The St. John's lacrosse case was a 1990 criminal case in which some members of the
St. John's University men's lacrosse team were accused of raping an African American female.
The St. John's Lacrosse rape case was a sports scandal that caused significant controversy within the school, amongst feminists, New York City, and the lacrosse community. This case was a predecessor to the
Duke lacrosse case
The Duke lacrosse rape hoax was a widely reported 2006 criminal case hoax in Durham, North Carolina, United States, in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Ev ...
. The case was the basis of a ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
'' episode called "
Out of Control".
Case
On March 1, 1990,
an African American woman of Jamaican descent was the alleged victim of sexual assault by 6 white male students (3 of them being members of the St. John's lacrosse team) at a private house off campus. The female was brought over to a house by her friend on the St. John's rifle club where she was given an alcoholic drink.
At the house she claimed that she was semi-conscious and sexually assaulted; later she stated that she was brought to another house and assaulted as well.
Some members of the school community blamed the victim for the sexual assault, likening it to the
Tawana Brawley Tawana may refer to:
*Tswana, an ethnic group in Botswana
*List of rulers of Tawana
People
*Tawana Brawley rape hoax
*Tawana Kupe
Tawana Kupe is a Zimbabwean academic. He was the vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. ...
scandal.
This though was 3 years after the Tawana Brawley case.
Trial
The case was said to be about consent. The victim's sexual history was put on trial. Some people wondered how much the victim could remember if she was out of consciousness. The two-week delay seemed to be problematic. One student, Thomas Dean, made a deal with prosecutors and stated the version of events told by the victim was true. The jury consisted of 10 white people and two black people.
One student plead guilty and agreed to testify against the others.
The charges against the students included
sodomy
Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...
.
The alleged rapists were all acquitted of the crime.
Aftermath
New York City Mayor
David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993.
Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marine Associa ...
, when he heard about the acquittal, stated "based upon my reading of the evidence presented in this case, I am shocked and dismayed.".
Congressman
Charles B. Rangel
Charles Bernard Rangel ( ; June 11, 1930 – May 26, 2025) was an American politician who served as U.S. representative for districts in New York City for 46 years. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent ...
compared "the verdict to the acquittal of whites in the Old South" and said he would demand today that the Justice Department prosecute the men for violating the woman's civil rights."
Several students were fully expelled from St. John's University after the incident.
See also
*
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...
*
Crown Heights riot
*
Penn State child sex abuse scandal
The Penn State child sex abuse scandal concerned allegations and subsequent convictions of child sexual abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky, an assistant coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, over a period of at least fifteen year ...
References
{{reflist
1990 in sports in New York City
Race-related controversies in the United States
1990 in lacrosse
Mass media-related controversies in the United States
Race-related case law in the United States
1990 in United States case law
Sports scandals in the United States
20th-century American trials
Rape trials in the United States
March 1990 crimes in the United States
Trials in New York (state)
Criminal trials that ended in acquittal