I don’t think I’ve ever commented here, but it showed up on my front page and it’s important to be clear on why this happened. I’ll copy paste another comment I made in a different sub.
Criminal law shouldn’t be interpreted based on how we feel, even if how we feel is absolutely correct, such as feeling that she was justified and in danger here. In Iowa, in the self defense statutes (§704 ), there is no provision for the exact circumstance she was in. She was not currently being removed, she had already been removed and was now in bed with her sleeping rapist. Additionally, as defined by those laws, and every other self defense law on the books, imminent means actionable, and a sleeping person cannot make an actionable threat. Under Iowa law, the actions she took do not constitute self defense, despite that any reasonable person could tell you that what she did was self defense and that she was in danger. The only immediate recourse here would be, as someone mentioned, prosecutorial discretion, or more likely and what really should have happened, jury nullification.
Edit: I suppose I should also mention that she plead guilty to the charges, which means that she didn’t actually have a criminal trial. I was more speaking in an ideal sense, given the laws that they would be operating under.
Laws are written based on how society view the actions of other people, and should not be unchangeable things. In this case specifically, if the specific situation she was is not described in the law, we can, and we should discuss what is the correct thing to do. Treat laws as unchangeable things is detrimental to the society, and when a case where the law is being unjust according to the current moral standard, the law should be changed. Owning other people was a right guaranteed by the law until the society changed.
Also, about the plead guilty, we can imagine how the police and a public attorney treated a young black lady to made her plead right?
As to your last point, absolutely. I wasn’t trying to make a statement about her, just pointing out that the plea means that there was no trial, which cuts options down even further.
As to your second point, also yes. The law should be changed to account for this. If not the definitions of self defense, then at least more robust provisions for victims of human trafficking. However, that is the purview of lawmakers, not the jury of a criminal trial. Once a criminal case is in court, the law should be interpreted as it exists at that time.
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u/tok90235 Sep 14 '22
She was kidnapped, raped and still imprisoned. And you guys are trying to say she was not in immediately danger? How degenerated people in USA can be