donn@sdchema.UUCP (Donn Seeley) (10/05/83)
How embarrassing. It appears that the rape case I previously related is
not as clear-cut as it appeared, and in fact may not even have been a rape,
much less the crime of the century. My apologies to anyone else who read
the article and was taken in. I'm interested in hearing what other people
think about incidents like this...
What follows are excerpts to an article published in the LA Times which
discuss the police and DA's investigation into the affair. It should be
noted that in the interval between the original article and this one, the
family of the girl who was involved decided to press charges against her
alleged assailant, after dithering for several days; this makes the DA's
report even more interesting.
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From the LA Times San Diego Edition, Pt. II, p. 1 (used without permission):
GIRL WAS NOT RAPED AT STADIUM AFTER ALL, DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS
by David Freed, Times Staff Writer
San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin L. Miller Jr. said Monday that the
reported restroom rape of a 16-year-old Cardiff girl at Jack Murphy Stadium
never occurred and that a Marine private initially implicated in the case
would not be prosecuted.
Miller said the girl was extremely intoxicated when she met an uniden-
tified young man and "went willingly with him" into the stall of a crowded
men's restroom during the KGB-FM "Sky Show" rock music festival on Sept.
17.
The girl "willingly engaged with (the young man) in a series of acts,
lewd acts--not including sexual intercourse," Miller said during a news
conference. Yet Miller said that Howard Charles Blomberg, the 19-year-old
Camp Pendleton Marine initially named by police as a suspect in the case,
was not present.
"That young man in the stall with her--a young man demonstrably not
Mr. Blomberg--left," Miller said. "Three other men came in and, although
one of them had unzipped his pants and exposed his penis, the three were
ejected from the stall by off-duty security guard Mark Chapman before any
sex act, consensual or otherwise, took place."
Miller said Blomberg has conceded he was in the restroom at one point
during the concert, but said he saw nothing unusual. Undergoing field
training with his unit, Blomberg could not be reached for comment Monday.
Miller's findings, which strongly criticized reporters' aggressive
coverage of the incident, may have left egg on the faces of the media as
well as citizens who wrote letters and demonstrated in protest of the
incident. Those citizens, including members of local women's groups,
demanded prosecution in the case while declaring that the image of
"America's Finest City" [I believe this is a San Diego Chamber of Commerce
slogan] had been tarnished.
"The simple fact is that the public outrage in this case, although
understandable, is wrong," Miller noted. "In short, the community has bee
outraged at something that never took place."
Despite Miller's declaration of Blomberg's innocence, Blomberg's com-
manders continued on Monday to process paperwork that would result in his
ouster from the Marine Corps. Marine spokesmen have insisted that their
recommendation that Blomberg receive an administrative discharge is not
related to the incident involving the girl.
Blomberg was arrested at the stadium during the Sky Show but was
released soon afterward. He never was charged in the case.
Chapman, who received hero awards from a Los Angeles radio station and
the San Diego Kiwanis Club after the stadium incident, told investigators
he came to the girl's rescue after he saw two men hold her down while a
third assaulted her. Chapman has said more than 20 other men cheered and
laughed as the alleged assault took place.
Chapman on Monday stood by his inital version of the story, insisting
that he saw a drunken Blomberg in the stall with his pants unzipped.
"I know what I saw," Chapman said. "That girl was being held against
her will. She told me she had been dragged into the stall. I'd do it all
again if I had to. I'm really surprised by this decision." ...
In a five-page letter sent Monday to Police Chief William B. Kolender,
Miller said the girl arrived at the stadium at about 12:30 p.m. Sept. 17,
and partied with her friends in the parking lot for about four hours before
entering the stadium.
She eventually became separated from her friends and, while wandering
in search of them, met a young man whom she accompanied to a restroom on
the stadium's upper deck, Miller said. Four witnesses told investigators
they watched as a series of lewd acts took place between the two in the
restroom. The acts concluded when the young man failed to sustain an erec-
tion and departed, Miller said.
Three other men then entered the stall, the district attorney said.
But soon afterward they were ejected by Chapman, 25, a Grossmont Community
College student and full-time shopping center security guard who hopes one
day to become a California highway patrolman.
Taking into account the commotion in the restroom, it was easy to
understand why Chapman thought he had happened upon a gang rape, Miller
said. Witnesses said the girl's tank top, one of its straps broken, had
been pulled down around her waist while her pants had fallen around one of
her ankles.
"It was entirely reasonable for Mr. Chapman to have acted as he did,
and his determination to take decisive action is altogether commendable,"
Miller wrote.
Miller said Blomberg was exonerated of suspicion of rape after four
witnesses independently described the yong man in the stall as being 5-
foot-5, with collar-length blond hair, a white T-shirt and Levis. Blom-
berg, who is 5-foot-9, has a close-cropped, Marine-style haircut and wore a
plaid shirt and faded corduroy pants to the concert.
Only Chapman's unsubstantiated contention and the victim's "vague,
inconsistent statements" placed Blomberg in the restroom during the
incident, Miller said.
In addition, medical tests showed that neither Blomberg nor the
alleged victim had engaged in sexual intercourse that day. (Other tests
showed that the girl's blood alcohol level during the incident was between
.21 and .23, or more than twice the legal limit for motorists.)
"The single most important reason for Mr. Blomberg not being
prosecuted is that no rape happened," Miller wrote. "Indeed, it was not
even sexual intercourse. There was misbehavior of a gross nature, and the
events of that evening do not constitute our children's finest moment.
Without question, there was drunken, rowdy and morally reprehensible con-
duct in the stadium generally and in that restroom most particularly."
The girl initially refused to speak to investigators and there was
some question whether she would seek prosecution in the case. Her family's
attorney, Joseph Giovanazzi, said his client had become withdrawn after the
reported assault and was too upset to discuss the case with authorities.
After much thought, however, her family decided to cooperate with detec-
tives and allowed their daughter to be interviewed.
When investigators finally did question the girl--a week after the
concert--she gave conflicting accounts, Miller said. She finally asked
that no action be taken in the case.
"She wants nothing more than for this matter to end," Miller said Mon-
day. "We have told her mother of our decision in this matter and she has
offered us her support. Yet, I fear we are not easily going to overcome
the residue of public opinion that the criminal justice system has somehow
failed a victim. That opinion is wrong." ...