JumpCutz

People suck. RIP Samantha.

This is depressing...


HURON TOWNSHIP, Mich. " Samantha Kelly endured merciless taunting from classmates after they learned that the high school freshman had accused a senior of rape.

The weeks of harassment eventually became too much. Samantha went home from school Monday and hanged herself in this community southwest of Detroit.

With their key witness dead, prosecutors on Wednesday dropped criminal charges against the older student, saying they had no case without the accuser's testimony.

Samantha's mother screamed at 18-year-old Joseph Tarnopolski after his brief court appearance and had to be restrained by a relative. She told reporters she was not consulted about the decision to dismiss the third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.

"My daughter did not get any justice," June Justice said.

Samantha's accusations became known to many of her neighbors and classmates after she and her mother spoke to a local television station about the matter. Samantha's face was blocked out, but word of her allegations quickly spread.

"People wanted to beat her up - people who were friends of Joe," said Ayla Raines, who also attended Huron High School. "Not to her face. She heard from other people that they wanted to beat her up."

Another student, Calie Bouchard, said 14-year-old Samantha was confronted once in the lunch room by a group of girls who insisted she was lying.

"She started breaking down in tears," Calie said. Principal Donovan Rowe said school officials investigated the alleged bullying and found nothing overt. Rowe said on occasion he walked behind Samantha as she went from class to class and witnessed no harassment.
Huron Township police said Justice brought her daughter to the station on Sept. 27, a day after the encounter with Tarnopolski, to file a sexual assault report. At the time it was considered a statutory rape case, meaning the pair had consensual sex but that she was under the age of consent.

Justice also met with school officials and asked to keep the matter confidential, the principal said. Initially, he added, there was no animosity between the two families.

School officials said they were blindsided by the Oct. 18 television report in which Justice criticized administrators for not taking action to protect her daughter.

Before the story aired on Detroit station WJBK, Justice "was pretty complimentary of us," Rowe said. "She indicated she wanted to move her daughter to another school, but Samantha wanted to stay here."

Samantha had not been at school for about two weeks before returning Monday morning with her mother.

"Her mom had mentioned some harassment," Rowe said. "I asked her specifically if it was happening here. She said no. It was happening in the trailer park."

Samantha told close friends she was constantly being intimidated.

"She told me she was being extremely bullied, and it was extremely stressful," said 16-year-old Devyn Waldecker, a neighbor in the Huron Estates mobile home park. "People bumped into her in the hallways at school. On two occasions after school, people tried to jump her."

Waldecker, who attends another school, wanted to help the girl she had befriended just this past June, but "really didn't know what to do."

"I told her I was there for her - anything she needed from me," Waldecker said.

Samantha didn't deserve such an ordeal, said Devyn's mother, Shannon Waldecker. "Sam was a very sweet, soft-spoken person and very honest."

After school Tuesday, Devyn Waldecker learned from Samantha's mother that her good friend was dead.

"I was shocked and heartbroken," the girl said.

On Wednesday, Wayne County prosecutor's spokeswoman Maria Miller said the case against Tarnopolski could not proceed "because the sole evidence ... was the complainant."

Attorney Joseph Kosmala, a Detroit-area defense lawyer who was not involved in the case, said the prosecutor seemed to have no other choice.


Attorney Joseph Kosmala, a Detroit-area defense lawyer who was not involved in the case, said the prosecutor seemed to have no other choice.

"Sexual assaults are not crimes that typically take place in front of witnesses. They're private crimes," Kosmala said. "Unless the complainant can sit in the witness chair and point the finger, there is no case."

Police notified school officials Monday night about the suicide. Students were told the next day that a schoolmate had died and that counselors were available.

Tarnopolski's attorney, Jacqueline George, called the case "a sad situation" for all involved. "I hope both families can heal," she said.

A Facebook page was created to memorialize Samantha and by Wednesday afternoon had more than 550 friends. It reads, "R.I.P., Samantha Kelly. You will be missed. We love you."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_16576815?source=rss

antennaball

How odd.

Nick Danger

I had to read that story a couple of times to figure it out. So:

An underage girl has consensual sex with an older boy. Mom brings her to the police station to file charges of statutory rape. Mom goes on TV to accuse the boy of rape, so the whole town knows. Public opinion at the school turns hard against the girl, and she is harassed (except in front of the principal). Girl hangs herself. State drops charges because there is no evidence. Mom screams at boy in courtroom.

I blame Mom.

Bandoman

I'm against this sort of thing.

astrochimp

I'll side with the majority on this one.

Vibiana

Okay, Romeo, your turn now.

Dr Mabuse

movie diva

I also blame the mom, she wanted the publicity.

cungar

I don't think it's fair to say she "wanted publicity". You make her sound like a fame whore. She definitely went about it the wrong way and shares some blame but it's obvious she wanted to bring attention to the case, not "publicity".

Meglos

Stupid mom.

Nifty03

Stupid town, I say we nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

rexinnih

This.

tommyp007

agree 100%

Ropes Pierre

Although the truth may never be known (was it rape rape, was it statutory but consensual), it is unfortunate that this series of events ended with a girl hanging herself.

kvrdave

This is how I read it. Girl was pitted between her mom and a bunch of kids who probably saw nothing wrong because older boys have sex with younger girls all the time in high school. Very sad.

I would tend to blame our age of consent laws.

SuperJim88

Woo...hold on a minute. There was a series of event that led to the girl committing suicide. Starting from the older boy having sex with an underage girl, mom goes on TV, public opinion turned on the girl, the girl getting harassed and not the least of it the girl hanged herself. Each of these are contributing factors to the girl killing herself. And yes, including the poor judgment of committing suicide on the girl's part. There are plenty of blames to go around. If you really want to point to one person, why isn't the boy or the students at the school gets the blame? At least mom's motivation came from love. It would seem to me the focus has turned yet again away from the real culprit here.

FantasticVSDoom

Its not 100% mom's fault no, but there is enough blame here to go around... Mom, the townies, the trailer park, etc.

Mabuse

The bullying and intimidation seems cruel, but the public is generally pretty disdainful of our rape shield laws. This girl gets to make life destroying allegations against this guy and she gets to do it while having her face an identity hidden by the media. We'll never know the truth in this case, but I'm partially sympathetic to the students for rejecting and intimidating her. Rape shield laws are bullshit.

Navinabob

Agreed. I blame the Mom as well.

The Edit King

Another child dead? 14 years old? Just a babe in the woods. What a precious waste.



Samantha Kelly

GoVegan

I agree. The high school students were clearly staging a rather successful protest against rape shield laws.