by Irin Carmon
5/11/11
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A Chicago man who was acquitted on a sexual assault charge is suing the legal blog Above The Law for implying that he's a serial rapist. If Meanith Huon gets his way, blogger sloppiness may cost ATL $50 million.
Huon, a lawyer, was initially charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual abuse, and one count of unlawful restraint. A woman had jumped out of his car, ran through a cornfield barefoot, and knocked on a random person's door saying he had forced her into sexual activity. She later said she believed she was spending time with him for a job opportunity related to alcohol promotions, until he allegedly yelled at her to perform oral sex. Huon's version was that it was a consensual encounter, and partly on the strength of a bartender's testimony that the woman had been drinking and asked where to go to have fun, the jury believed him.
Huon is also suing local law enforcement authorities in Madison County, Illinois for prosecutorial misconduct. His beef with Above The Law stems from a roundup post entitled "Rape Potpurri," in which blogger Elie Mystal mistakenly believes that news accounts of the same incident are different incidents that should have tipped the woman off that Huon was a serial offender. "The content of the article were [sic] defamatory in that it incorrectly and recklessly portrayed Mr. Huon as a serial rapist by treating the same complaining witness as three different women," says the complaint, according to Forbes.
"And this, people, is why God invented Google," wrote Mystal in the original post, linking to articles that in fact described the same case. The lesson learned: Google only takes you so far.
Lawyer Sues Legal Blog For $50 M Over Rape Story [Forbes]
Related: Rape Potpurri [ATL]
mohamedzv2001 Irin Carmon
5/11/11 7:22pm
So now to Jezebel, even if someone was acquitted, they're still a rapist, because ya know, an accusation is 100% true 100% of the time.
HeartRateRapid mohamedzv2001
5/11/11 7:32pm
Yea, all those crazy bitches going to the cops and lying about being raped. Except that false reports for stolen cars are more common. False rape reports make up less than 3% of all reported rapes, and as I'm sure you know, it horrendously underreported.
I'm also uncomfortable with the way the article was titled, but please don't bring in the rape apology bingo by relying on the old idea that most women lie about it.
zegota HeartRateRapid
5/11/11 7:36pm
Regardless of the statistics, calling someone an "acquitted [thing they were acquitted for]" is kind of stupid. Unless it's OJ, cause fuck him.