How a San Diego woman discovered details of her rape on a pickup-artist blog—and fought to bring her attackers to justice.”> *Warningthe following article contains a graphic depiction of a rape. Alex Smith and Jonas Dick considered themselves part of the elite. The two men were instructors in the community of pickup artistsmen who obsessively study and practice methods of meeting and sleeping with as many women as possible. Some men in the community say pickup is about self-actualization, and finding meaning in their lives. But according to San Diegos district attorney, Alex and Jonasboth 27 years oldare predators and the pursuit of their art has led to the rape of multiple women. In what may be a first for the pickup community, the two menalong with their student, 28-year-old Jason Berlinwere charged in 2015 with the rape of a San Diego woman. Jonas and Jason pleaded guilty to the charges; Alex has maintained his innocence, claimingcontrary to Jason and Jonass sworn pleasthat the events of that night were consensual. The investigation of the San Diego charges not only uncovered another victim of Jonas Dicksa 16-year-old girl for whose rape Jonas also pleaded guiltybut suggested the possibility that many more victims could remain unidentified. Jonas received eight years in state prison for the two rapes; his student Jason faces a maximum eight-year sentence. Both will spend a lifetime on the sex offender registry. Meanwhile, Alex Smith went to trial last week, before a jury of 10 men and two women. (At an emotional jury selection, the majority of female candidates said they couldnt remain impartial at Alexs trial, citing a personal account or relationship with a woman who had been raped under similar circumstances.) Alexs defense lawyer, Samantha Greenea charismatic former deputy district attorneylaid out her clients case in opening statements, taking the line that the woman (well call her Claire, though thats not her real name) had consented and now regretted it. This case is about Claire being embarrassed, not rape, she told the mostly-male jury. For years, feminists and bloggers have lambasted pickup websites and blogs as echo chambers for misogyny, criticized their techniques as de facto harassment or assault, and called the groups leaders advocates for rape. But pickups thousands of fans and followerswho congregate with other anti-feminists in the online space known as the manospherehave roundly dismissed that criticism as blue pill thinking (a reference to the Matrix). In contrast, pickup artists and others in the Mens Rights Movement think theyve swallowed the red pill and can see through the evils of a politically-correct society whose supposed goal is to kill what remains of the worlds masculinity. From 2011 to 2013, Alex Smith, Jonas Dick, and Jason Berlin congregated in pickups corner of the manosphere, indoctrinated themselves with the teachings of their pickup artist heroes, and contributed to its chatter in a series of concerning online blog posts. But its what they did with that ideology in the real world thats now at issue for a San Diego jury. CLAIRES RAPE On a Saturday night in October 2013, Claire, then 31, went out with her friend, lets call her Laura, for a girls night out in San Diegos trendy Gaslamp Quarter. They were having a good time. At Analog, a bar advertising good food and strong drinks, Claire ordered a glass of champagne, then a Fireball shot, followed by a pear cider, while Laura drank vodka sodas. They ran into a bachelorette party and took another shot, a cactus cooler. After several rounds, sometime around midnight or 1 a.m., the women left and crossed the street to a different barthe Tipsy Crowfor two more drinks: a lemon drop shot and a cocktail. Just what Claire drank that night, at what times and in what quantities, would become the subject of intense scrutiny over the next three years; her state of drunkenness was at the heart of the states argument as well as Alex Smiths defense. The prosecution says that Claire had been too drunk to consent to sex, Alexs defense attorney says she couldnt have been that drunk.
Get The Beast In Your Inbox!
Daily DigestStart and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.
Cheat SheetA speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).
By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read the TermsofUse and PrivacyPolicy
Subscribe
Thank You!
You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason
Claire was tipsy, then slightly tipsier, as she remembers it. When the bars closed for the night, Claire and Laura shuffled out with the rest of the crowd onto Fifth Avenue. They called an Uber, and as they waited, they were approached by two men, Jonas Dick and Alex Smith. Jonas and Alex were no strangers to meeting girls on that street at that time: they referred to two in the morning as pull oclock because of how easy it was to bring home the last women leaving the bars. They invited Claire and Laura to their place for drinks. It was only a few blocks away. Claire says she doesnt remember meeting Alex and Jonas. She remembers stumbling and someone with a receding hairline pushing her along, leading her to an apartment building. She remembers being in a semi-furnished bedroom on a mattress without a headboard. Someone giving her a clear drink. The sip she took didnt taste like water, maybe it was alcohol? Before she could think about it, she was falling backwards, and thats when she says it all goes black. What occurred in that bedroom over the next hour runs in and out of Claires mind like waves. As she testified in court, she can feel the bed beneath her, coming to for a moment, and vomiting on the floor. She hears oneor is it two?male voices, mumbling like the adults in Charlie Brown before it all fades away again. In another part of the apartment, Laura was sitting and chatting with Jonas. On the way in, Laura saw a man named Jason Berlin, lying on a makeshift bed of pillows on the floor. Laura and Jonas walked to the other bedroom, where he tried to kiss her. But Laura wasnt interested, so they shared a beer and talked for a while instead. After a trip to the bathroom, Laura realized her phone was missing. Jonas had hidden it inside the pocket of a shirt hanging in his closetwhich struck her as a strange thing for him to do. Uncomfortable, Laura got up and walked across the apartment to find Claire. It was time to go. Laura knocked on the other bedroom door. When Alex opened it, Laura could see Claire on the bed. Claires dress was on the floor; she was lying facedown in a pool of her own vomit. Laura says she was unconscious. Surrounding her were two menAlex, who was completely naked and erect, and in the corner, another man, the one she had seen sleeping on the living-room floor on her way in. He was wearing only a T-shirt. Claire, lets go. Im ready to go, Laura said, shaking Claire, and pulling her by the shoulders. It took a minute for Claire to come to, Laura says. As Laura helped Claire put her clothes back on, Alex was laughing. Jonas had followed Laura in and was laughing, too. We just tag-teamed your friend, Alex said. As Claire gathered her things, she started screaming at Alex, the man with the receding hairline, swatting at him with her high heel. Alex was dragging Claire, then lifting herlike throwing laundry out the door, Jason later described it. Get the fuck out of here, Alex said, and slammed the door shut. Claire was sick and sore, and she knew she wanted the police. When patrol officers arrived at the apartment complex, they tested Claires blood-alcohol level. It was three hours since her last drink and Claire blew a .151, about twice the legal limit to drive. Detective Garrick Nugent, a newer addition to departments sex crimes unit, arrived shortly after to take Claire and her friends statements. Claire agreed to a SART exam, more commonly known as a rape kit. Ive never been in the back of a police car before, Claire thought, as they drove to the lab. At the same time, police banged on the door of apartment 3031. Neighbors in the buildingfull of young professionals, bartenders, and club promoterscame out to investigate. Officers reported the sound of vomiting inside, but no one ever came to the door. So the officers just left. Across town, Claire was identified as rape victim E960.1, directed into an exam room, and told to take off her clothes. She noticed her dress had been torn at the waist and her underwear was missing. An examiner with a professional camera took photos of the bruises forming on Claires arms and legs, and the scratches on her legs and chest. Then a nurse performed tests for sexually transmitted diseases, as well as a vaginal exam, to document Claires injuries and collect a DNA sample. Claire started to sob on the exam table. There was no shower, so she washed the vomit out of her hair as best she could in the rooms miniature sink, then changed into a new set of clothes, and got back into the patrol car. When Claire got home, she crawled into bed and cried until she fell asleep. THE INVESTIGATION In the weeks following Claires rape, there was no hint that her attackers would ever face prosecution. While Claire was filling prescriptions for pain medications, waking from night terrors, and taking breaks from her IT job to cry in the womens bathroom, the hazy figures inside that San Diego apartment were going about life as usual. One of the men slipped Claires left-behind underwear, adding to a collection of several other pairs, into an empty beer box labeled Lost and Found. The police hadnt gone back to the apartment to question suspects, or collect any evidence from inside, and they hadnt sought a search warranta misstep that a judge would later question in court. Obviously, we know that the police dropped the ball that night, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser said, when discussing whether the Viagra, steroids, and Xanax prescription found in Alexs apartment safe months later could be entered into evidence. Rape cases like Clairesthose involving intoxication or unconsciousnessare difficult to investigate and unlikely to ever be prosecuted. Most rape victims never file a report with police (PDF). Of those who do, its difficult to say how many cases are prosecuted because there isnt any sort of database that tracks sexual assaults from the moment a report is filed to its eventual resolutionif any comes. Still, statistics in San Diego show prosecution to be incredibly rare. In the first half of 2016, 558 rapes were reported to San Diego County law enforcement (PDF). The San Diego police provided some data showing 119 reports of rape (during that same time period) where intoxication was a factor and the San Diego Sheriffs Department said theyd received seven reports of rape where alcohol was a factor to date this year. Of those 126 reports of rape involving intoxication, 18 have been referred to the district attorneys office this year. According to statistics provided by the DA, state prosecutors declined to file charges in 12 cases, are currently reviewing three, and have taken on three. Since 2010, the San Diego DA has filed charges of rape by intoxication 28 times, rejecting 80 percent of the cases it received from law enforcement. We work very closely with the DA and they say the intoxication ones are the hardest for them to prove, San Diego Police Lieutenant Paul Phillips told me. Phillips has headed up the SDPDs sex crimes unit since March and speaks passionately about his new position. We had to watch The Hunting Ground in our unit, and Ive been watching it with my wife. from https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/pickup-artists-preyed-on-drunk-women-brought-them-home-and-raped-them/
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHi my name is Samantha Roberts I am 23 years old and I just graduated with my BSN degree I love to enjoy going out with friends on my spare time and enjoying the Bachelor life. Archives
April 2019
Categories |