To: The Connecticut State House, The Connecticut State Senate, and Governor Ned Lamont
Justice for Connecticut Rape Victim
The law defining "physically helpless" should be changed in a way that makes this travesty of justice impossible.
Why is this important?
In Connecticut, the supreme court overturned the conviction of Richard Fourtin Jr. who had been sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2008 for sexually assaulting a woman with severe cerebral palsy, on the grounds that since she did not express her non consent, the sex was consensual. This petition states that there should be no law which could be interpreted this way; Connecticut should immediately rewrite their legislation with regards to definitions of rape and what defines consent, so that something this disgusting will never happen again. The woman in this case, name withheld for privacy, cannot verbally communicate, and the defense argued that because she did not kick or bite or scratch, she was giving consent. This shouldn't be acceptable in any way shape or form as a defense, and under the current law it is. The law must therefore be changed.