A MISSOULA, MONTANA
DEFENSE ATTORNEY REFERRED TO A 13-YEAR-OLD VICTIM AS OF SEXUAL
ASSAULT IS A TEMPTRESS.
HOW DID IT START.
ACCORDING TO COURT
DOCUMENTS:
THIS IS AN ADDICTION RECOVERY PLACE FOR TEENAGERS.
LISA KAUFFMAN, THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR
GRIFFITH SAID:
LATER OF THE PROSECUTOR'S REPEATED PROTESTS, HERE IS WHAT
HAPPENED.
AND THEN LATER IN A HEATED EXCHANGE WITH THE PROSECUTOR SHE
SAID:
AFTER THAT KAUFFMAN APOLOGIZED.
SO LISA KAUFFMAN IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO NOT JUST WOMEN,
TO HUMANITY BECAUSE SHE THINKS IT'S OKAY TO POINT TO A
13-YEAR-OLD CHILD AND ESSENTIALLY BLAME HER FOR BEING
TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF AS SHE WAS IN A REHAB CLINIC TRYING TO GET
CLEAN AND A 26-YEAR-OLD GUY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER.
YOU ARE A
TERRIBLE PERSON AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE AN ATTORNEY.
I GET
IF YOU ARE A DEFENSE ATTORNEY.
YOU ARE GOING TO FIND ANY AND
ALL WAYS TO TRY AND DEFEND THAT PERSON BECAUSE THAT IS YOUR JOB
BUT I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO YOUR JOB WITHOUT BEING
INCREDIBLY INSULTING TO THE VICTIM WHO WAS JUST TAKEN
ADVANTAGE OF.
CALLING HER TEMPTRESS?
WHAT ARE WE, IN AN ISIS CAMP SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU GO
AHEAD AND BLAME THE FEMALE VICTIM WHO WAS JUST RAPED
OR SEXUALLY ASSAULTED?
DO YOU WANT TO PUT WOMEN IN BURQAS?
IS THAT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE?
THAT IS INSANE.
YOU SHOULD SEE HER MAKEUP AND THE WAY SHE
DRESSES.
ARE YOU SAYING THAT MEN CANíT CONTROL THEMSELVES WHEN
THEY SEE AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN, WHICH IS INSULTING TO MEN, AND
THAT WOMEN WHO PRESENT THEMSELVES IN A CERTAIN WAY
DESERVE TO BE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED OR RAPED?
WHAT IS HER THINKING HERE?
I GET THAT IF YOU ARE A DEFENSE ATTORNEY, YOU HAVE TO
SAY SOME STUFF IN WHAT IS SAD IS WHAT THIS DOES TO THE VICTIMS IN
THESE CASES AND THAT IS WHY YOU HEAR TIME AND TIME AGAIN HOW
DIFFICULT IT IS FOR VICTIMS TO COME FORWARD BECAUSE OF NOT ONLY
ONCE IT'S OUT THERE PEOPLE KNOW AND THEY'RE LOOKING AT YOU AS A
VICTIM OF ONE OF THESE THINGS BUT ALSO, THE PROCESS OF
DEFENDING THE ACCUSED IS TO SAY THAT IT WAS THE VICTIMS FAULT.
TO SAY SHE BURDEN ON HERSELF.
THE BEST LINE OF THIS ALL, AND
IT IS WEIRD TO CALL THE BEST LINE, BUT IT WAS SUPER ACCURATE
FROM THE JUDGE.
IN RESPONSE TO THE IDEA THAT THIS GIRL WAS A
TEMPTRESS AND THAT THE DEFENDANT HAD A LACK OF TRAINING IN THIS
AREA THE JUDGE SAID, IT IS HARDLY A TRAINING ISSUE NOT
TO HAVE SEX WITH A 13-YEAR-OLD.
GOOD.
IT IS JUST SO OBVIOUS IN THAT CASE.
SO YOU WANT A DRUG REHAB PLACE TO SPEND RESOURCES TO
TRAIN GROWN-UP MEN ABOUT HOW IT IS UNLAWFUL TO SLEEP WITH
13-YEAR-OLDS WHO ARE TRYING TO GET CLEAN I SAID DROP DRUG REHAB
CENTER.
YOU THINK THAT THAT MAKES SENSE.
HE IS 26 YEARS
OLD, AND A CHILD.
THAT IS ABSURD.
IS SO RIDICULOUS AND THEN HOW MUCH FURTHER DO YOU NEED TO
GO THAN JUST THAT ONE MIND?
DO YOU NEED TO THEN HAVE THEM COMMON SAY WE'RE DOING THE
TRAINING FOR THIS.
WE ADDRESS THE 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL AS ATTEMPT
DRESSED AND YOU HAVE TO RESISTER FOR THE NEXT 20 HOURS.
JUST
DON'T HAVE SEX WITH 13-YEAR-OLDS.
THEN ARE DONE WITH TRAINING.
LET'S PUT THIS METHOD OF DEFENSE OR APPLY THIS METHOD OF
DEFENSE IN A DIFFERENT CONTEXT AND SEE HOW RIDICULOUS IT IS.
I'M WALKING HOME, I SEE A CAR AND SOMEONE HAS LEFT THEIR
LAPTOP, THEIR MACBOOK PRO ON THE PASSENGER SEAT.
THE CAR IS
LOCKED BUT I SEE THE COMPUTER AND SINCE IT IS RIGHT THERE IN
PLAIN SIGHT, I DECIDE I'M GOING TO BREAK THE WINDOW, BREAK INTO
THE CAR AND STILL THE COMPUTER.
I GET CAUGHT.
DO YOU THINK IT
IS A GOOD DEFENSE FOR ME OR MY LAWYER TO SAY WELL, YOU KNOW,
THE VICTIM HERE DECIDED TO LEAVE THE COMPUTER IN PLAIN SIGHT AND
AS A RESULT, THE VICTIM IS TO BLAME HERE.
THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.
THE PERSON WHO HAS COMMITTED THE CRIME AS THE CRIMINAL.
THE PERSON WHO STEALS A LAPTOP, IN THIS CASE IT WOULD BE
ME, I WOULD BE THE CRIMINAL.
BUT THEN AGAIN, YOU DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TRAINING ON HOW
TO NOT STEAL LAPTOPS.
IT JUST GETS MORE AND MORE ABSURD WHEN YOU APPLY IT TO
ANY OTHER CONTEXT.
I WASN'T TRAINED ON HOW NOT TO BREAK A WINDOW AND STEAL OTHER
PEOPLE'S PROPERTY.
I DIDN'T GET THAT IN WALKING DOWN THE STREET
TRAINING.
IT IS CRAZY.
TO FOLLOW UP ON WHAT HAPPENED, A SECOND COUNT OF
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE AS PART OF THE THING IN THE JUDGE SIMPLY
SAID LISTEN, IF I WERE TO IMAGINE ONE SITUATION IN WHICH I
COULD SHOW SOME KIND OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE OTHER GUYS
SITUATION, THE 26-YEAR-OLD SITUATION IT WOULD BE IF HE WAS
INEXPERIENCED AND THEN WE HAD AN OLDER BUT STILL MINOR
PERSONALITY DISORDER SOMETHING LIKE THAT, BUT SHE'S LIKE, THE
JUDGE SAID THIS GUYS BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK AND HE SEEMED LIKE A
PREDATOR SO 20 YEARS WAS WHAT HE WAS SENTENCED TO DUST 16
OF THOSE SUSPENDED.
I WAS GOING TO SAY, 20 YEARS THE.
IS FOUR YEARS.
THE JUDGE RECOMMENDS SEXUAL OFFENDER
TREATMENT OUT OF THE SENTENCING IS GONE THROUGH BUT THIS IS THE
APPARENT COMPROMISE BETWEEN WHAT WAS SUGGESTED BY THE PAROLE
COUNSELOR AND WHAT THE JUDGE CAME DOWN WITH WAS A
RECOMMENDATION OF SEXUAL OFFENDER TREATMENT DURING THE
SUSPENDED PORTION OF THE SENTENCE BUT THE JUDGE SAID
THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING TO SUSPEND THE WHOLE THING, LIKE
THE DEFENSE SUGGESTED THAT THAT'S THAT.