Verdict Questioned in Florida Rape Trial

I can’t decide what is more astonishing--revelations that Carl Allison secretly drugged a woman with LSD and repeatedly violated her with objects, his seeming lack of understanding for his victim and feelings of remorse for his actions or the jury’s verdict which acquits him of the crime of sexual battery.

Reading Allison’s comments that, in effect--there was no harm done as it was all just for fun--makes one wonder how Allison would like to be drugged without his consent, taken to a stranger’s house and repeatedly penetrated with household objects, all the while being photographed and jeered at.

That we, through our legal system, pass these actions off as the transgressions of boys implicates us in the travesty as well.

DANIEL STEWART

Los Angeles