- [Voiceover] My bare skin and head
had been rubbing against the ground behind a dumpster
while an erect freshman was humping
my half naked, unconscious body.
(sad music)
Your Honor, if it is alright,
for the majority of this statement
I would like to address the defendant directly.
You don't know me,
but you've been inside me,
and that's why we're here today.
One day I was at work,
scrolling through the news on my phone,
and came across an article.
In it I read and learned for the first time
about how I was found unconscious,
with my hair disheveled,
long necklace wrapped around my neck,
bra pulled out of my dress,
dress pulled off over my shoulders
and pulled up above my waist.
That I was butt naked all the way down to my boots,
legs spread apart,
and had been penetrated by a foreign object
by someone I did not recognize.
- Oh my god.
- [Voiceover] This was how I learned what happened to me,
sitting at my desk reading the news at work.
I learned what happened to me the same time
everyone else in the world learned what happened to me.
I kept reading.
In the next paragraph
I read something that I will never forgive,
I read that according to him, I liked it.
I like it.
Again, I do not have words for these feelings.
Sometimes I think if I hadn't gone
then this never would've happened.
But then I realized it would've happened,
just to somebody else.
My breasts had been groped,
fingers had been jabbed inside of me
along with pine needles and debris,
my bare skin and head had been rubbing
against the ground behind a dumpster
while an erect freshman was humping
my half naked, unconscious body.
But I don't remember,
so how do I prove I didn't like it?
I was not only told that I was assaulted,
I was told that because I couldn't remember,
I technically could not prove it was unwanted.
And that distorted me, damaged me,
almost broke me.
The sexual assault had been so clear, but instead,
here I was at the trial answering questions like,
"How old are you?
"How much do you weight?
"What did you have for dinner?
"Did you drink with dinner?
"How much do you usually drink?
"Who dropped you off at this party?
"What were you wearing?
"Was your phone on silent when your sister called?
"Do you remember silencing it?
"Really, because on page 53 I'd like to point out
"that you said it was set to ring.
"You said you were a party animal?
"Are you serious with your boyfriend?"
After a physical assault,
I was assaulted with questions designed to attack me,
to say "see her facts don't line up,
"she's out of her mind.
"She's practically an alcoholic.
"She probably wanted to hook up.
"He's like an athlete right,
"they were both drunk, whatever."
I don't sleep when I think about the way it could've gone
if those two guys had never come.
What would've happened to me?
That's what you'll never have a good answer for.
That's what you can't explain
even after a year.
He has done irreversible damage to me
and my family during the trial.
And we have sent silently,
listening to him shape the evening.
But in the end, his unsupported statements
and his attorney's twisted logic fooled no one.
- Yeah.
- [Voiceover] The truth won.
The truth spoke for itself.
(upbeat music)