A breaking news report from CNN this afternoon outlines the latest example of Deborah Ross’ radical tenure at the North Carolina ACLU. Most notably Deborah Ross made the argument that the offender, "…attempted, unsuccessfully, to rape her [the victim].”
How exactly would Deborah Ross define a “successful” rape?
In case you missed it, here is the MUST READ breaking news report from CNN:
CNN: N.C. Senate candidate sought leniency for teen convicted of sexual assault
By: Manu Raju
On the campaign trail, North Carolina Senate candidate Deborah Ross says she stands shoulder-to-shoulder with women victimized by sexual assault.
"Too many women and children in this country and in our state know the fear of an unsafe home," Ross said last month. "They need someone who will stand with them, not another Washington politician who talks about their safety and votes to undermine it."
But in the mid-1990s, Ross found herself in a different position, urging the North Carolina courts to impose a lenient sentence on a 13-year-old who sexually assaulted his 23-year-old neighbor — with the victim’s 20-month-old son watching in the same room. The state Supreme Court rejected Ross’ push, sentencing Andre Green to life in prison for what it said was a "heinous" crime.
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According to court documents and the police report reviewed by CNN, Green broke a glass door to enter his neighbor’s home in the middle of a rainy night in 1994, after stalking her for six weeks. She immediately called 911, but Green – who was large for his age, standing at roughly 5-foot-10, 180 pounds — ripped the phone out of the socket. He swung at her with a broomstick, which broke apart after it hit a golf club she was using to defend herself.
Green punched the woman upwards of 15 times, tore off her clothes and used his fingers to penetrate her, while performing oral sex on her. The victim accused Green of penetrating her "once or twice" with his penis, according to court documents. He only stopped when the police arrived, running out the front door of the house — despite threatening to "rip her insides out," the records say. She was badly injured and bruised, while her son who witnessed the attack, she said, was emotionally scarred.
In her amicus brief to the state Supreme Court, Ross contended that Green came from a broken home, had no criminal past and had a very low IQ — and would benefit from years of rehabilitation through the juvenile system. The brief argued that Green "unsuccessfully" attempted to rape the victim.
"Andre, a borderline retarded child of thirteen with no previous criminal history, broke and entered into the victim’s home and upon being discovered by the female victim, attempted, unsuccessfully, to rape her," Ross’ brief said. "When confronted by police, Andre confessed the crime."
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Soon after Green was indicted in 1994, Ross urged the ACLU Legal Committee to consider helping the teen’s cause, making the case in a private memo about the implications for trying him as an adult. She also petitioned an appeals court that year in an attempt to argue against trying Green as an adult, while also working directly with Green’s defense attorney to discuss strategy, according to memos reviewed by CNN.
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But in the majority opinion, the court flatly disagreed.
"The fact that defendant was the only thirteen-year-old who chose to commit this heinous offense and thereby suffer the otherwise uniform and acceptable punishment prescribed is due to his own timing and nothing more than happenstance," it said.