Question

  08/14/13, 5:05 pm
I am in need of some advice about an incident that happened to a close friend of mine. Just the other night (August 12th), my friend was at home, lets call her "Ashley" (I want to remain confidential about their identities). Ashley's brother "Tom", had invited over his friend "John", to watch movies and sleep over. During this time, John was sending messages to Ashley over Facebook about joining them. Later, Tom went to sleep but John stayed up and went into Ashley's room. He started touching her and Ashley told him to stop and he even tried to massage her and she also insisted that he stopped. Eventually he was able to move her over to her bed and he pinned her down. He forcibly kissed her and was trying to put his fingers and his male member into her private female area but she resisted and cried because it wouldn't go in. He finally left her after that to my understanding. Since then he's been sending her messages such as "should i come over? ;)". So that's the situation my friend has confided in me with. She's also let her sister know about it, but hasn't talked to anyone else. What I want to know is, is there anything that she could do right now? She thinks that there's nothing she can do because she barely resisted. She didn't want it to happen but she was too paralyzed to stop much of that from happening. But it seems to me that it was rape or sexual assault or something like that. What can I suggest to her and what can I tell her about this situation? Is there any legal action that can be taken? There was no deep penetration and there were no witnesses other than her brother and sister who knew that "John" was in the house. I could really appreciate some advice on what I should do, and what I can tell my friend. Thank you so much.
Share This: Twitter Logo Facebook Logo Digg Icon
United States   |   Florida  |  Criminal Law
Cost: Free

Answer

Jennifer Jacobs Says:

Aug 15,2013 6:16 PM

There is no requirement under Florida law that one actively resist or even say no. Additionally, just because there was no penetration does not mean that a crime was not committed. Also, the lack of witnesses is pretty commom in these types of cases. "Ashley" should call the police to report the incident.


Jennifer Jacobs
Law Offices of Jennifer A. Jacobs, LLC
1555 N. Maitland Ave.,Maitland, FL 32751
321-972-9904
http://www.thejajlawfirm.com

Share This: Twitter Logo Facebook Logo Digg Icon