Posted on 07/19/2009 7:53:52 PM PDT by forkinsocket
(CN) - A county attorney in Kansas violated a girl's privacy by showing around photos of her sexual assault, the teen and her mother claim in Topeka Federal Court. The Anderson County Attorney refused to prosecute the assailant, but showed other parents photos of the sexual assault, and was suspended from practicing law for 6 months for it, the family says.
The parents say their 17-year-old daughter attended an outdoor party in May 2007, where four men or boys forced her to take off her clothes. One of them had sex with her in the bed of a truck, despite her repeated pleas for him to stop, while others took photos of it, according to the complaint.
The girl says that she reported the assault to police, who referred it to County Attorney Frank Campbell.
She says Campbell "decided he would not pursue prosecution of the male" involved in the sexual assault, but told a local newspaper that he would share the pictures with parents of the minors at the party.
The girl's family protested, but says Campbell insisted he did not need permission to show around the photos, and photos of the girl allegedly drinking alcohol at the party.
Campbell did show the photos to parents, the girl says, and wrote a letter to her mother stating that "the photographs you refer to are evidence of criminal activity by several minors and as I cannot lawfully withhold evidence, I have allowed and will continue to allow the parents of the potential respondents to view altered versions of them in my office."
The family says they filed an ethics complaint against Campbell, and the state Supreme Court suspended him from practicing law for 6 months.
The girl says she has been "diagnosed with depression and has suffered from flashbacks, nightmares and severe mental anguish."
The family sued Campbell and the County Commission, which allegedly failed to stop Campbell from revealing the photos. They demand punitive damages.
The family is represented by Gregory Lee.
They should sue him for deliberate indifference.
The verdict aside, one can hope this jerk finds himself in a similar situation one day, where he is the one who is humiliated and tortured by someone in a position of authority who lacks common decency.
He should be disbarred and be criminally prosecuted.
How about distributing child porn?
Were this my daughter a Civil suit would be the least of Mr. Campbell’s problems.
Definately...
Brings to mind that scene from The Godfather where the father of a rape victim goes to Don Corleone for justice.
Bingo! That is the answer. Freepers are the smartest.
How do we get that to new D.A.? and the family?
That explains not pursuing prosecution, but they must have a damn tight grip on power in that county if he feels free to be passing them around. That's an amazing amount of arrogance... the kind that can cause the mighty to fall.
I hope the parents rip the county a new one and shake the rats and snakes out of their burrows, but I suspect they'll just pay them off (at taxpayer's expense) and run them out of the county.
Wow this guy deserves to be punched in the face.
Just like here in Oregon?
Wow... this is all so wrong on so many levels... only 6 freakin’ months? You have GOT to be kidding me...
Yep, pretty much.
This is horrible in so many ways. The DA should be charged with distributing child porn.
Why do parents let their kids go to parties all the time? Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I always knew where my teens were and who they were with and that there would be adult supervision. We didn’t just turn out kids loose to go anywhere.
I think that was his point in showing the photos to the parents in question--he wanted to show them what was going on at these parties. Not a particularly appropriate way of doing it, though.
Accidents happen all the time...
No kidding. That is sick.
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