trying to mentally prepare for court on rape case?

Question

i will be going to trial in May against my rapest and need help and tips on preparing for a possible not guilty verdict. I am going to mental health groups, and therapy, but I am still not prepared and am afraid of how I will take it if he isnt found guilty. I dont understand how a group of strangers have the right to tell me weather or not what I knw happened, happened. Need help and advise.

Answer 1

Honey, I am so sorry for this but just remember in this life ....EVERYONE gets their "just" rewards. Maybe if you could explain the case a little more...for a rapist to be brought to trial means you have serious evidence...for the jury to find him not guilty seems unlikely.
Have courage.

Answer 2

Good for you! I, for one, am proud of you...no matter what the verdict is.

You should contact the prosecutor's office and talk to them, if you haven't already. I assume that they wouldn't be going to trial if there wasn't enough evidence for a trial. If you don't have enough evidence, the judge would dismiss the charges. You just have to get up on the stand and tell the truth. And when the defense attorney questions you, you cannot get mad--that's what they'll be trying to do is get you to flip out on the stand. Hopefully, they'll come to a plea--he may plead guilty before the court date so he will get a lighter sentence. But at least it would be guilty and he will do some time and he'll have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. I'll hope for that for you---and all the women that would someday be his victims if it weren't for your bravery in bringing him to trial.

Answer 3

The group of strangers is not telling you YOUR reality. They are only making a judgment as to whether the state has proven its case beyond any reasonable doubt against the person who is accused. You (and the person accused) KNOW what happened. You know that it was wrong for him to have done what he did. "Life is not fair!" is an old adage, but true nevertheless. Sometimes people who are guilty are found not guilty; sometimes people who are innocent go to jail.

You have done what you need to do to take care of yourself by reporting the rape and cooperating with the prosecution. You have no control over what the jury may find. You took control over what happened to you in an appropriate way by seeking help in counseling to recover from this horrible event. For the strength that it took for you to report, to cooperate with prosecution, and to seek help for yourself, you are to be commended. Now you have to release the result by realizing that you have no control over it, but that you did take control over the parts that you could control.

Although it may be difficult to release those results, you are doing your best to take care of yourself. A not guilty verdict doesn't mean that he didn't do it to you. It simply means that the case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I would hazard a guess as both a psychologist and rape survivor that being able to testify against this man will be very therapeutic for you as well. Whether or not people "believe" that he did it to you is not within your control. Perhaps it would help you to take a friend or a member of your rape survivors' support group with you to court when the verdict is going to be read--someone who understands the trauma that you have survived who can help to support you whatever the outcome may be.

Good luck, and congratulations on your strength to report and prosecute the rapist. They never caught the man who raped me so I never had the satisfaction of being able to testify against him.

Answer 4

Just stay true to yourself! YOU know the truth and your rapest knows too. Even if he walks, you are very brave to have charged him in the first place. You probably don't even know how your bravery may have already saved someone else from your fate.

Do not choose to be a victim over and over again. Stay strong and true to what you KNOW and in time, you will heal.

May the Creator bless you and cleanse you from within.

Answer 5

I'm so sorry you had to go through such an ordeal. I don't think there's any way you can be totally prepared. You seem to be taking the right steps going to groups and such. Talk to a therapist, they should be able to help you more than I could

Answer 6

It is possible that the jury will chose to deny your reality. Whatever happens, remind yourself that by taking this guy to court you are holding him responsible to the fullest extent of your ability. He stands accused in court, and that's extremely stressful. He didn't get away with it. What happens after that is not in your control. Hold your head high and be proud that you have the courage to confront this man in person, in public, and be able to tell the truth.

Answer 7

Just remember a crime was committed against you. If the guy's attorney tries to make it sound like it was consentual", and you had actually said "NO", keep repeating that you said "NO". It doesn't matter if you had said "yes" on a hundred occasions before that -- if you said NO for this one time and he forced himself on you, you were raped. If you were treated at a hospital afterward, I'd make sure I had those records of your injuries and what you had told the doctor that treated you.

Answer 8

A group of strangers do not even attempt to tell you that. They will however let you know if the state proves it's case beyond a reasonable doubt. Another thing all together.

It would seem to me your attempt here is to incite and inflame the general Yahoo populace with the unfairness of jury trials. When in all actuality they are eminently fair if you understand the process.