Audrie Taylor Pott (May 27, 1997 – September 12, 2012) was a 15-year-old student at Saratoga High School in

Saratoga, California Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California. Located in Silicon Valley, in the southern Bay Area, its population was 31,051 at the 2020 census. Saratoga is an affluent residential community, known for its wineries, restaurants, and attra ...

, who died by suicide. She had been sexually assaulted at a party eight days earlier by three 16-year-old boys she knew, and nude pictures of her were posted online with accompanying bullying. On September 30, 2014, California Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

signed Audrie's Law, "a bill that increases penalties and decreases privacy protections for teens convicted of sex acts on someone who is passed out from drugs or alcohol or incapable of giving consent due to a disability".

Background

On September 3, 2012, Pott went to a party with about ten other teenagers where she became

drunk Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main ...

. A few kids had stolen rum, and an adult had bought them vodka at a liquor shop. Once she was drunk, she was dragged up the stairs and into a bedroom. Three or more teenagers sexually assaulted Pott there. Three 16-year-old boys whom she knew eventually pleaded guilty to and served time in juvenile hall for the sexual assault. Markers were also used to draw and write on her body, and photographs were taken and distributed via

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

and MMS. In the following days, Pott was bullied by some who saw the photographs. On September 12, 2012, she killed herself by

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...

Investigation

In April 2013, three sixteen-year-old boys were arrested in northern California on suspicion of sexual battery to Pott. Pott's parents also filed a lawsuit against the three teenagers, and in July 2013 they added a fifteen-year-old girl as a defendant in the suit, alleging she was present during the assault and later lied about it to help cover it up.

Juvenile court case

Three teenage boys admitted in juvenile court to sexually assaulting and possessing photos of Audrie Pott, both felonies. Two of the three received 30-day sentences to be served on weekends. The other was sentenced to 45 consecutive days. Because of their ages and status as minors at the time of the incident, the three teenagers were not at first publicly identified.

Civil trial

A civil case filed by Pott's parents, to decide if the boys were responsible for her death, was originally set to go to forward to trial in April 2015, but reached settlement before then. As part of the terms of settlement, two of the boys were required to verbally apologize in open court, admit again to the sexual assault, admit to their role in the death of Audrie Pott, agree to being filmed in a documentary, pay a combined $950,000, support the petition for an honorary diploma for Audrie Pott, and give ten presentations on sexual assault and

sexting Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or videos, primarily between mobile phones. It may also include the use of a computer or any digital device. The term was first popularized early in the 21st ...

Documentaries

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

titled ''

Audrie & Daisy ''Audrie & Daisy'' is an American 2016 documentary film about two cases of rape of teenage American girls, in 2011 and 2012. Summary The documentary includes the stories of two American high school students, Audrie Pott of Saratoga, California, a ...

'', about the sexual assaults and social media bullying of Audrie Pott and

Daisy Coleman Catherine Daisy Coleman (March 30, 1997August 4, 2020) was an American sexual assault victim advocate who was the subject of the 2016 documentary film ''Audrie & Daisy'', for which she received a Cinema Eye Honor. Coleman co-founded the non-pro ...

, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016. The case was also profiled on an episode of the

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...

show ''Web of Lies'' (season 5, episode 1) titled "With Friends Like These", originally aired March 13, 2018.With Friends Like These
Investigation Discovery official site

References