Marcus Dixon CONVICTED Ten Years for Child Molestation

[cyborg]

I just heard that Marcus Dixon has been convicted of child molestation. Ten years in prison...a complete outrage esp. since the girl said she lied anout the rape.

[cyborg]

They should have waited for a looooong time IMHO.

[tsomer]

It doesn't sound like he was railroaded.

From an AP story:
"On Feb. 10, 2003, Dixon claims he met the girl _ a sophomore classmate in a home economics class _ after school and arranged to visit her in a classroom trailer, where she was working as a student custodian.

The two had sex on a table in the back of the classroom. She told school counselors about the incident, and they contacted police. Dixons scholarship was revoked after his arrest.

"The person I thought I knew, she was pretty smart, she was kind of laid back, but she was very talkative, friendly. She loved to joke around," Dixon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from prison. "She seemed pretty sweet to me until this went down. It was like she's a totally different person."

[cyborg]

Is a girl same or different after having sex for the time? I watched the Oprah special and was not convinced for a number of reasons.

[judgeandjury]

In light of the fact that he and the girl were only 3 years apart, I find it interesting/appalling that this guy got ten years in prison.

The fact that the guy and the girl were only three years apart in age is irrelevant. The fact that he was an adult and she was a minor is what is relevant in this case.

[BlueNgold]

"We have a difference of opinion"
No we don't ... at least not yet.

You made a factual statement: "The girl said she lied about the rape."

If that statement is fact then it would change everything. But you provide no source for this 'fact' ... when actually all evidence, including her statemetns to police, parents, and on the stand at trial indicate otherwise. Your 'opinion' is based on facts not in evidence. If you know she did not recant and restate such an inflammatory charge then you are the worst kind of liar, heaping more shame upon a victim of a sexual crime. If you believe she recanted, then it is up to you to prove she did. Find a quote, name a source. You cant make such bold statements in a vacuum. Not here .. expect to be challenged.

[cyborg]

I SAID I HEARD IT AS IS ON THE RADIO...I wrote down what I heard the radio. I am the last person to disparage a rape victim's testimony so don't go there with me. I thought Tawana Brawley was lying and think this girl is lying TOO. Deal with that.

[BlueNgold]

The mandatory sentencing is what I am questioning. If this law was ever applied then I think we'd see a lot of more high school students in jail or with police records.

Inform yourself better. This is not a stat rape case, but a rape and sexual assualt case. He's now a convicted felon.

GA laws do make provision for such encounters between teens, if they are truly consensual. A 3 year age difference (15-18) would be a misdemeanor by state law in a consensual case. As such most HS stat rape cases are never brought to trial.

[TheSpottedOwl]

The fact that the guy and the girl were only three years apart in age is irrelevant. The fact that he was an adult and she was a minor is what is relevant in this case.

Tell that to Romeo and Juliet. Adult and minor are legal distinctions, not having a thing to do with a couple of teenagers. If the man was 30, and the girl was 15...then there would be a huge problem.

My son in law is 29, my daughter who is his wife, is 24. Should we lynch him?

[hellinahandcart]

This leaped out at me from your link:

Statutory rape is sex between an adult and a minor, while aggravated child molestation also involves an injury.

I remember reading something about this a while ago, IIRC the girl immediately reproted the incident and testified at the trial. He was found not guilty of rape but guilty of the other two charges, so I think it's important to know what the physical injury was before deciding whether or not the sentence is an outrage.

I haven't heard that the girl recanted, so "not guilty" doesn't necessarily translate to "consensual". If she did take it back, that's a different matter, and she should be the one facing charges.

[rdb3]

I heard the exact same thing cyborg heard about this girl and that she said she made it up. I also heard it on the radio while listening to Rush, so it was ABC-News (WBAP-AM Dallas).

That is what was reported.

[cyborg]

He's a convicted felon for having teen sex.

[cyborg]

thanks I knew I wasn't the only person that heard that

[discostu]

Welcome to the modern world, there are a lot of "magic" numbers out there these days. 79% market share means you're not a monopoly and can horizontally leverage other products, 80% means you are and can't. Here in AZ the statory laws have a "buffer zone": below 18 is illegal for anybody over 18, below 21 is illegal for anybody over 21, between 18 and 21 is OK if both parties fall in the gap. At 14.5 years you can get a learner's permit. At 16 a driver's license. At 18 you can sign contracts and legally get yourself in debt up to your eyeballs. A 3.2 GPA in high school lowers your insurance by 10%.

It's a magic number world, and when looked at closely no most of the numbers don't make sense.

[cyborg]

Confusing isn't it?

[hellinahandcart]

Well, it wouldn't be the first time that WABC radio had laid an egg on its newscast. But if they picked it up, it had to have come from somewhere. Let's look around.

[BlueNgold]

The defense atty in fighting the sentencing, has made statments to the effect that 'the jury found this was consensual' and 'the victims own statments helped prove that case'. I have yet to hear that she has recanted her statements, although some in the news have been rewording the defense attys statements as though they were fact. I've followed the case closely, and one of her alleged friends did an intervew with HBO Real Sports saying it was consensual, but teh victim herself has not publicly stated it. A rumor from a self-proclamed friend is not a fact.

[cyborg]

You're right and when the newsbit pops up I'll post it.

[discostu]

Only when you try to figure things out. Over the years I've learned to take Randy Newman's advice: you gotta roll with the punches.

[snowstorm12]

I for one don't think he was innocent of rape. Dixon kept changing his story about this incident and he lied at first he denied knowing the girl at all. I believe the girl's story that there was no previous contact with Dixon until he started pestering her that day about what rooms she would be cleaning that day. As far as I know no other teachers or classmates saw them have any friendly contact in the past or budding romance. I know the jury acquitted him because they didn't like her explanation of how he got her clothes came off but victims of crime, especially young victims, are usually confused and aren't perfect on every detail.

Dixon also had two previous sexual misconduct allegations against him involving 2 underage girls under 15. One occasion, he was exposing himself, taking his penis out in a classroom, standing behind a girl and having her turn around. The girl in that incident was shocked. Dixon says it was just a joke. "It was stupid, a stupid prank, you know. It didn't really happen the way they said it happened," he said. "I had shorts on, and my private, you know, was out. She looked at it, and we was all just laughing about it." The next year there was another incident, in which Dixon allegedly groped a member of the high school track team after practice. "That didn't happen at all," said Dixon. "It was made up. There was no touching, however they said it." According to Conway, who has also investigated this allegation, the girl said "Mr. Dixon placed his hands inside of her shorts." The school didn't contact any police for both incidents and just contacted the parents and he was suspended.

I think they had a show on Oprah last week and of course the entire show was trying to show Marcus as victim.

[rdb3]

I'm not concerned with all that. The news report on the radio that I heard today from ABC-News said that she made up the rape charge. It was not an attorney saying it, but the news anchor (a lady).