Marriott Withdraws Claim in Rape Case

According to The Huffington Post the Marriott Hotel has withdrawn its defense claim in a rape case in Connecticutt.

A Marriott hotel abandoned a defense Monday in a lawsuit brought by a Connecticut woman raped at gunpoint in front of her young children: that she was careless and partially at fault.
The withdrawal followed days of backlash against Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc. after the hotel filed papers saying the victim "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities" — even though her attacker was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The woman also accused Marriott in June of indirectly exposing her and her children's identity by seeking subpoenas for the depositions of her pilates instructor, friends and tennis partners, a house cleaner, and a baby sitter.
"This was done to expose the identities of the Doe family in their community so as to intimidate them from pursuing this case, pure and simple," attorneys Paul Slager and Ernest Teitell wrote in court papers.
Attorneys needed to determine the effect of the crime on the victim, said Marriott attorney Donald Derrico, noting that the subpoenas haven't been issued. The hotel will decide whom to subpoena on a case-by-case basis, he said.
"Her name was never, ever, ever disclosed to anyone," Derrico said.
Marriott issued a statement Friday that it was "profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime" in its parking garage. The chain said the situation has "created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect" for victims of violent crimes.

That's my take on it. My question of the week is, "How can so much of corporate America be run by such nitwits who make mega bucks?"

Rape: If we women just knew how to behave . . . .

Fifty years ago? 1850? Nope. Right here and now in the 21st century.

From The Huffington Post:

STAMFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut hotel where a woman was raped at gunpoint in front of her children says the victim was careless and negligent.

The papers filed last month in Superior Court by the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa say the victim "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."

Prosecutors say Gary Fricker assaulted the woman in her minivan in the hotel's parking garage in front of her two children, then ages 3 and 5. Fricker is now serving 20 years in prison.
The hotel's lawyers were responding to a lawsuit claiming the hotel failed to prevent the 2006 attack.
So, ladies, we think attitudes toward rape have changed? Boy, are we delusional. All this time we've been thinking that we're the victims, not the perpetrators. I guess it's time to bring out the ole chastity belts.