- The rape took place in Glen Ridge, New Jersey which is a wealthy suburb in Essex County, New Jersey. It is a small community where everyone knows each other.
- The football players knew the victim because she had grown up around them. She was their age, but attended a different high school because of her mental capabilities. She was about 17 years old, but had the mentality of an 8-year old.
- On the day of the rape, the football players lured her into the basement of the home of one of the football players.
- Once there, some of the men undressed and also undressed the victim. She was forced to perform oral sex and it was also done to her. Towards the end of her rape, which was witnessed by multiple male students, she was penetrated with a broomstick and a baseball bat.
- At the beginning of the rape, around 12 male students were in the basement. During the rape, some students left because they felt what was going on was wrong. Around 7 students stayed around to watch the whole ordeal.
- A few days after this rape occurred, it was rumored that the young men were trying to entice the young girl to the basement for a second time, so they could videotape it. However, a second rape incident did not occur.
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- Aftermath: Only 4 of the 7 boys who participated in the incident were prosecuted.
- In 1993, The four defendants were found "not guilty of two charges involving an act of fellatio on one of the defendants, two charges of touching the young woman's breasts and two charges of forcing her to masturbate the defendants" (1).
- However, the jury did reach a guilty verdict for some of the charges. "Two of the men were found guilty of second-degree conspiracy and two counts of aggravated sexual assault with the bat and broom. A third was found guilty of second-degree conspiracy, first-degree aggravated sexual assault by use of force or coercion and second-degree attempted aggravated sexual assault. The fourth defendant was found guilty of third-degree conspiracy" (1).
- When the defendants were initially arrested, they were "released on about $2,500 dollars bail" (1). The defendants were out on bail in 1993 when they were found guilty. The judge allowed them to remain on bail until their appeal was decided in 1997.
- In 1997, all the minor charges were reversed. Meaning, "the convictions related to using force, or coercion, were struck down, saying the girl complied with the sexual acts" (2). Therefore, only three defendants would serve prison terms.
- They were mandated to complete their jail sentences in a "medium-security, campus-like, detention centers" (1).
- Two of the defendants received a "maximum of 15 years in prison, and the third defendant received a maximum of 7 years in prison" (2).
- All of the defendants were out on bail until 1997. This means that after the rape, 8 years would pass before any of the defendants would serve any time in jail.
- In 2004, all of the defendants had finished serving their sentences. None of the defendants served the maximum sentence.
If you would like to learn more about this case, Bernard Lefkowitz actually wrote a book about this case and he explores some of the dimensions that contributed to this event. Lefkowitz explores gender roles, rape myths, male privilege, suburbia, as well as other interesting elements that influenced the rape. He also argues that this can happen, and does happen, all over the country because we live in a male-dominated society. This is a very interesting and thought-provoking book. This case was also made into a movie, but, of course, the book is better than the movie. Lefkowitz titled his book Our Guys because despite the heinous rape that the boys committed, their community rallied around them and saw them as the true victims in this case.
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