Great find Riggs. Witherspoon's Twitter feed is great this morning. Sam U's motion for new trial denied, appeal will proceed. Apparently prosecutors threatened Sam U's roommate with perjury charges and that's why he left (nothing legally wrong with that, btw). Also said Laborde (remember, the incompetent internal Title 9 investigator?) was furious with McCaw, and ironically is claiming that McCaw is re-victimizing the victim.
This is fascinating stuff, and shows how utterly abhorrent BU's handling of this whole thing is. Do not hold your breath on the external investigation. That is purely for the purposes of protecting BU in any litigation that arises from the rape. It's being conducted under A/C privilege/work product doctrine.
The tragedy remains that BU did not seek evidence corroborating the victim's claim of rape, dismissed her account of rape, drummed her out of school, and then re-victimized her at trial. They sent a clear message to coeds at BU that they should never complain of rape, as they will not be believed, particularly if an athlete is the alleged rapist (this DESPITE the fact that the complainant was herself an athlete). The chilling effect of BU's actions, at the time, and now, are revolting. The real story is not whether Sam U should have been allowed into BU. The real story is that coeds are literally not safe at BU.
Edit: Sam U's request for release on bail pending appeal was apparently denied, although it's difficult to tell from Witherspoon's tweets. He says that Bond was denied and the hearing was concluded. I assume he meant that Sam U's request for release on bail pending appeal was denied, but I'm not sure.
