"Given the issues concerning Mr. Johnson and the victim...." ~ Dale Crockell
I guess I am curious at what point is a supposed victim considered an alleged victim as opposed to ....."the victim." Not sure what is politically correct. "Alleged" rape on M trail today and was referred to as such on television news. The reporter also said "alleged victim." (Not implying the allegations from what happened today aren't true and accurate, just that no one has admitted guilt that I am aware of or been proven guilty in a court) and the anchorman reflected such. So Johnson is found not guilty, he is awarded a (small as far as I'm concerned) settlement yet the states lawyer still refers to the accuser as "the victim." Maybe I'm overthinking things.
My personal opinion is Johnson is innocent, not just "not guilty" but innocent (at least of the charges against him) but there is really only two people that know the truth. From a professional standpoint I would think it is only fair that the states lawyer at this point quit referring to the accuser as "the victim." Maybe she is, maybe she isn't but he could also refer to Johnson as "the victim" as it is just as possible he is.
State lawyer: UM disagrees with Johnson's allegations, but opted to settle
KEILA SZPALLER
[email protected]
A lawyer representing the state said Wednesday the University of Montana disagrees with the allegations made by former Grizzlies quarterback Jordan Johnson about how campus officials handled rape accusations against him.
However, attorney Dale Cockrell said the state opted to settle the dispute in the interest of all parties rather than do battle. The state Department of Administration's Risk Management and Tort Defense Division will pay the former UM student $245,000.
"Given the issues concerning Mr. Johnson and the victim, it was in everybody's best interest to try to resolve this matter if we could, as opposed to litigating it," said Cockrell, a lawyer hired to handle the case for the state.
Lawyer David Paoli, who represents Johnson, questioned the state's disagreement over the claims considering President Royce Engstrom has apologized to the Johnson family. Paoli said the president apologized in person to the family, but the lawyer could not immediately provide details of the apology or a statement late Wednesday.
UM vice president for integrated communications Peggy Kuhr declined comment on the president's apology: "The University and the president have no response to any statements about the legal settlement."
In 2013, a jury acquitted Johnson of sexual intercourse without consent in Missoula County District Court.
UM officials found Johnson breached the student conduct code, but in the dispute with the state, Johnson argued the Montana University System, UM and its officers violated his due process and civil rights. The case named Engstrom, former Dean of Students Charles Couture and former legal counsel David Aronofsky.
In an earlier statement provided through Paoli, Johnson said any student accused of wrongdoing deserves a fair and impartial hearing.
“Officials at the University of Montana – people who were in positions of great power – were unfair and biased. Their misconduct made my family and me suffer unnecessarily, both emotionally and financially,” Johnson wrote.
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Last spring, Doubleday released a book about campus rape by author and investigative journalist Jon Krakauer titled "Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town." The book discusses the Johnson case and questions the outcome of the disciplinary proceeding against him.
In a separate case headed to a hearing before the Montana Supreme Court, Krakauer demands that Commissioner Clay Christian in the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education release disciplinary records related to Johnson and rape allegations.
Court records show university proceedings found Johnson guilty of violating the conduct code. Johnson appealed, and Krakauer alleges the commissioner used an inappropriate legal standard to reverse the determination – and prevent Johnson's expulsion.
The best-selling author argues the public has a right to know the reason Johnson wasn't expelled, and the commissioner as an officer who holds the public trust is obligated to share the records.
In a statement provided through his lawyer Mike Meloy, Krakauer said he doesn't know if the settlement with Johnson will affect his pending case.
"But it underscores the need for open records," Krakauer said. "People have a right to know why the expulsion of Johnson was overturned, and why Montana taxpayers will now be paying him a quarter of a million dollars in the bargain.
"I am confident that if/when the records I want are unsealed, they will show that the university was more than fair to Johnson, and was shamefully unfair to his victim, all because Johnson could throw a football well."
The state has argued the records are private. Kevin McRae, deputy commissioner of communications for the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, said Wednesday that he does not believe the payout to Johnson will affect the public records case.
"The United States government has filed a clearly worded brief in this case that says disciplinary records are student records, and if a request for student records is made by name, the records cannot be released by an educational organization," McRae said.
"As long as Mr. Meloy and his client, Mr. Krakauer, are at odds with the Department of Justice on that important point of fact, I cannot envision how the settlement ... may affect Mr. Krakauer's zeal to obtain and sell student records."
Johnson is not party to the case Krakauer filed against the commissioner of higher education. However, lawyer Paoli said he is familiar with the records in question, and he believes "the information contained in them is absolutely the opposite to what Krakauer claims is in them."
“We will not engage in the rank speculation that the out-of-state author who writes factually inaccurate and slanted books for profit uses to sell his books," Paoli said in a statement. "Krakauer has already admitted that he possesses documents that he knows he should not possess. It concerns me greatly that he is using the Montana Supreme Court to legitimize his improper possession of these documents."
Krakauer countered that if Paoli's claims about the content of the records are true, he should help make them public.
"Paoli’s claim that I already possess, or have seen, any of the documents I requested from the commissioner is nonsense," Krakauer said. "If I had them I wouldn’t have spent the last two years in court fighting tooth and nail get them.
"My confidence that the records in question will show the university’s handling of the Johnson case was unfair to his victim is based on the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice explicitly stated it was unfair to her in the DOJ report about the the university’s handling of sexual assault cases, which was released to the public in 2013.
"If Paoli really believes the records I am seeking show that the university investigation was unfair to Johnson, he should do everyone a favor and simply give the commissioner permission to unseal the records right now, without waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on my petition."
