i know about tory bowen

i've even corresponded with tory. i didn't believe what happened to her (being raped IN the COURTROOM that is) and i don't believe what is happening all across the country. yes, one is innocent until proven guilty BUT BOTH sides must be given the SAME rights. if someone is accused of being a thief, judges don't say you can't use the words THIEF or ROBBERY or STEALING in the trial. if someone is accusing someone else of SEXUAL ASSAULT OR RAPE those words MUST BE ALLOWED TO BE USED. i'm fine with using the word 'alleged' before the accusatory word(s). what the hell is wrong with us?

Judge’s ban on the use of the word ‘rape’ at trial reflects trend
By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star
It’s the only way Tory Bowen knows to honestly describe what happened to her.

She was raped.

But a judge prohibited her from uttering the word “rape” in front of a jury. The term “sexual assault” also was taboo, and Bowen could not refer to herself as a victim or use the word “assailant” to describe the man who allegedly raped her.

The defendant’s presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial trumps Bowen’s right of free speech, said the Lincoln, Neb., judge who issued the order.

“It shouldn’t be up to a judge to tell me whether or not I was raped,” Bowen said. “I should be able to tell the jury in my own words what happened to me.”

Bowen’s case is part of what some prosecutors and victim advocates see as a national trend in sexual assault cases.

“It’s a topic that’s coming up more and more,” said Joshua Marquis, an Oregon prosecutor and a vice president of the National District Attorneys Association. “You’re moving away from what a criminal trial is really about.”

In Jackson County, Senior Judge Gene Martin recently issued a similar order for the trial of a Kansas City man charged with raping a teenager in 2000. Despite the semantic restrictions, the Jackson County jury last week found Ray Slaughter guilty of forcible rape and two counts of forcible sodomy.........