Basil Ransom said:
Keep in mind, that the NY police were still smarting from the bungled rape accusation against Dominique Strauss Kahn. Between that and the accused being a celebrity and the commisioner's son, there was a lot of force behind being extra suspect of this woman.
Great writeup, I laughed several times.
Edit: Also, this is not garden variety white knighting - it's ego preserving white knighting. "If he raped her, she didn't cheat on me - she didn't CHOOSE to have sex with another man because I wasn't enough for her - she was FORCED to fuck another man."
Yeah this case against Kelly was clearly bullshit, just on the post-coital texts alone, if not all the other evidence and circumstances. But a lot of ridiculous cases go to trial, I've seen them.
Just think, there are probably several hundred bogus rape cases like this winding their way through American courts right now.
Strauss-Kahn is another matter. In my opinion, he got a huge pass due to his power and position and politics. The actions of the maid (who had honestly worked for the hotel for 10+ years) immediately following the alleged rape were consistent with credibility. That plus the DNA evidence, and DSK's own admissions would have convicted him before most juries.
The DA grasped for a straw by dismissing the case because she allegedly lied on some immigration form for a relative of hers. Almost everybody lies about something, you can be confronted on the stand about it and the jury makes a judgment about whether lying on your taxes or on an immigration form means you're lying about a rape. If they dismissed every case where the victim had lied, they'd be few prosecutions. I've defended a guy charged with rape by a convicted check-kiting, shoplifting crack whore. And the guy did it, even though I got him off - at trial.
You're right, I can only imagine how old man Kelly the police commissioner would have reacted if they went forward against his son after dismissing a good case against DSK.