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"  Public outcry continues to mount over the rape case hanging over Maryville, Missouri, following last week&amp;#039;s detailed report in the Kansas City Star. In January 2012, high school football players allegedly raped two teenage girls \u2014 14-year-old Daisy Coleman, whose name has been released with her family&amp;#039;s permission, and an unidentified 13-year-old. Coleman&amp;#039;s rape was filmed, and she was afterwards left unconscious on her front lawn.\u00A0 Coleman&amp;#039;s alleged rapist is the grandson of a Republican representative in the state government. Though Maryville police originally determined a crime had taken place, the case was later dropped thanks to &amp;quot;insufficient evidence.&amp;quot; When the Coleman family protested, they were told &amp;quot;to get over it.&amp;quot; Having\u00A0requested a special prosecutor take on the case, they have also been forced to move to a new town\u00A0after receiving\u00A0abuse from the greater Maryville community. Fox News decided that a worthwhile opinion on the case&amp;#039;s status could be gleaned from criminal defense attorney Joseph DiBenedetto.\u00A0However, the network&amp;#039;s producers presumably didn&amp;#039;t actually bother to clarify DiBenedetto&amp;#039;s thoughts on the case with him beforehand. If they had done so, they&amp;#039;d have realized his victim-shaming perspective is highly offensive. And then they coulda woulda shoulda cut him from the show. But that didn&amp;#039;t happen, which meant DiBenedetto, who has apparently &amp;quot;done these cases all the time,&amp;quot; was able to say the following horrible things about the Maryville rape victim: \u2014&amp;quot;There are tell-tale signs that this girl is lying [because] she is leaving her home at 1 a.m. in the morning.&amp;quot; \u2014&amp;quot;What did she expect to happen at 1 a.m. in the morning, after sneaking out?&amp;quot; \u2014&amp;quot;Nobody forced her to drink.&amp;quot; \u2014&amp;quot;What happens? She gets caught by her mom, she&amp;#039;s embarrassed and the easy way out here is to say &amp;#039;Mom, someone took advantage of me.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; \u2014&amp;quot;Assuming these facts are correct and this did happen, I&amp;#039;m not saying she deserved to be raped but, knowing the facts as we do here, this case is going nowhere.&amp;quot; If your head has not exploded from the heinous, rage-inducing gist of his arguments, DiBenedetto also questions the victim&amp;#039;s invoking of the Fifth Amendment, as &amp;quot;that tells you a lot.&amp;quot; Shepard Smith, given the unenviable job of (calmly) hosting the segment, does offer some stern criticism of DiBenedetto&amp;#039;s points. Says Shep, &amp;quot;what you&amp;#039;ve done is taken a victim of rape into a liar and a crime committer. That&amp;#039;s a far jump.&amp;quot; And because he&amp;#039;s just that terrible, DiBenedetto replies only: &amp;quot;that&amp;#039;s one way to look at it. Assuming that&amp;#039;s the case, she wouldn&amp;#039;t be the first and she won&amp;#039;t be the last.&amp;quot; Photo Credit: Fox  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a16047/fox-maryville/?click=rel>