at trial.

So why did she get charged? I suspect she got charged for three reasons.

First of all, cops hate lawyers, unless they are working in the prosecutor’s office.

Second of all, lawyers tend to hate lawbreaking lawyers. That’s why the bar is so harsh on us.

And third, the whole “I needed to break the law to do X” argument is a good excuse when X is “eat” and less of a good excuse when X is “attend the graduate school of my choice instead of another school.” Ann Arbor is one of the top ten law schools in the country. It is damn hard to get in and only the top (and legacy) students make it. Someone who is smart enough to get into Ann Arbor is smart enough to make good money doing something legal. Or, if they can’t afford Ann Arbor, then as someone who got admitted they are certainly able to go to law school at a lower tier school and get a free scholarship, and still be a lawyer in the end.

So I agree that generally this situation is very problematic, but i think that this particular case may present somewhat of an exception.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:48:21 +0000

Sorry, here is the full link to the facebook group. I am a UM student so I decided to create the group. If you have facebook you should really spread it around, I hope to get students here to start emailing the University so that they’ll take action!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=689306570&ref=name#/group.php?gid=67645175448&ref=mf

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:35:18 +0000

facebook group on the issue