Rape or First Degree Sexual Assault
An international college student attending an American university was charged with Rape or First Degree Sexual Assault. A fellow female student made the allegation against him after an evening of dancing, drinking, smoking marijuana and sex. The story starts off with a small group of male international students who went to a local nightclub. While there, they bumped into two females whom they recognized from class. The two groups socialized at the club and then formed an agreement to leave and to smoke marijuana. They departed in one of the male’s cars and returned to the men’s apartment. Once there, the group consumed alcohol, smoked hookah and also smoked marijuana, as intended. One of the females asked one of the males for a tour of the spacious apartment. While touring the property, the two went into a bathroom that was adjacent to the living room where their friends were partying. The two engaged in sexual contact in the bathroom to include oral and vaginal intercourse. While inside, they were interrupted on two occasions, once by the girl’s friend and a second time by the boy’s friend. On each occasion, the person who interrupted them opened the bathroom door and observed the couple partially clothed, giggling, flirting and asking to be left alone. At some point, the couple exited the bathroom. The female joined her friend on a couch in the living room and the male went to shower before leaving the apartment to catch an early morning train out of town. After showering and getting dressed, the male said goodbye to everyone, kissed the girl and left. The next day, the female reported to her friend that she was raped. She then made this same claim to her family members and ultimately to police. She made similar allegations against other men from the apartment with whom she apparently had some sexual contact after Attorney Calcagni’s client left for the train station.
Based on the woman’s allegations, the male international students were arrested, presented in court and initially held without bail. A foreign embassy retained Attorney John L. Calcagni III to defend one of the men against charges of rape and sexual assault. Other attorneys were retained to represent his friends.
Attorney Calcagni began the representation of his client by independently investigating what transpired the night the two groups met at the club and returned to the men’s apartment. He interviewed witnesses, collected cell phone evidence and electronic communications, and even visited the apartment, which was documented with photographs and the assistance of a graphic design artist. Attorney Calcagni then represented his client at a bail hearing, which afforded him the first opportunity to cross-examine the female accuser.
On cross-examination, the female accuser admitted to possessing a fake identification (ID) card and underage drinking on the night in question. Her consumption of alcohol began at a restaurant upon presenting her fake ID to a bar tender. Her drinking then continued at the club where she and her friend met the men. She also admitted to illegally abusing prescription medication that she took in excess of the prescribed dosage and in combination with alcohol. The female also shared the controlled substance with the female friend who joined her out that evening. Attorney Calcagni also confronted the female with photos taken of her and his client kissing, making out and engaging in other romantic activity both in the car ride from the club to the men’s apartment and then inside the bathroom where they had sex. The female acknowledged that she was in the photos, but denied having any recollection of engaging in the depicted consensual activity. Attorney Calcagni further confronted the female with text messages between her and his client, as well as evidence that they exchanged names and phone numbers that evening. While she acknowledged the accuracy of her phone number and that the male’s number was stored in her phone, she denied any recollection of texting the man, giving him her number or saving his number of her phone. Notwithstanding, she admitted that his number was stored in her phone and that her number was also stored in his. Lastly, Attorney Calcagni confronted the female with the fact that she had a boyfriend at the time she willingly went back to the men’s apartment to party and had sex. Based on the foregoing, the court granted the man bail, thereby releasing him from pretrial custody or incarceration.
In the following weeks, Attorney Calcagni, along with other lawyers who represented the similarly situated students, advocated with prosecutors for the dismissal of all charges against the men. The attorneys argued that any sexual contact that occurred that night between the students was consensual and that the only evidence to the contrary was the accuser’s testimony, which was cast in doubt by inconsistencies, contrary independent evidence and her own lack of memory. After some time, a grand jury ultimately returned a “no true bill” in the case thereby declining to indict the men for any sexual misconduct. The grand jury found no probable cause to believe the men committed rape, sexual assault or any other form of sexual misconduct. As a result, all charges were dropped and dismissed. Any and all records of these charges have since been erased or destroyed. The international students were completely vindicated and are invited to return to school.