Rotten Mango - #201- High School Basement Torture - Gang Assault of Disabled Student

Episode Date: September 25, 2022

Leslie only had Marie to lean on. They were best friends. Sure, they just started bonding, but Leslie really needed someone to count on. They spent countless hours on the phone, whispering, giggling, ...staying up, hoping their parents wouldn’t hear them. But it was a bit strange that she kept asking Leslie about what had happened in that basement. Leslie had been gang raped by some of the most popular kids in high school in the football captain’s basement. There was a trial underway for it. Marie kept asking about it. Marie asked about how much fun Leslie had if she would do it again, and how Marie could be invited to be assaulted by the boys. She said she wanted what Leslie had. Leslie was desperate for a friend. She said she was willing to go a second time with her new best friend - if that’s what she wanted. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:28 in all states or situations, prices vary based on how you buy. Better Bing, better boob. Welcome to this week's mini-sode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue. Now, Leslie had no one to lean on. She was 17. Her peers are growing up, maturing. Her body is maturing, but Leslie would always
Starting point is 00:00:46 be at the cognitive level of an eight-year-old. But that never got her down. No, she went to school, she played sports, and she loved making new friends. Her newest friend really meant a lot to her. She was the only one that wanted to talk to Leslie these days. But she was a bit strange. She kept asking Leslie about what happened in the basement. If you guys haven't listened to part one, the last episode, please do, because we talked
Starting point is 00:01:11 about what happened to Leslie in the basement. She had been gang-waped by some of the most popular kids in high school in one of the football captains' basement, and there was a trial underway for it. But Leslie's new friend kept asking about the basement. She asked her, but wasn't it fun? How fun was it? I want you to teach me how to go to the basement. I want to feel the thrills of the basement that you felt.
Starting point is 00:01:35 I want to be assaulted by a baseball bat and broomstick. She wanted what Leslie had. And Leslie had no idea why someone would want that But all Leslie knew was that she wanted a friend so she went with it She said she was willing to go a second time with her new friend if that's what her friend wanted It's about to get wild as always full show notes are available at ronminglepodcast.com But you guys have to go read this book called Our Guys by Bernard Lefkewitz. It's such an intense book.
Starting point is 00:02:09 I've never cried so many times during a book that I've read, and please go listen to part one to fully understand what's going on here, because a lot is going on here. So to recap, Leslie had gotten out of the basement. She said that she was waiting outside in the cold for a while. She didn't know what to do because she thought that she was going on a date with Paul. Remember, her biggest crush, Paul Archer? He was going to come outside to talk to her maybe to take her on the state, but he didn't come out. So she walked back to the park and she thought maybe Paul will meet me at the park, right? He loves the park, but he never showed up.
Starting point is 00:02:41 So she walked to her best friend's house, Jennifer Lapinski, who always stood up for Leslie, but Jennifer wasn't home. So Leslie hung out with Jennifer's brother. She was a little bit out of it. Didn't didn't really seem her normal self. She was confused. She didn't even notice how late it was. It was 7 7 pm now. She was supposed to be home at 5 30. So she rushed all the way home and her mom was disappointed when she walked through that door and she did not hide it. She said, Leslie, where were you? Why didn't you call us? I told you to call if you were gonna be late.
Starting point is 00:03:10 Sorry, I was at the park playing basketball. I was worried for you, Leslie. I was worried sick. Well, I'm okay, Mom. What is that? What are you holding? It's just a stick. I found it at the park. Leslie, it's dirty. it's covered in mud. Why don't you go put it in the garage? No, but I want to keep it, it's good for throwing. Leslie's mom's side and took the stick from her.
Starting point is 00:03:33 Okay, well, I'll just keep it safe for you, okay? She'll put it on top of the refrigerator. Thanks mom, I'm gonna go upstairs and change, okay? Okay, well don't ever do this again, please. You know it upsets me when you're not home when you're supposed to be. Leslie didn't answer. And when she came back downstairs for dinner,
Starting point is 00:03:49 both the vapor parents noticed Leslie was just very withdrawn. She was distracted. She ate quickly. She didn't talk about her day like she normally did. She didn't really talk at all, which was weird. Leslie, sweetie, is there something wrong? Is something bothering you?
Starting point is 00:04:05 No, nothing, nothing's wrong, Mom. The favors bit their tongue. They knew that when Leslie didn't want to talk about something, if they kept pushing it, she would just shut down. They just had to wait to see if she was ready. So they waited, they waited, but maybe they could try one more time. They asked Leslie towards the end of the dinner. Did you run into someone at the park?
Starting point is 00:04:25 Why do you want to know? I just, I was just asking Leslie, did you? No, nobody. She ran upstairs after the dinner, closed her door, and it was clear she wanted to be left alone. That night Leslie's parents, they could not fall asleep. I mean, they were worried sick. They were worried about what was going on with Leslie.
Starting point is 00:04:42 Why is she acting this way? Did something happen at the park? Remember the last time something did happen at the park? She was molested by an 18-year-old when she was 11 years old. Then they heard a cry coming from her room. They got up, shot out of their bed, slowly, and ever so quietly, they twisted the handle to Leslie's room. Leslie was in bed crying and groaning. She was having a nightmare.
Starting point is 00:05:06 Charles rushed back to the bedroom and told us why something is wrong. He was pacing his room. Something's happened, but they didn't get any answers. And they wouldn't for a while. The next day, Leslie was approached by more of the jocks, who told her, hey, why don't you come join us in the twins basement
Starting point is 00:05:20 where having another party? I can't go. I have to meet a friend. So you're like, okay, Stephanie, you told us that the twins basement we're having another party. I can't go. I have to meet a friend. So you're like, okay, Stephanie, you told us that the town's best kept secret was the group of jocks, the boys who had gotten away with gang-weeping a minor, a disabled girl from their high school that they knew was mentally impaired. Is that the biggest secret and did Leslie carry the burden of the secret for so long? Not necessarily.
Starting point is 00:05:48 Leslie told her swim coach three days after the assault. Leslie was clearly stressed out and Margaret, her coach kept asking, what's wrong? Leslie finally said, I was at a party in the basement with like 10 boys and they did things to me. They kept asking me how many fingers I could put in my butt, and I told them I don't do that kind of stuff. They kept saying, yeah, you do, yeah, you do, we know you do. Show us how you do it.
Starting point is 00:06:10 And then they put something really, really big inside of me. And then they asked me to suck their dicks and said, they wouldn't like me if I didn't do it. And then I would get into trouble. I didn't want to do it, but he pushed me down. It was gross. I really didn't want to, but I didn't want to say no. The boys told her that she couldn't tell anyone because they would be mad at her and she would be
Starting point is 00:06:30 expelled from her school. Leslie straight up told her swim coach that she was scared to say no. She couldn't say no. Leslie spoke softly about the assault. She said, it really hurt me. They stuck something big up my butt and it really hurt. You probably think I'm sick that I let them do that. I just need help. I just need help. I just, how can I say no if they try again? Even when her coach told her how to say no, Leslie seemed torn.
Starting point is 00:06:56 It seemed like Leslie realized if she said no, the guys would no longer want to be her friend. She still cared about being their friend. So the coach's reaction was, oh, next time, just say no. Yeah, well, the coach said, Leslie, can I tell your teacher and the social worker about this? I need to. So the swim coach left Leslie and went directly to our teacher and the social worker of the school district. Then she went to the principal and Leslie had to retell the story to all of them. Leslie also told her best friend, Jennifer, about it. She said that they had put Vaseline and stuck a broom, handle, and a bat, a baseball bat
Starting point is 00:07:31 into her vagina. And she was forced into all of it. Eventually word got to Leslie's parents. And now I don't know, either out of fear or embarrassment or fear for the boys not wanting to be her friend, Leslie's account of things was all over the place. She later said that the boys didn't force her or that she never went to the basement or a lot of it was just lies or that no, no, they wouldn't force her to do that. Any time that she told any adult what the boys actually did, she would always preface
Starting point is 00:08:01 by saying, please don't get the boys in trouble, they're my friends. Don't get mad at them, please. And honestly, that's why Leslie's parents were confused and stressed about, what do we do? They wanted to call the police, but Leslie is now denying it and look what happened last time. It only hurt Leslie. She was assaulted by an 18-year-old molested
Starting point is 00:08:20 and he got away with no time. His record was wiped clean. And Leslie was cooperating with the police that time. And it's not like the boys were keeping quiet, they were all bragging all of them, bragging about the wild party with the insert artwork. And the stories just got wilder and wilder. Kevin said he f**ked Leslie, he made a porn-no movie with her, and most kids they brushed it off. But a few of them couldn't sleep at night.
Starting point is 00:08:49 One of the kids that night went to the police the same day he heard about the crime. He walked straight up to a police officer who was familiar with him and he said, hey officer, did you hear about the gang that happened in the Shursor basement? The cops smiled at him. You always have some wild story don't you? You shouldn't pay out this late. They're school tomorrow and he rolled up his window. The student was confused, like, why wouldn't he believe me? I don't lie to the police. I don't. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe it was a sign to stay out of it. Meanwhile, the boys they're living their best life. They're going
Starting point is 00:09:21 to more parties. They're drinking, vandalizing houses, they even uprooted an entire big tree from someone's backyard just to cause trouble. So within three weeks, here's everyone who knew about Leslie's gang. Her parents, her swim coach, the school's social worker, the school's principal, her teacher, the social worker for Glenridge High School, Leslie's best friend, her teammates on the softball team, and 30 or more jocks from Glen Ridge High School. And it wouldn't be an adult that finally contacted the police to protect Leslie. It was another student, and it was really bad that nobody contacted the cops right away. This gave the boys time to get rid of the objects that they assaulted her with, the broomstick handle, as well as the baseball bat.
Starting point is 00:10:02 They had time to consult with lawyers to get their story straight to even develop alivais. Charles Figaroa went to the police three weeks after the gang. The best kept secret was about to be out. Charles, aka Charlie, was a high school senior. He was one of the only three black students in the entire senior year class.
Starting point is 00:10:21 He was on the wrestling team. He was considered a jock kind of like he wasn't really part of the core group of the popular kids. And you're like why? Because he was black. And normally the jocks would never be friend to black student because they're raging racist. But Charlie was too good of an athlete to ignore. Like he was really good. Another reason that Charlie was in part of the core group of friends was because he himself was conflicted. Like a part of him wanted to be liked by them, but at the same time, he didn't because they
Starting point is 00:10:52 were racist. They were really racist. One time they were going to an away game, and the whole game, the whole way there, they're talking about one of the best players of the opposing team, who happened to be Black. And they're chanting in that bus, in front of the bus driver, in front of the coach, in front of Charlie. Let's get that,
Starting point is 00:11:10 we will stop that. Let's show that, yeah, Charlie hated high school. Like he really hated it. And Charlie hated that the jocks were really sexist. Charlie grew up in a strong female lead house and he didn't like the idea of putting women down to get what a slap on the back from another dude.
Starting point is 00:11:30 Just felt weird. Charlie was actually one of the only people in the circle that had a conscience, and that would actually ultimately bring down the boys. He heard the stories directly from the boys. They mentioned sexually assaulting Leslie with a broomstick, a drumstick, and a baseball bat. A lot of the guys were talking about how to convince Leslie to do it again.
Starting point is 00:11:50 This time, they wanted to record it all. They wanted to make a quote, poor no. Charlie wasn't sure if they were making it up, but he was certain when they proudly showed him the bat. This bat was not a mini-sized toy bat. It was a regulation size full-sized wooden bat. And Charlie decided, okay, no one in this world, not even these kids, would make up a lie that they had put a regulation size bat inside of a girl if they hadn't. He tried to tell him, you know, you guys shouldn't be messing with her. She's not in control of herself. But they all laughed him off. So when Detective Sheila Bryan got the case on her desk, she knew she was in for a shit show. This was like ticking time bomb that could potentially blow up the entire
Starting point is 00:12:35 peacefulness, tranquility of their town. Sheila knew this because she grew up in Glen Ridge High. She lived there for most of her life. This was the craziest case that she would work on. Normally in a town like this, the most delicate of cases involved domestic violence, child abuse, and even those were rare. But this one, I mean, it was bad. There were accusations floating around that a bunch of the most popular guys from high school, the Jocks, the star athletes, had raped a mentally impaired girl with a baseball bat. I mean, there's no way it's true, right? the star athletes had raped a mentally impaired girl with a baseball bat.
Starting point is 00:13:05 And there's, there's no way it's true, right? She scammed through the files and she already had the victim's name, Leslie Faber. And worse, she knew the boys. They all came from good prominent families. I mean, some of them even had run-ins with the law, but they were mainly high school boys. Yeah, like underage drinking, noisy parties, nothing major, she said. They were a rambunctious, boystress group, but boys will be boys, right? Detective Sheila scanned the list and each name she passed her heart jumped. It like skipped
Starting point is 00:13:36 a beat. That's it. There should be one more name on the list and she knew it. She didn't know if she was relieved or more confused that his name wasn't on there, but it just didn't make sense. He was best friends with those boys. You would never see him without those boys in vice versa. He also had a wild reputation. Everyone called him nicely, a loud mouth, but he was a bit more intense than that. Is it Detective Sun? Yes. Sheila took a breath of relief for the time being, detective son? Yes, Sheila took it breath of relief for the time being because it would have only made things more difficult if Richard Quarkren's name was on there. Is it is that her boss? Yes. Oh my god. Because he is the son of Lieutenant Richard Quarkren, Sheila's direct boss. So she gets to work. She knew she had a
Starting point is 00:14:22 lot to handle and she knew she had to handle everything with the utmost care and delicacy, with the utmost seriousness. I mean, this was a very sensitive matter. Her first matter of business was figuring out if Leslie consented to what happened in the basement. If she was even capable of consenting, did she know what consent meant? Did she realize what was happening to her in the basement? She had to bring Ross and Leslie into the police station,
Starting point is 00:14:45 separate the two because Sheila instantly could tell Leslie, like most teenagers, are not gonna be comfortable with talking about this in front of their mom. Sheila spent half an hour just hanging out with Leslie, being in her presence. She didn't wanna pressure her or push her. She just wanted her to feel comfortable.
Starting point is 00:15:01 And then 45 minutes in. You know, Leslie, some of the kids at the high school heard these boys were saying that they did sexual things to you. Yes, yes, it's true. I did things at the wrestling team because I wanted to be their friend. She let's start it taking notes. So what happened? Well, Chris took me into the basement. They're about 12 to 20 boys in there and they, some of them left, but they covered a broomstick handle and a bat with a paper baggie
Starting point is 00:15:30 and then coated it with Vaseline. And then inserted it to me. And at one point I was forced to give Philly Shoe, she said a blow drum, but Philly Shoe to one of the seniors. And what did they do again with the bat and the broomstick Leslie? They put it in there. Where did they put it in Leslie? In front and Sheila wrote in her notes that she felt like this was indicative of something. Leslie
Starting point is 00:15:59 didn't know or didn't want to say the word vagina. Leslie told her story without much emotion until she started talking about Chris Archer, and that's when she starts to feel really scared and panicked. She told Sheila, Chris has been bothering me for a while. He kept calling my house and talking dirty on the phone, like it's been going on for like a year and a half. He's been asking me to meet him around town at like random locations to have sex with him. One time he asked me to come to a shed behind the elementary school, and I kept trying to meet him around town at like random locations to have sex with him. One time he asked me to come to a shed to be behind the elementary school and I kept trying
Starting point is 00:16:27 to tell him, leave me alone, but he says he will never leave me alone. Detective, please tell his mother to make him leave me alone. This was news to Sheila, and again, please tell his mother to make him leave me alone. Sheila was gathering new information about Chris, one of the suspects, but she was also getting insight on Leslie's personality. It seems like Leslie wanted to be liked by the boys no matter what, like that was her ultimate goal. She kept telling Sheila that she still wanted to be friends with the boys after all of that.
Starting point is 00:16:58 She said and I quote, these guys are my heroes, I don't want them to get in trouble. And then Sheila picked up on something else. She had asked Leslie, hey Les, do you want me to make these boys stop bothering you? And Leslie responded, yes please, call their mothers and tell them they're very bad boys. Sheila stopped dead in her tracks because she remembered when she was 17. She couldn't even imagine saying that at 17. Tell their mothers their bad boys. She left felt like this meant something, that this meant, that Leslie was incapable of consenting because she felt like she was talking to a child that was maybe in kindergarten, maybe
Starting point is 00:17:36 the first grade. She left felt like there was no way Leslie Faber had the mental age of a normal 17-year-old, which would be the foundation of this rape case. The boys were brought in for questioning. And there were a lot of politics involved. Okay, I'm just going to say that right here. Charlie vividly remembers being called again to re-give his statement, right? This is the kid that told the police everything.
Starting point is 00:17:59 He was the one that stood up. And Officer Quarker and was there. Richie's dad was there and he kept saying, was my boy there, was my boy there. Charlie lied. He knew Richie was there, but that was just so intimidating and terrifying. He was like, no. He was too scared to say, yes sir, your son was there and he was watching the whole thing. Which honestly, why the hell was Detective Corkerin even in the? If there was even a possibility that his son was involved.
Starting point is 00:18:26 Which side note, Charlie was also promised that he would be kept anonymous, but somehow some officer told the parents who leaked this information and Charlie was bullied. He had to leave school. The jocs were calling him at his house, constantly saying, is this where the traitor lives? Is this where the N-word lives?
Starting point is 00:18:45 It was Peter that let it slip, that Richie was in the room. Peter is one of the guys I was also in the room during questioning. And Detective Corcoran just shouted, my Richie, and the interview with Peter was over. Again, why was he in the room? Why was the lieutenant in the room? Like, if his son had a possibility,
Starting point is 00:19:04 these are his son's a possibility, these are his son's best friends, he should have been taken off the case. Side note, Detective Sheila was one conducting the interviews, but she wasn't even really able to interview Richie. Detective Corcoran made that clear. And soon, the police department told their prosecutors what was going on, and now the investigation was going to be held by the prosecution. and they only allowed one officer to be on the case, officer Sheila. The other Glenridge officers would be left completely in the dark. Now the archer boys were the first ones brought in and the boys that had all developed their
Starting point is 00:19:36 own story. It was clear. They said, you know, there was an incident in the basement, but here's how. Leslie came on to us. She wanted it. So that day that there was a baseball bat inserted into her, it was her doing. Like she was crazy for us. Chris straight up said she was doing it to herself without the help of anyone. Paul said, no one forced her to do anything. She did it on her own. Richie said, the only reason that she stopped giving a blowjob
Starting point is 00:20:05 to Bryant was because, well, Bryant didn't like it. She wasn't good, and he didn't want it anymore. She was the one begging to give him a blowjob. Richie said, some of the boys were laughing at how gross she was and wanted her leave, but she kept asking us all to fuck her and nobody would. So she started asking around for something to use to put inside of her. And she asked for a bottle. We said no. So then she asked for the broomstick and
Starting point is 00:20:30 they gave it to her and then she started inserting it into herself. Yeah, because in what world does that happen, Richie? All the guys got on board later with this story that Leslie wanted to have sex so badly, she begged the boys and they all said no so she begged them to hand her inanimate objects to insert inside of her in front of all of them. I wonder how does detective Sheila hearing this from a bunch of boys describing it like that you know despised them. I mean I like that she was the one chosen for this case because she was the one that really got through to Leslie and Leslie felt comfortable with her. But I can't imagine just the sheer trauma too of listening to these cocky boys sitting there.
Starting point is 00:21:15 Like how is this even a story? It's so bizarre that they all sat down there like that's a good one. Everyone will believe it because everyone wants us. So they said that because Leslie was so hot and heavy for them, she inserted a broomstick handle in a full-size regulation wooden baseball bat into her vagina along with a stick, her throwing stick. Richie did say although they gave a bat to Leslie and she inserted it into herself, some of the boys helped hold it in place while she did this because you know the broomstick is so long.
Starting point is 00:21:49 So now the prosecutors, they've taken over and the man in charge was a man by the name of Robert Lerino. Now Robert was like a no nonsense type of prosecutor. He wanted to go in guns of blazing, he wanted to charge all the boys with aka aggravated sexual assault, right? He was ready to go. He got the handcuffs and everything. But his boss is like, hold on now. We can't be too. We can't rush. It's a sensitive issue. We can't just go and arrest, you know, what, a dozen of the most prominent family sons. We can't do that. But Robert, he felt like they could. He felt personal about this case.
Starting point is 00:22:27 Robert's older brother was intellectually impaired. And he remembered how hard it was for his brother. How hard it still is. That's why at nearly 40 years old, Robert still lives at home to help take care of his brother. He had a strong understanding of Leslie and her limitations of consent. Robert remembered, and this is such an emotional story, but Robert remembered when he got his first car. He had taken his older brother for a drive, and his brother was upset. What's wrong? Why can't I drive?
Starting point is 00:22:57 I want a drive. I'm older than you. I want a drive. Everybody around me drives. Everyone in my grade drives. And Robert knew that his brother could never drive. And seeing his brother so upset, Robert vowed that he would never drive in front of his brother again. And that's why even as a prosecutor living in New Jersey,
Starting point is 00:23:15 he would walk a mile every day to the train station and take the train home. If anyone asked him why he doesn't drive, he would just say, I like the exercise. Robert's sister said, what really motivated Robert is the idea that social justice should be extended to the weakest people. The idea he's always fought against is that, if you're not accepted by society standards, you have to suffer. It's impossible for Robert to accept that idea when he spent his whole life looking after his brother. So Robert knew that this case was going to be tough and he knew that they needed justice.
Starting point is 00:23:48 But there were a lot of boys involved. The main were Bryant Grober because Leslie said that he forced her to perform oral sex on him. He was the son of an established doctor, one of the wealthiest families in the entire town. And then we had Kevin and Kyle Scherzer. They were twins. Their dad was like Macho Man football player.
Starting point is 00:24:07 Kevin and Kyle were co-captains of the football team just literal stereotypical meat heads. Then you had the archer brothers who were meat heads, I don't know what to say, like they were like the same. They were like the most popular kids. They were all kind of meat headdies. Then you had Peter and Richie who were there. So Leslie said that Brian Grober forced her to perform Felatio on him. Then she said
Starting point is 00:24:30 that Kevin was the one that put the regulation-sized bat into her. Chris Archer had helped put the broom inside of her, and he was laughing while he did it. Kyle, the other twin, he put the plastic baggies around the instruments that were used to assault her. Peter was cheering them on and Richie was watching. So Robert wanted the boys immediately arrested. I mean, they had already been questioned and nobody had been charged yet, like, what's taking so long?
Starting point is 00:24:59 And his boss is like, you gotta, you gotta take it slow. You know, we have to ask ourselves, is it worth risking everything? Our careers, our reputations, our social standing, for, you know, just, just a disabled girl. That's literally how they were phrasing it. And Robert could see it. His boss, all of the other DAs with the exception of a couple,
Starting point is 00:25:24 they all were noticeably uncomfortable and Leslie's presence as if they were uncomfortable with her disability. Robert was sick of it. And then his wish came true. Someone had alerted all the top news outlets. In New York City and New Jersey, the press were coming. They were going to swarm this small town and they were out for blood. And now the DA's office was going to arrest the boys.
Starting point is 00:25:53 And there was so much community outrage. Like I'm not even kidding you, the vast majority of the community were on the boys side. Other high school students said things like, will she ask for it? She probably was teasing them into it. Leslie's always been a bit sexually promiscuous. High school students were saying this. The adults were a little bit more graceful with their words, but not much. It was clear that they were thinking the same thing. They said things like, and these are full-grown
Starting point is 00:26:20 adults. They said things like, will she was always flirting. This is just Leslie getting into more trouble. Everyone blamed Leslie for what the boys did to her body without her consent. Like, how? How do you even do that? When parents talked about the gang, they didn't use the words the assault, the gang rape, the rape, the vile acts by the boys, the despicable actions of these high school kids. They use the word tragedy. God, it's just such a tragedy for the boys. All of it, really. First of all, the word tragedy implies that it seems like the boys had no doing in it.
Starting point is 00:26:59 Like, you use that word for natural disasters that tore through the boys' homes. And to say it's such a tragedy for the boys, I'm sorry. Who are the victims in this case? I am so confused. The author wrote, and I quote, these Glenridge folks sounded as if they were talking about an inherited disease, a flawed gene,
Starting point is 00:27:18 not a deliberate act that reflected patterns of socialization and years of social and cultural experiences. Maybe there was a reason that they were acting this way. I'm not saying that this is a justified reason, but when you have one or two bad apples, it's a different story. But 13 of the most popular boys, the most beloved boys, it's no longer just a representation of the boys and even their parents. It's a representation of the whole freaking town.
Starting point is 00:27:45 This is the town who let them get away with things like this for as long as they did. But there were some adults, of course, who were normal and some kids who were normal. A kid, let's call him John. He was the most passionate in the school. He was infuriated when he heard what happened. He and his closest friends, they were kind of like the band geeks, they were more of the jazz kids, right? They banded together to make sure that the jocks felt uncomfortable every day at school. They handed out printed stickers and flyers that said, brainwash education leads to mullet station.
Starting point is 00:28:15 Yeah, I love them. Let's go. They wrote on the bathroom walls and classroom desks, arrest the rapist jocks. John even painted on the side of his car, you'll see what it feels like to get whipped and jail. But it wasn't enough because nobody cared, because John was just another nobody, just like Leslie was. The boys were still living in their bubble
Starting point is 00:28:36 where life was normal and they were praised and they were actually even getting more attention, treated even better. People were sympathetic towards them, the jocks. So John and his friends did what other adults should have done. They called every news outlet in the area. They were the ones that called the press. You hear about the Glen Ridge High School football gang rape?
Starting point is 00:28:57 They were coming to town. And you think that the boys would be scared, right? We're talking about big, non-local news media outlets that, listen that listen these kids parents are rich but they're not Jeff Bezos rich you're not gonna buy off the New York Times but no the boys still felt untouchable this is crazy to me that on camera Richie told the press well Leslie wanted it and then he flipped off the camera and he walked away and he stopped turned around and started making jerking off motions to the camera. Oh my god.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Wow, these boys are so sheltered. Yeah. Their whole life really no idea of consequences. Oh yeah, none whatsoever. Wow. Oh, and they went to town. This was on the 6 o'clock news, not just locally, but like everywhere. The press found out that the jerking off boy,
Starting point is 00:29:48 the one that was saying that the victim wanted it, was none other than the son of the local police lieutenant. So the story took yet another turn. The press screamed, cover up. Cover up, arrest them. And remember how the archer parents were the better ones? They were the ones that cared about social justice. Remember that? Well, they knocked on Leslie's parent's door with their head down. Leslie's parents opened up the door and they were
Starting point is 00:30:13 apologizing. We're so sorry to hear about what happened. We're so horrified to hear what had happened. Silence. And then Mr. Archer, the dad of Chris and Paul Archer, said, there's always community service. The boys could do community service. What are you hoping for? Do you think it'll be the same kind of thing? Some sort of community service? Charlie Favourite Leslie's dad was disgusted.
Starting point is 00:30:43 He said, no, it's much more serious than that. It's out of our hands, and he slammed the door shut. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. You are inhaling and long exhale out. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it.
Starting point is 00:31:13 Download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or pay to description starting at 12.99 per month. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in them? Aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No, who's gonna catch us? What a police!
Starting point is 00:31:34 It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're gonna want some drug dealers cops had become them. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100% I saved my soul dirty mother f***er.
Starting point is 00:32:22 And remember how I said it was kind of a popularity contest in a town like this in part one between the archer parents and even the favor parents. Well the favor's family house got egged after the news came out after the press came to town. They were bullied. Leslie was literally bullied. They had to go stay with a family friend. Meanwhile, the archers received $30,000 in support from locals to help pay for attorney
Starting point is 00:32:44 fees. $30,000 in support from locals to help pay for attorney fees. $30,000, one high school girl even lent the family money from her college fund. Which, I don't know her name, but I just want to ask, how does it feel? Did he pick you? Another family gifted the archers a freaking car to use during the trial. The boys were arrested soon after the press ripped the town apart. Now the prosecutors, the police, I mean, they had no choice, which is why I think that social media,
Starting point is 00:33:10 like we can really do a lot more nowadays to make sure that crimes get justice. And there are still so many cases that haven't gotten any justice. So I feel like that speaks volumes on the power and the secrecy of the justice system, the unfairness, right? So because of the press, the boys get arrested and the parents are hysterical. The twins parents are screaming, I can't believe you're doing this. You can't believe that.
Starting point is 00:33:36 Brian's mom looked like she had seen a ghost and Kevin Kyle and Peter, they were charged in an adult court where they face 30 years in prison. If convicted of rape and conspiracy to commit sexual assault. Chris and Bryant were charged in family courts since they were minors when the gang took place. And for a long time, their identities were withheld from the public. But soon they will be charged as adults, due to the depravity of the crime. Now, a little while later, Paul Archer, Chris's older brother, and Richie Quarker in the
Starting point is 00:34:03 son of the lieutenant would also be arrested. So in total it was seven of them arrested. And after the arrest, you're going to freak out. But the teachers and the principal held a huge meeting for the high school. And they said that we need to show solidarity. Yeah, we need to make sure that we're not judgmental of the boys. The principal straight upset, and I quote, we should stand by our boys and we need to make sure that we're not judgmental of the boys. The principal straight upset, and I quote, we should stand by our boys and we need to look at the future and keep moving on.
Starting point is 00:34:31 One girl stood up from the bleachers in the crowd and she said, how can we go on with rapists in our class? Another girl stood up and said, yeah, how do we know they're not going to rape us? What if they rape me? To which one of the jocks stood up and shouted at her, you're too ugly to be raped. This is the culture in this high school.
Starting point is 00:34:54 And after the meeting, two groups of girls got into one of the biggest fights that the high school had seen, the normal girls and then the jock lovers. They started throwing books through whatever else they could grab at each other. I mean, it was bad. The teachers had to rip these girls apart. Meanwhile, Leslie's house is still getting egg'd. With Wilde's at the boys got on bail. And while out on bail, the only real punishment
Starting point is 00:35:18 that they seemed to get was that they were not even going to graduation. Now, I don't know whose choice it was, but the principal phrased it as if the boys choose chose not to come. They said, the parents of the boys have indicated their wishes that they don't want to impact or disrupt the rest of the students during graduation, and we fully support that. So they're not coming to graduation ceremony. But then more than two thirds of the senior class signed a petition to give the boys a choice on whether or not they should come to graduation. Again, Leslie was literally an afterthought. I understand a bunch of high school girls not telling their parents or teachers because they don't know if this is true, they're scared they're not extent. Judging by how everyone let the boys get away with anything, I get it.
Starting point is 00:36:03 I can't really hate them for not telling the police, right? I might even relate in that scared guilty feeling of, you know, what you need to do, but you don't know because you're panicked, but then you're also scared that it's going to happen to you. But this, this is weird. Signing petitions to get a legit rapist to your graduations. What are you accomplishing with that? On graduation, they even decorated the boys' drives ways with words of encouragement that said,
Starting point is 00:36:31 we love you, stay strong, congrats. And at graduation, a ton of the students had yellow ribbons pinned to their graduation gowns. Yellow ribbons, not for the cause of preventing rape or justice for for victims or justice for sexual violence victims, justice for Leslie. No. The yellow ribbons were a show of support for the boys. Some kids did actually worse things. One teacher walked into the class and saw a group of kids near the back and it was a big bit of a commotion. She said, what's going on? The girl was back there and her classmates
Starting point is 00:37:08 were standing around her and she was moaning, saying things like, do it more, do it more. What is going on here? What on earth are you doing? And the girl laughed and said, that's the way an R word sounds when she's raped. The kids burst into laughter. They could barely even talk. They were laughing so hard. They thought it was hilarious. So the boys skipped graduation, but they went to every single graduation party though, which is really what high schoolers care about.
Starting point is 00:37:39 So they really didn't get any sort of consequence. Like you get to skip the boring graduation ceremony, but now you get to go do all the underage drinking things with all your buddies and celebrate four years of what are sexually harassing people. And because of the tense relationship between the town and the press cops were out the graduation dinner to make sure nobody hurt the boys. What? Yeah, I'm sorry. Are we protecting these boys now like from what? They're being I don't understand they walked into the graduation party and the graduation dinner where a lot of parents were present And they were being slapped on the back by adults
Starting point is 00:38:13 Moms came up to them and gave them kisses on the cheek They all looked at the boys with sympathetic eyes as if they had just received a diagnosis for terminal illness Or as if that they had just fought in World War 2 and just made it back home. Is that really how they're reacting to a rapist right now? One girl named Irene said it was disgusting. She thought the boys were vile, and what they did was vile and heartless, and she hated them, and everyone was losing their minds, acting as if it was Leslie's fault. How can you even think that?
Starting point is 00:38:43 Irene watched and discussed while Kevin was having the time of his life at the graduation party. He snuck up behind a girl near the pool. Irene watched him, unclean her bathing suit top, and push her into the pool. And she started screaming, Kevin, what the heck? And she's frantically looking around,
Starting point is 00:39:00 trying to tie her tie back on, and everyone just giggled. They just brushed it off. Nobody ever challenged the boys. That wasn't going to change tonight. But Leslie wasn't the only one that was absent from the parties. Remember Charlie, the student that turned the boys in? When you expected the adults to do it, but he didn't go to any parties, he sat there with an uneaten graduation cake on the kitchen floor with his mom and sister and spent the whole night sobbing. He said he felt like there were a thousand pounds sitting on his chest. He had been bullied and harassed ever since he told the police
Starting point is 00:39:37 what he knew. His family would soon leave Glenridge. The press was also shocked at how everyone was reacting to the news of the rest. You know, journalists, reporters, they wanted to get inside scoop on all of the high schoolers and get all these quotes and, you know, sources. They were shocked. Some of the kids were saying that Leslie was flirtatious and open and the boys would never do something against someone's will. They would say things like, I grew up with these guys.
Starting point is 00:40:01 These guys aren't criminals, it's crazy. Some of the girls in the school straight up told reporters that Leslie was a slut. Yeah, there was one high schooler who defended Leslie on the record. He said, Leslie was an angel. She was very sweet. She was someone who did not deserve to be taken advantage of like she was. This person got death calls, like death-threat phone calls after this came out. Reporters noted that high schoolers at Glenridge were crying and yelling at reporters for destroying their school and their community. They were crying that the boys' lives were, quote, ruined. It seemed like nobody was crying for Leslie. She wasn't even important.
Starting point is 00:40:36 She wasn't as important as the popular football players. She wasn't even a variable in this story anymore. And how are the reporters destroying your school for something your classmate did? But it wasn't just the students. The teachers kept referring to what happened as alleged sexual misconduct. Excuse you, it's alleged sexual assault, alleged gang rape, what is misconduct? It definitely undermines everything that was done. The principal said that the media was to blame, that they had no conscience.
Starting point is 00:41:06 The principal straight up said, I am shocked at the media's willingness to embarrass the students just to get a story. The media has no conscience. The press went into town on the town, you know? Articles were titled, Town of Shame, the town without pity. A direct quote from one of the outlets
Starting point is 00:41:25 shame the parents good on them. They said, parents are begging their children not to say anything for fear that they will find their house spray-painted or their tires slashed. People are speaking to the press but anonymously in order to avoid harassment. Harassment by whom? Teenagers. It's more than frightening. It's absolutely terrifying. Another news outlet said, however this case is resolved, one thing is clear. Something terribly wrong did happen in Glenridge. It went on for an hour and it was brutal, humiliating, and degrading. Even if the young men believed she was consenting, how could they do such things to her?
Starting point is 00:42:03 The town started holding meetings to talk about. The tragedy. The incident. But instead of talking about how their community breathed, gang-biss that were still in high school, they ran to about the disgusting media presence that was biased and wanted to see the town crash and burn. Which side note, it seemed like all the press were good, but that's not true. A lot of reporters and journalists would wait outside Leslie's school in hopes of figuring out who the victim was
Starting point is 00:42:28 because her identity was sealed by the courts. So they couldn't release a picture or release her name, but they were trying to get a first-hand account of what happened. So they would ask, who's the Glen Ridge girl? Who's the Glen Ridge girl? And Leslie being someone who was very excited to make friends, I mean, you can see how this could go very, very wrong. A journalist named Lisa Marie Peterson was outside Leslie's school trying to see if the kids could give them more information on the victim. And she stopped a girl who was standing alone and she said,
Starting point is 00:42:58 do you know the girl in the Glen Ridge case? Leslie liked up and said, oh yeah, that's me. And Lisa Marie was over the moon. She asked Leslie if she would like to chat for a second. Leslie was so happy to have a new friend someone to talk to that she started talking about a lot of random things. Lisa called her boss all excited and said, I got her.
Starting point is 00:43:20 You got what? I got the victim. I got her. Lisa pretended to be Leslie's friend. And the next day, front page news was an article about Leslie, with direct quotes. Again, her identity was concealed,
Starting point is 00:43:33 but I mean, it was just making things worse. She said things like, I thought I could trust the guys. Leslie even told her and I quote, some of it was force, some of it was allowed because I wanted them to like me. Leslie confirmed told her and I quote, some of it was force, some of it was allowed because I wanted them to like me. Leslie confirmed that everyone at school called her Bat Girl because she was sexually assaulted by a bat. And she hated that everyone was
Starting point is 00:43:56 calling her the R word in papers. So this was during a time where the R word wasn't a slur, I guess. I mean, it was traumatic, it was disgusting, and Leslie's whole life would change after that article came out. The school no longer let her even go to the restroom alone. She had to have an adult shaperone. She had a special pick up and drop off time with her parents so that no one, no reporters, no press could talk to her. And Leslie wasn't allowed to play sports anymore,
Starting point is 00:44:20 which was her favorite thing. And like I said, Leslie is 17, but she has the cognitive ability of a second grader and eight-year-old. She didn't know that this was connected to the article. She didn't know that the nice reporter that she talked to was manipulative and taking advantage of her. She thought her school and her parents were punishing her
Starting point is 00:44:38 for no reason other than to be cruel. She didn't realize. And it was a very tough time for her. Her parents helped her get a job at a local animal shelter hoping that maybe it'll distract her from everything that's going on. But Leslie hated seeing the dogs in cages. She felt so bad for them. She felt like she was one of those dogs. So she did what she wished everyone would do for her. That afternoon she unlocked every single dog cage and let them run free. She was fired the same day. So the main reasons, the adults in the community didn't believe Leslie and didn't believe
Starting point is 00:45:14 that their boys could do something like this was, and when I say their boys, I'm not just referring to the parents of the boys. I'm talking about pretty much the whole town. They felt like the boys were one of theirs. It was very much that could have been my son that was arrested. The arguments that they kept coming up with were, why would the boys who had so much do something like this? That kind of phrasing makes it seem like money, social power, and opportunities equates to good people. But we know that's not true. Sex crimes have no race, no socio-economic
Starting point is 00:45:44 class. I mean, they happen everywhere. but humans are conditioned to believe that rich people would never do something like this because they're rich, they have too much to lose, but that just literally doesn't make sense. Another argument was why would the popular boys who could get any girl they want do something like this? Because rape is about power. Gang rape is even more so. These boys grew up in an area where belligerence and brute physical strength and competitiveness was a way to outdo other boys and be more manly than them. It was seen as winning traits that they wanted. So yeah, I mean, it's pretty easy to see how this gang could have ganged
Starting point is 00:46:21 someone. And as I mentioned in part one, a lot of these boys with the exception of Bryant Grober, they all grew up without women in their lives. They only had their moms. Their moms took passive roles in their lives. They were passive people in their family dynamic. Most of their moms lived to satisfy the needs of their husbands and their whole family. None of them had sisters. So starting from a young age, they were isolated from girls.
Starting point is 00:46:45 Not for any reason in particular, but they played sports, and that was not considered feminine, so the daughters weren't sent to play sports, right? You get it. The boys in particular were taught that girls were subhuman. They were there to praise men, to please men, to be on the sidelines while men shined, the men were in charge. And their eyes, the world worked like this.
Starting point is 00:47:06 Men are athletes, and if you're not an athlete you're not a man, and girls are cheerleaders cheering on the athletes, and if you don't cheer on the athletes you're an ugly. Then another argument was, no but why would they do this in front of each other? I mean that's so many witnesses. That's the whole point. Gang ropes add an extra layer of humiliation for the victim. A number of studies have shown that in gangwaves, there's more elements of humiliation involved.
Starting point is 00:47:32 There's forced oral sex, urinating on the victim, pulling, burning, and biting of the breast, sexual assaults with inanimate objects, such as bottles and sticks, demanding the victim to masturbate themselves while the wrist watch. These are more frequent in gang rapes. Which if you remember, Leslie said that the boys asked her to put her fingers in her vagina and show them how she masturbates.
Starting point is 00:47:56 And this is a group of guys. If you guys listen to episode one, they circle, jerk to each other off in a room together while watching porn. They literally masturbate it together. They loved watching each other receive blow jobs and hiding in the closets of each other off in a room together while watching porn. They literally masturbated together. They loved watching each other receive blow jobs and hiding in the closets of each other's rooms while a friend invited girls over. They called girls SEALS if they were sexually submissive. SEALS as in train circus animals that will do whatever you tell them.
Starting point is 00:48:20 They made girls OINK for the fun of it. They do not look at women as people. This was just another shared sexual experience, another way to up the ante, feel the thrill together, show off in front of each other, and build off their friendship in a sick and twisted way. Being in a group makes it easier for people
Starting point is 00:48:38 to lose compassion for victims, because your individuality is gone. It's like war. Some people end up committing heinous war crimes that they would never have committed if they weren't stripped of their individuality. It. It's like war. Some people end up committing heinous war crimes that they would never have committed if they weren't stripped of their individuality. It's like group sheep thinking. And then the most ridiculous argument of all was, why would the boys do this to a girl
Starting point is 00:48:54 that they consistently believed for being unattractive? Like why would they do that to an ugly girl? Is that what you're trying to say, Karen? And the answer to that is simple. The jocks wanted to experiment and test their power. Leslie was there for amusement. And then this one. I'm not even going to answer this one. But friends and family of the boys said, well what was Leslie doing in the basement? I mean we're talking about high school boys. Nothing good is going to happen down there. She must have
Starting point is 00:49:20 known that. Her going down in the basement is practically consent. Next time I see you at the grocery store, I'm gonna deck you in the face. What were you doing in the frozen food aisle? Look and so punchable. You walked in the store knowing that there is a chance smaller big that someone would deck you in the face. You should have stayed home, Karen. I'm so upset.
Starting point is 00:49:39 I'm like literally sweating and anger. During trial, the defense attorneys worked hard to put Leslie on trial, even though she was the victim, okay? I mean, this is literally what happens in most sexual assault cases. You put the victim on trial, and this is so nuanced, but a piece of Leslie's school history came up, which was, during lunch one day, Leslie had wandered over to the football players' tables, and she was being sexually suggestive. She said she wanted to do sexual things with them. And the teachers did not discipline Leslie. They saw it for what it was. They overheard the whole thing. It was a massive imbalance of understanding. Leslie first of all did
Starting point is 00:50:18 not realize that her body was private. If someone touched her body, she thought that they were being nice. Add to that, Leslie was just repeating things that she had her other kids her age talk about or things in movies about high schoolers. They were talking about stuff like that. She thought it was normal. But of course, the defense attorneys would try to argue that this was her being sexually promiscuous, that she wanted these things and she seduced the boys. Another thing that's going to get you riled up is that the prosecutor, Robert's boss, the head DA,
Starting point is 00:50:49 the one that was in charge, described to the press that the bat being used to sexually assault Leslie was a miniature toy bat, but it wasn't. So a lot of people pictured like a tiny little plastic bat. It was a full-size wooden regulation baseball bat. Then the DA also publicized that Leslie had been sexually assaulted before. And what does the world do when they find out a girl has been sexually assaulted twice? You're thinking, well, I'm thinking, like, holy shit, there's so many rapists out here. This is horrific. How scary is the world, right?
Starting point is 00:51:20 No, not the community they thought, well, if it happened twice, maybe Leslie is a chronic complainer. And the DA didn't mention a guilty verdict from the first instance, so maybe it didn't really happen. The defense attorneys jumped on this and they literally told the press, the reason that the school and police authorities were so cautious and careful about Leslie was because she had a prior problem. Think about the wording of was because she had a prior problem. Think about the wording of that. She had a prior problem. She had a prior problem. The defense attorney
Starting point is 00:51:50 that represented one of the boys had also represented the 18-year-old that molested Leslie when she was 11. So they downplayed everything. While Leslie's past is getting all the attention, none of the boys' past was being brought up. Their reckless destruction of multiple properties, prior sexual harassment in school, loot exposure in misconduct, one of the kids literally liked masturbating in class for shock value. Like literally whipped out of his penis and started masturbating, none of that was brought up. Their tendencies to be the biggest bullies in their school, underage drinking, underage drinking, and driving none of it was brought up.
Starting point is 00:52:26 Everyone only cared about Leslie's past, and the press demanded more information on Leslie's condition. They wanted to pick her apart. Meanwhile, the boys were just a background in the story. Like, who's on trial here? Who? Because it really starts to feel like it's Leslie. So at first, things got lost in translation in the press. Journalists called Leslie marginally impaired, So at first, things got lost in translation in the past. Journalists called Leslie marginally impaired, even though she functioned at the level of
Starting point is 00:52:49 a second grader at 17 years old. And this is pertinent to the case later, because it's important to consent. If you didn't know any better, it felt like everyone, the press, everyone, was just undermining the enormity of the crime crime and just downplaying the significance of the victim's vulnerability. But at least Leslie had a friend now. Her name was Marie Carmen Ferraz. Leslie's parents loved her.
Starting point is 00:53:14 She always stood out as a good person. She was Leslie's one and only friend during the trial. She had helped Leslie a lot. She was one of the more popular girls in the senior class. She was voted best athlete. She played on Leslie's basketball team. That's how they knew each other. And she was the star runner on the track team and now she's going off to nursing school. So she's actually nice. She felt bad for Leslie. So she starts talking to her, helping her through the trial. They would talk all night on the phone.
Starting point is 00:53:40 Sometimes they would go out to get ice cream but Leslie's parents didn't like her going out much. Even though they really trusted Marie, they were just very protective right now. And Marie came from a good family, that was important, especially with everything going on. Marie's dad was a high ranking official in the Salvation Army, and both her parents were incredibly religious. They had very similar morals to the Faber family. But there were a few things that the Fabers didn't know about Marie. They didn't know that Marie had spent every day in high school trying to be accepted by the Jocks. Oh, man.
Starting point is 00:54:12 They didn't know that she briefly dated Kyle, one of the Shurs or Twins. And they didn't know that Marie was the leader of the petition to let the boys go to graduation. Oh, and another thing they didn't know? Was that Marie was learning how to operate hidden tape recorders. Oh, and she was working with the boys' defense attorneys.
Starting point is 00:54:30 I literally can't believe this story because why is the whole world out to get Leslie? Why is everybody so fucked up in this town? I don't even know what to say, honestly. How can there be so many despicable people in one freaking case? So Marie starts hanging out with Leslie more and more, and she would even invite her to go to get ice cream. But they would never really get ice cream together. Marie would wait in the car while Leslie got her ice cream and then Marie would go in and get hers and then they would talk in the car. Marie almost always dominated the conversation. Leslie wanted to talk about
Starting point is 00:54:58 everything that she loved, basketball, sports, the fun things, the movie that she saw. But all Marie wanted to talk about were the boys. Marie asked Leslie, why are you saying all that stuff about the boys? Oh, I don't know, they're making me say it. They're making you say it? Or do you want to say it? No, I don't want to say it. I don't like talking to, I don't like a hate going down there. Well, who makes you say this stuff? Detective Sheila, Robert, my attorney, I don't- his stupid, I have the stupidest attorney. Why? Like, what kind of sick things do they make you say?
Starting point is 00:55:33 Ah, they always say, like, Leslie, you have to tell the truth, you have to do this, you have to do that. Well, why don't you tell them exactly how you feel Leslie? That way, you don't have to keep dealing with all of this. I don't know. Just tell the prosecutors like, yeah, I had fun and that's all there is, you know?
Starting point is 00:55:49 This was all recorded. Nothing more was said at this point, but Marie pushed on. She kept calling Leslie's house. And she would tell Leslie, you know Leslie, I'm just looking for a best friend. I'm just looking for a girl that's a little bit more mature than me to guide me through, I guess like all this sexual stuff. Just because I'm kind of new to it. And I heard you have experience? I want
Starting point is 00:56:10 to experience what you experienced in the basement with the boys. Again, if you didn't listen to part one, Leslie is operating at the cognitive level of a second grader. She also has an intense, intense desire to make friends. She had felt alienated and isolated her whole life. And what's more is that psychologists said that in the second grade, this is the stage in your life where you're learning that being liked is important. Being liked keeps you alive. It's a primal instinct.
Starting point is 00:56:39 It is like at the forefront of your mind constantly. So being liked was a huge priority for Leslie. Her psychologist said that Leslie would do and say anything if it would give her a second, a minute, a friendship. And that's how Leslie was set up. During the trial, the Boys Defend's Attorney came up with a 15 minute audio tape. Just the highlights.
Starting point is 00:57:06 I mean, there were hours of footage, but a highlight to play the jury that included Leslie's conversations with Marie. The ones that Leslie had no idea were being recorded. And it went something like this. Marie would ask about the assault, and she said, did it feel like you were having sex? It felt like, you know, coming, but I wasn't coming, really? But you've done this before or less lately, haven't you? Oh, yeah, with lots of guys. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm experienced. You got to be an experienced person. I've been doing it since I was like, really
Starting point is 00:57:37 little. Oh, good. Now you can tell me, you know, teach me. Yeah, I'll teach you the ropes. you know, teach me. Yeah, I'll teach you the ropes. Oh, you will. Good. So after I went down there, I blew Bryant Grober. Yeah, that was exciting. Oh, was it exciting? So why were you down there? Because I like Paul and it was fun, Marie. It was really exciting. It was perfect. Really? Would you do it again though, Leslie? Yeah. Then Leslie talked about the prosecutors. She said, these, she's in bastards. Just won't get off me, you know? I mean, I don't need these stupid lawyers. I don't need these stupid people to tell me what to do. Right, Leslie. Like, would you just do what you think is best for yourself and the guy? It's okay.? Which side note the prosecutors had to listen to all the tapes and they knew that Leslie was set up
Starting point is 00:58:28 They knew that Marie was being manipulative and playing until Leslie's intense desires wanting to be liked But it's still stung to hear Leslie say that she hated them. They had to work hard to not take it personally Another conversation Leslie tells Marie. I think Kyle is so cute. Oh he is? I know he is, isn't he? Yeah, you guys go to the mall together, right? Yeah, he took me to the mall the other night. Oh, wow, he did? Yeah, can you imagine that? What kind of card is he drive? Was it a BMW? It's an Audi. Oh, so he's rich? These were very damning audio clips. The prosecutors were upset at the thought that Leslie hated them, but they also had other things to worry about.
Starting point is 00:59:13 Here was Leslie on tape bragging about being sexually active and saying she would go down to the basement again and calling Kyle Cute. If you just listen to the tapes, you could easily interpret it as Leslie consenting to everything that happened in the basement. Was this tape going to ruin the whole case? The prosecutors knew Leslie, they knew she was pressured into saying things like this, but would the jury see it? The one thing the prosecutors did learn though, was that the defense team was playing hardball.
Starting point is 00:59:40 Getting someone to secretly record Leslie, these people were willing to do anything. They were not above doing absolutely anything. But there were parts of the longer versions of the tapes that gave the prosecutors hope. Like when Marie asked, did you do the broomstick all by yourself? Like I want to, like could I do that if I went down to the basement? And Leslie sounded shocked. Why would you want to do that to yourself? At another point, Leslie claimed that the boys
Starting point is 01:00:08 conned her to go into the basement. And then the rest of the tapes, whenever Leslie wanted to talk about anything other than the boys or sex, Marie would yawn dramatically over the phone and make an excuse to hang up. So with time Leslie learned in order to keep this friend on the phone, I have to keep talking to her about the things she wants to hear. But there were moments of vulnerability where Leslie would admit to Marie that she was scared to go down to the basement.
Starting point is 01:00:33 And Marie said, if you had to do it all over again, would you go down there? I would be more scared, I guess. I don't know. Would you do it again, though? Yeah, I guess if you went with me. If I went with you and the two of us were down there and were going to do it, Would you do it again though? Yeah, I guess if you went with me, if I went with you and the two of us were down there and were going to do it, would you do it again? Yeah. So you had fun. Yeah. I see. Maybe when it's all over I'll do it.
Starting point is 01:00:56 And we can compare notes about the bat. Compare notes about the bat. Like this Marie-Girl is just so disgusting. I don't know what to say. She's in nursing school by the way. I hope she's not a nurse because what? Thankfully, Maria would later be indicted on charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. She would not really be facing any jail time, but it was scummy. It was just so scummy what she did. But to make matters more heartbreaking, Leslie told her parents that she talked on the phone with Marie after finding out what she did, after she found out that Marie was working for the defense. And she said, well, Marie told me that she was
Starting point is 01:01:34 sorry and that she's my friend and she would never do it again. Oh, man. Literally, what is wrong with Marie? Like the fact that you would even say that to her after, you know what you did, you know? Everyone was worried for Leslie. She was very vulnerable to manipulation. And then the grand jury trial. One of the jocks that happened to be there
Starting point is 01:01:59 but had left earlier, he testified and he said, the whole experience only strengthened his bond with the boys who were arrested. He said, this is after the grand jury. So he didn't say this in court, but he said this to the author afterwards. He said, you know, they try to make me spill, but I didn't.
Starting point is 01:02:14 I would never point a finger at a friend. They had been my friends forever. I wanted to show them that I love them. Anything that they need, I'm always going to be there for them. And then the audacity of the boy's parents. Right before the actual trial, so this is just the grand jury trial, where the jury is trying to decide what charges to indict the boys on, right? Well, right before the actual trial,
Starting point is 01:02:35 the parents of the boys tried to offer less than a million dollars to drop the charges. They said, with that amount of money, she'll be able to live in very normal life. It's not about buying off the law. This is not about proving the theory that the laws are only meant for the poor. It's about putting a crime in the proper perspective with a proper and equitable settlement for all those involved. Just think about it. It was denied. At the trial, the prosecutors thought it would be best to try the most important offenders and get the other guys off on plea deals, but only if they were willing to provide statements.
Starting point is 01:03:11 So Marie was the first to be cut loose. She was the one that tricked Leslie, set her up. She was required to do just 40 days of community service, and after six months, the charges would be wiped from her record. She would have a clean record. Then Peter was next. The prosecutors offered it to him because Peter's participation was verbal. He laughed when the bat was inserted, he cheered the group on, but he didn't physically do anything. Even though I think he should be in jail, but that's just me. Before getting his deal, he had to provide a
Starting point is 01:03:41 statement, and in that statement, he still blamed Leslie, saying that she was the one that kept trying to get laid by them and all the boys had rejected her. But he did say that Kevin walked over and brought her the broom. And he also said that Chris helped with the broom and then they laid her at the bat. Peter claimed that Lesley was guiding the broom in with her hands so it didn't go into deep, but Kevin and Chris were holding the other end of the broom. He also testified that Chris was holding up Leslie's legs when this was happening, and um, oh, here's an interesting thing.
Starting point is 01:04:14 Peter stated that Chris had told Leslie to lay down with her back flush on the table next to the couch while they penetrated her with the baseball bat. And again, this doesn't sound that incriminating because this is the original story, but think about it. If your back is flush on the table, completely flat on the table, could you pick up a heavy wooden bat with one hand and penetrate yourself? It's not the ideal position. It would be incredibly difficult.
Starting point is 01:04:39 The prosecutors asked Peter why he didn't tell anyone about what happened in the basement. And he said, why? We really didn't do anything wrong? But I guess if I could go back and I could change things, I realize now that Leslie has a learning disability, I think I should have just left. But I didn't want my friends calling me a wimp. But maybe if I left, other people would have left with me, and she would have stopped doing it. Yeah, she might have stopped doing that.
Starting point is 01:05:03 There's all Leslie's fault. But that's not the part that's going to make your blood boil. Peter was giving 60 days of community service, and in six months all charges would be wiped against his record. Then there was Paul, the bait, Leslie's crush, the reason that she went. Again, he was not doing anything physically, but he was there. He was no more involved than Peter, which by the way, there's still way too much involved, but it made sense for the prosecution to let Peter archer go for some reason. They thought maybe Paul could give a damning statement to corroborate Peter, and he did. Paul said the same thing as Peter. He backed up his story of, like, Leslie was doing it to herself, but Kevin and Chris did guide the objects. So this was
Starting point is 01:05:44 important for the prosecution. He got the same time. And when he was asked why he didn't tell anyone what happened to the basement, he responded, well, because it was embarrassing. We didn't want our parents, teachers, and girlfriends to find out about it. But were you concerned that what you did was wrong?
Starting point is 01:06:00 I guess in a moral sense of that's what you mean, but we didn't commit a need legal wrong. Paul was given 60 days community service, and within six months his record would be wiped clean. But at least the prosecution had what they needed. Kevin and Chris assaulted Leslie with a broom and later the bat. Brian forced oral sex on Leslie, allegedly. Kyle allegedly helped put Vaseline in a paper bag on the objects, and Richie would be
Starting point is 01:06:23 tried separately. So the prosecution actually offered the boys a deal. Chris Archer and Kevin, they were the main offenders. So the deal was that they would get three to four years behind bars, but with good behavior, they would probably only serve Max, Max a year or two in prison, Max a year probably. The only thing was that all the defendants had to plead guilty. So it wasn't just Chris and Kevin, every single one of them had to plead guilty. The defense attorneys urged the families to take the deal. It was a good deal. But Jack, the twins dad said, and I quote,
Starting point is 01:07:00 I can't see Kevin doing a year for this, for this. He can't see his son going to prison for a year for gang-being a disabled minor. So, they did not agree? They did not agree. So just like that. Nearly four years after the incident, the trial began. Some key moments during the trial. Every day, the courtroom was packed with press with the defendant's family, and also female friends from the school that were there to support the boys, which like, I'm sorry. Still four years later? Yeah, it's crazy. Also, Kyle's new girlfriend was there,
Starting point is 01:07:36 and here's the ironic thing. She was in school to be a teacher for children with disabilities. Yeah, respectfully go fork yourself. There were activists that showed up for Leslie, even though other than the day that Leslie and her parents would testify Leslie wouldn't be at court, but they showed up to show their support. Literally, these are strangers. People in the community couldn't show up for Leslie, but strangers showed up for Leslie. They actually chanted outside the court the first day of trial. They said, two, five, seven,79, victims' rights are on the line.
Starting point is 01:08:05 We are women, heurus whale, Glenridge rapists, go to jail. They wore t-shirts that showcase the international issue of sexual violence. It read, rape trial world tour
Starting point is 01:08:15 and it listed major cities across the world, including Glenridge. One of the protesters was interviewed and she said, these boys lived their lives thinking they were special, and their specialness would protect them. Will it? I guess we'll find out. And just like that, the trial was underway. The Glen Ridge Wape Case was front page again.
Starting point is 01:08:36 There were lots of spectators, lots of reporters showing up. The prosecution's main struggle was trying to prove that Leslie was not capable of consenting. They said that she was at the education level of an eight-year-old. She couldn't cook, couldn't take public transportation. She was confused when she watched TV, because she would see people getting shot and killed, and then she would see them in a different show, and she wouldn't understand. She couldn't understand that actors were acting. So this was to showcase that there was no way
Starting point is 01:09:05 she was capable of consenting to such heinous acts. But regardless of consent, this was clearly, the prosecutors argued, the acts of aggression, the acts of cruelty and humiliation and degradation. I mean, this was rape. This is not what you think of when someone says sex. No, this is more in nature with some sort of obscene, torturous experiment. Like, this is is rape. Now each of the four guys on trial
Starting point is 01:09:29 they're gonna be tried together. So you have the twins Kevin and Kyle, Bryant Grober and Chris Archer. They were tried together but they had their own defense attorneys. So there was four defense attorneys and the four defendants like it was a packed courtroom. And the whole time all four defense attorneys thought that taking shots at Leslie was the way to go, they literally sat there mockingly going, what bad, what broomstick. We haven't seen one. Yeah, because they got rid of it because nobody told the cops until three weeks later. They literally made it seem like Leslie was pulling things out of her vivid imagination. They argued that Leslie never had any wounds on her body or injury in the vaginal area,
Starting point is 01:10:08 so it must not be rape. Then they tried to do the sleazy lore thing where they were literally going. Listen, Jerry, I'm not condoning these boys. If they were me, I'd like to take them outside the court and slap them myself. But that's all. We can't convict them of a crime they're not guilty of just because we don't agree with what they did. They argued. All Leslie had to do was say, calm down, I don't like what's going on. That would have been the end of it. She could have walked out at any time, but she didn't, because she was enjoying herself.
Starting point is 01:10:40 Listen to her talk to her good friend Marie about how much she was enjoying herself. Yeah, for some freaking reason the tapes were allowed during trial, even though Marie was arrested. Like, what is this? This is not justice. I think my two-year-old niece has a better sense of justice than this. Another defense attorney argued Leslie wanted this. Listen, people with disabilities are just like you and me. They have sexual needs, and Leslie engaged in teasing and provocativeness, where she would verbally ask for sexual favors. I mean, everyone treated her normally, like she
Starting point is 01:11:14 was her age. She didn't walk around with an IQ sticker pinned on her head, you know? These are direct quotes. The attorneys claimed Leslie asked Bryant if he wanted a blowjob, and Bryant's hand was on her head as part of the act itself. It was an act of passion, not a crime, and then he stopped it because he was embarrassed and ashamed of what he was doing. Listen to the tapes, Jerry. She said she loved it. It was great. Does that sound like someone who was forced into doing something she didn't want to do? The defense attorneys were deplorable, spineless, but the worst was yet to come.
Starting point is 01:11:49 Defense attorney Michael, he was well known in the area for his 35 years of just aggressively going after every single person, every single living soul in the courtroom. He defended big mob names and his name was often associated with members of organized crime. And now here he was, defending football players from high school. He also played football in high school, so it really didn't get more boys club than the boys club. He came up for opening statements and immediately started ripping into Leslie. He sat in, I quote, the young lady, by reason of whatever experience went into the basement,
Starting point is 01:12:23 ready, willing, and able to do what she did She was anxious to do what she did and she would do it again Leslie Faber like many many people discovered that it was pleasurable to give sex to see the joy on a boy's face when he ejaculates again what or to use her word for it to come What he continues though Again, what? Or to use her word for it to come? What? He continues though. Did this young lady know what it felt like to touch skin, to caress it? The opposite sex's body to touch it. Did she know the pleasure that comes from kissing?
Starting point is 01:12:58 Her sexual urges were as basic of a need like thirst. Do you think because she has a disability she doesn't have feelings? Which like the irony of that? Okay, like you're literally ripping her to shreds for being a victim and you're like, do she have feelings? But he continues, let me tell you, she had her feelings for sex, her drive if you will, for sex, her brain and her stomach and her genital signs were greater than normal. Obsession, one word obsession. Leslie likes to use the word penis and dick and boner. For Felatio, she'll use the word blowjob.
Starting point is 01:13:37 She had knowledge that may end up shocking you. This is a young woman's cravings. She wanted attention. She thrived for affection. This is an young woman's cravings. She wanted attention. She thrived for affection. This is an absolute given. She also thrived for the kissing, the caressing. She craved the embracing,
Starting point is 01:13:52 the pleasure of engaging in sex because her brain functions that way. She is a full, breasted young lady. And I'm gonna tell you something. All girls are not the same. There are some girls who I loita's. Tina Lolita's 14, 15, but they dress like they're 18, 19, to entice and to attract Lolita was raped sir, so I don't know what you're saying. There are some girls who are like nerdy boys,
Starting point is 01:14:22 very shy. I have a daughter, big breasted girl. She walks to hide her breasts, you know. Girls coming all shapes and sizes. And there are some that are very, very flirtatious. Like, people's jaws were dropped. Did this 65 year old defense attorney just compare Leslie to Lolita? I mean, who even compares any girl to Lolita?
Starting point is 01:14:42 That is like the biggest red flag ever. It's just sick. But then he continued. Let me be honest. There are women when they like a guy. They will set out to get him in devious ways. Perhaps in aggressive ways and you know how boys will act. Boys will be boys. He said this. Boys will be boys. Pranksters fool arounds do crazy things, experiment with life and disregard their parents, boys will be boys.
Starting point is 01:15:07 The victims were the jocks. The victims? Yeah. Oh my god. It was the boys that needed protecting from Leslie. It was settled. The defense attorneys were going to drag Leslie through the mud, shame her, dig up her past and twist it to make her look bad, and showcase the boys as victims who were just
Starting point is 01:15:24 helping hands in Leslie's hour of need. She wanted sex but they didn't want to give it to her so they gave her a helping hand with a broomstick and a bat instead. The outrage was quick. Activists said, we haven't heard these words in years. We're hearing about Lolita. A 17 year old disabled girl is now a Lolita. And who even says big breasted girls?
Starting point is 01:15:49 That they also do say gang of boys who are naive and innocent and boys will be boys. I mean what? This is so typical of gang trials. The girl gets the blame and the boys disappear into the story. Now with opening statements over, income, the witnesses. Phil Grant was one of the first, remember him, he is the one that made the excuse to go home. And he said, and I quote, about the whole scene about Leslie giving Felicia to Brian, she said, it was like
Starting point is 01:16:15 a group of guys watching one of their friends feeding a tank of piranhas. You put some fish in the tank and wait for something to happen. Everyone gets closer and closer to the tank and everyone around me got closer to the tank before I left. Phil was trying to use this as analogy to describe that his view of Leslie was blocked by everyone trying to watch, but unintentionally he created one of the most powerful visuals during the entire trial, that the boys were at pack of piranhas, waiting to sink their teeth into fish. Any fish.
Starting point is 01:16:47 And their friends were more than happy to watch the show. Another boy testified and it was quite helpful to the prosecution. He said he couldn't hear what Chris Archer was saying to her, but I quote, I came to the conclusion that he asked her to remove her clothes. She just had this puzzled and skeptical look on her face, and she did take off her clothes, but something didn't feel right there. And I wasn't really friends with the guys, so I got out of there. In the cross-examination of this student, the defense asked if Leslie was a big, breasted girl. Yeah, and he responded fairly. But like, why was that asked?
Starting point is 01:17:21 Multiple times during the trial, the judge was mad, and he would say, since day one, the defense has been trying to show some kind of loose woman that consented to sexual acts in the past and probably did so in this occasion. You have been trying to do that since day one, and I'm not going to permit it any further. And if you're like, yes, Judge, period, I love you, yeah, well, don't love him too much
Starting point is 01:17:40 because you're gonna hate him a lot soon. It's just sick and twisted. Leslie's entire private life was being ripped open to examine by the defense and the private lives of the defendants, their rights were fiercely protected under the law. Nobody brought up that Kevin liked to jerk off in class to get screams from his female classmates. Nobody brought up that they like to watch each other have sex and do other
Starting point is 01:18:02 vile things and literally do illegal things like hiding in the closet so that they could watch their friends have sex. Because that would violate their rights. But what about the victim's rights? When does a victim actually start to matter in the court of law? The New York Times reported, the victim at the center of this case
Starting point is 01:18:18 has hardly any privacy left. She has been portrayed as a sex craze teenager who is delighted by seeing boys naked. Another reporter asks the public a pressing question. Can a woman lodge rape charges without taking the chance that they will in effect be placed on trial themselves? The trial was going to be long and heavy. More protesters rushed into town. They went to a millionaire's mile, a millionaire's row, the richest street in town, and in front of the courthouse they chanted Deep is violence not sex. Lolita was an abused child. Boys will be boys, men will be men that excuse won't work again The protesters carried bats and broomsticks while they marched Many of the new jocks told their girlfriends if you join any protests, I'm gonna break up with you
Starting point is 01:19:00 Side note the defense attorneys were caught multiple times at talking the protesters They said things like what are the bitches complaining about now? Oh yeah, fucking great. Another defense attorney said, what are the bitches saying now? Those fucking guns never shut up. The defense attorney Michael, he said this about Leslie. This girl is a pig. She's just a plain pig. If she wasn't an R word, everybody would say that she's a pig. She's somebody that I would keep my kids away from. I would make sure that I protected them from her. He set this to the press.
Starting point is 01:19:33 The author was there to witness it all. He was there every day during trial. And one day during recess, Jack Scherzer, the twins dad, went outside first smoke. And he was looking at the protesters and turned to the author and said, look, I'm not defending the morality of the situation. What happened was, you know,
Starting point is 01:19:49 we're talking about a 16 year old kid with a heart on. What would we have done at that age? I tell you, I'll never be the same after something like this. Yeah, well, neither will Leslie. Leslie's sister testified in court, and she told the jury about how the boys fed Leslie dog feces when she was just five years old. Other five year olds would have told
Starting point is 01:20:10 on the boys her stomped away in anger, but Leslie had a look of disgust, but she wanted to please them. She wanted to please everyone in her life, regardless of gender, she wanted friends. She told them that Leslie just wanted to fit in. And if she said specific things about sex, it wasn't from knowledge. It was from her parroting the words that she heard
Starting point is 01:20:30 from other people, from movies, from other high schoolers. Her sister said, it's like when a young kid uses the word do-do to get attention. That's what Leslie was trying to do. The defense attorney questioned Leslie's sister and said, When your sister Leslie developed breast, the boys were just magnetized her. Uh, no, I wouldn't say magnetized. So she was magnetized to boys. Uh, no. Literally, what kind of questioning in the world is this?
Starting point is 01:21:00 Side note, Leslie's mom also testified and it was like the roughest four days of her life. The defense went in on her. They tried to paint her as a detached mom who had no idea what was going on in Leslie's life. They were shaming her for being a bad parent, which she wasn't, but this one line of questioning stood out to me. Defense Attorney Michael, the old guy, asked Leslie's mom. From the time that she developed breasts, did she learn that boys were magnetized to her and she to them? Her mom looked confused. She said, I know that the sex topic was starting in middle school and Leslie has normal hormones. Well, Mrs. Faber, what did you do to protect young males in the event that they touched Leslie?
Starting point is 01:21:39 Yeah, I'm not reading this wrong. You protect young males? From in the event that they touched Leslie. Yeah. What does that mean? Beats me. Beats Ross' favor because she looked confused in court and said, nothing, sir.
Starting point is 01:21:57 It's like being like, what did you do to protect the rapists in the event that they raped you? Nothing? Because why would I? It was just so bizarre. Detective Sheila was questioned if you remember she was the only police officer trusted to work with the prosecutors on this case. And the defense attorney straight up asked her, and I'm not lying to you like this sounds like such a shit show that I'm lying. This is real. They said, so what is it that you do all day besides sitting there trying to look pretty?
Starting point is 01:22:26 The defense never treated her as a professional. Even though she carried this whole case on her back, she could line them up and body slam each one of them to the ground and still not mess up her hair and makeup, but they made fun of her because she was wearing lipstick. Like, oh here's this woman who's so preoccupied with her little make-y making-make-up that she can't even take this seriously. Why don't you ask male witnesses how often they shave or how long they work out or how much money they spend on workout clothes or porn? I don't know. I'm not even gonna go on that man. Stop making girls hobbies seem childish and dumb. Like it's just makeup, not a big deal. Another defensive turnie was caught saying this about Detective Sheila.
Starting point is 01:23:05 Did you see what that bitch was wearing? Did you see that slit in her skirt? Did you see her blouse? She's trying to seduce everyone. Wow. Also, the defensive turnie once asked her, did you ever ask Leslie if the basement was fun? To which she angrily responded on the stand, no, I did not.
Starting point is 01:23:25 It was apparent that it was not. Leslie's psychologists were also brought up as witnesses. They testified that they do not think that Leslie understands that she can even give consent or refuse to give consent. She feels as friends, she must do whatever a friend asks. She doesn't feel a sense of bodily autonomy. She doesn't feel a sense of individuality, she doesn't feel a sense of individuality, she takes whatever is stated for face value. When the boys told her that she'll get in trouble if
Starting point is 01:23:50 she doesn't do something, or that they'll like her if she does do something, she takes it at face value. She doesn't understand that something might be going on behind the scenes. They testify that they believe Leslie is a high risk of victimization. And then another psychiatrist, Dr. Burgess, went up to the stand showing Leslie's drawings. So Dr. Burgess had asked Leslie to draw a few pictures. First, a picture of herself when she was young. Then, a picture of herself in current time. Then a picture of her family. And then, a series of drawings of her sexual assault.
Starting point is 01:24:23 The first picture of her when she was young, she was wearing a dress and her arms were spread wide. Her hair was flying in the wind and she looked happy. She was asked, Leslie, how do you feel about this picture? She said, Leslie wants to have friends in that picture and I was happy when I was young and she's playing with her friends. Then the picture of current time Leslie, she's now 18 and this is after the rape,
Starting point is 01:24:47 and you see a figure that does not even suggest that this is a female figure, like her whole body is covered head to toe and clothes from chin to shoe. What do you see in this picture? Leslie responded, I see that life turns around in different places. Then another drawing of the family.
Starting point is 01:25:06 Leslie drew a table set with silverware and her family, but she was missing from the picture. When she was asked what her parents were thinking about in the picture, she said, they're thinking about me and how many problems I had all over these years and how I keep getting myself into these. Then pictures of the sexual assaults. The first was her being forced to perform
Starting point is 01:25:25 filetio for Brian Grober. Her face in the picture has no features except a dot that suggests a mouse. There's no eyes. Then another picture of her where a long object is being inserted into her body. The stomach and vaginal area of Leslie's body is completely scratch dark. And the male figure that is assaulting her is smiling, but Leslie is frowning. There are no arms and legs unlessy, unlike the other pictures. The psychiatrist state that depicts Leslie to be in a helpless state, and that the dark shading indicates intensity. There were other figures that were watching the assaults in the drawings.
Starting point is 01:26:03 The psychiatrist stated that the fact that Leslie was faceless in the pictures, it's almost as if she doesn't see herself as a person. And you can see the deterioration through the sequence of pictures. You can also see Leslie's plummeting self-esteem in the sketches. I mean, she appears anonymous, a virtually featureless figure. The psychiatrist believed that Leslie exhibited symptoms of rape trauma. And then Leslie was brought up to testify. And the reporters were shocked.
Starting point is 01:26:29 They couldn't print her name, they couldn't take her picture, but this is not what they were expecting. For weeks now, they were told they were getting a Lolita, a tempress as to do so. But Leslie looked like any other girl. She was calm, plain. That's how they described her. She did not look like any other girl. She was calm, plain. That's how they described her. She did not look like a temptress. Leslie's first testimony went well.
Starting point is 01:26:50 She was questioned by the prosecutors. She was able to recreate the timeline, express her feelings. She kept saying that she didn't want this, but she wanted to be their friend. And everything that she was talking about in terms of sex and being assaulted was very emotionless. It was it was almost as if she was talking about a bagel that she ate this morning. And I think that goes to show that she really was not cognitively at the age where she could understand sex fully.
Starting point is 01:27:16 Because when they asked her if she had any pain after the assault, she covered her face. She was read with embarrassment, and she said that it hurt when she went to the bathroom. She was very shy talking about using the restroom. It was interesting for the jury. But Leslie did not go in on the boys, not with them sitting right there staring at her a couple feet away. She honestly struggled with the testimony because she didn't want the boys to get in trouble,
Starting point is 01:27:43 she was really stressed about it, like she did not want the boys to go to jail. Even in her testimony, she kept saying things like she still cared about the boys. But the prosecution hoped that the jury could see past her testimony. It's not that she cared about the boys because she wasn't raped, but it's because she was so vulnerable. And the boys took advantage of that, and even now, Leslie was still vulnerable. She still cared about them. All the reporters jotted down their notes and they all had written the same word.
Starting point is 01:28:10 Childlike. That's what they wrote about her. They depicted her as a child in the body of a mature woman. Her testimony was devastating to the defense, but it wasn't over because the defense would question her. When it was time for the defense to question her, you could hear a pin drop. Like, it was insanely quiet. The defense attorneys were really, were really sleazy with Leslie. After all those testimonies, they pretended to be her friend. They tried to gain sympathy from Leslie for the boys. I mean, the defense knew
Starting point is 01:28:40 that Leslie would do anything for her friend, so they pretended to be her friend. If Leslie couldn't see behind their tactics, the rest of the courtroom would. Because it was really gross. And it worked. Leslie pretty much took back her previous testimony from the day before and she stated that she wanted to be in the basement with the boys. Her answers to the defense clouded the truth. She said that she was capable of consenting that she wanted to give a blue job that she thought that the boys were cute and she wanted to be their friend,
Starting point is 01:29:07 and she would, she liked the basement, she wanted to be there. But doesn't that also just proves their point? Like, she's so easily influenced. Yeah, so it was kind of like a, they were really proud of themselves, but it was risky, I think. The prosecutors, they were stressed, though, because, you know, they thought their case was over. And the defense were really gross.
Starting point is 01:29:29 They kept trying to ask her about her sexual experience, knowing that Leslie would oftentimes make up things to please, so they would say things like Leslie. Now, you know from your experience that if you are too rough with a boy's penis, that it could be painful to him, right? How is this even allowed to be asked is what my question? And she would say, oh yeah, you don't want to yank it too much. And also the boy's balls are very delicate. Yeah, they're the size of a football field. And the defense attorney looked a little bit confused, but he pushed on.
Starting point is 01:30:00 I mean, why is he even allowed to talk to her like this? I don't understand. Then he would ask her a series of rapid fire confusing questions, he would establish a friendship with Leslie, and then he would ask, do you remember being pretty strong? With Bryant, with your mouth, you do not mean? And Leslie was horrified, and she said, no, I wouldn't have sucked hard, no. You gotta be easy, you know? I was easy with him.
Starting point is 01:30:22 Were you getting him excited Leslie? He seemed to like it. That is something that you were doing because you enjoyed it? Yes. Like you enjoyed it with the others, right? Yeah, lots of people. Yeah. And Brian has never been mean to you?
Starting point is 01:30:35 No way, he's a sweetheart. Has he ever teased you or anything like that? Nope, he's a sweetheart. Defense Attorney Michael straight up started his cross by saying, Leslie, if I can ask you, pretty please. If you can try and be my friend for a couple of hours today and tomorrow, this is the guy that called her Lolita and a pig. Leslie Eherley said yes.
Starting point is 01:30:57 His cross was the biggest blow to the prosecution. Michael got her to say that the prosecutor was feeding her lies and that the prosecution wants everyone to think that she's disabled but she's actually not and she's capable of making her own decisions. And he asked, you are trying to do the best that you can for us aren't you? And he looked over at the foreboys. Yes, I don't want to hurt anyone, I care about them. And then Michael had her professing her love for the handsome Kevin.
Starting point is 01:31:23 Yeah, the same Kevin that yesterday she testified that put a broom into her vagina. But now she said he was handsome and she loved him. With Michael's master manipulation guidance, it was just really gross. Leslie also stated that she didn't like her lawyers, the prosecutors, which again was really hard for the prosecution to hear because they had been working on this case, putting their hard and soul into this case, especially Robert, for years. The headlines reflected all the confusion that day.
Starting point is 01:31:51 They read, quote, "'I love sex, Glen Ridge woman tells Jerry, victim may be the best defense in sex case. Jersey woman, I care about the defendants." That night Leslie cried because she felt the prosecution was mad at her, and her mom told her You've got to tell the truth if you tell the truth Leslie
Starting point is 01:32:08 Nobody will be mad at you. You have to tell them exactly what happened Leslie was questioned the next day by the prosecutors and she tried to make it right when Robert asked her Why she lied to the defense attorneys? She said she was just scared of hurting people Leslie you said yesterday that yesterday that Brian Grober was a sweetheart. Well, he wasn't a sweetheart. So why did you say that? Because I thought so and I thought he was and then he's not because he never cared about me. So why did you call him a sweetheart? Because ever since this situation, he's never done anything to me except make fun of me. And I said that yesterday because I was feeling bad. What were you feeling bad about?
Starting point is 01:32:45 I was feeling bad. I was concerned that I don't know. Leslie was trying to make things right, but she was still protecting the defendants. And that's not all she felt bad for. She said, I feel bad that everyone is here when they should be out shopping for Christmas, but instead they're here. Leslie felt bad for everyone, but herself. Which side note, another key part of the trial was when Paul archer testified and it wasn't
Starting point is 01:33:08 that important of a testimony, but the defense attorneys made him recreate what Leslie allegedly did to herself. They wanted Paul to spread his legs and pretend to put a bat inside of him and moan. They had him moaning. So Paul literally spread his legs and moaned and he said, and I quote, it feels so good, it feels so good, just like a cock. Because that's what the boys claimed Leslie said. Paul also claimed on the stand that Leslie showed off her breasts and kept saying, don't
Starting point is 01:33:44 you like my breasts. And beg the boys to touch it. Then the defense attorneys ended their closing statements with saying, and I quote, bottom line, if it wasn't these boys, it would have been other boys. Pretty much making it seem like, oh, Leslie is the victimizer, and if it wasn't these victims, she would have found somebody else. Then they hit them with the usual. We never said what the boys did was right, but I have to tell you that what they did was not criminal in nature. And Michael ended it with, have the courage to come out here and utter two beautiful
Starting point is 01:34:16 words. Not guilty. Not guilty. The prosecution ended it with, Leslie an extra ordinary price because of her extra ordinary vulnerability, but she matters and her life matters. And without the jury was off to deliberate. They came back after a long time. Christopher Archer was found guilty of two counts of rape. Guilty of using force and assaulting a disabled woman. He was also found guilty of second-degree conspiracy of rape. Kevin had the same verdict. These were the two that inserted the objects in her. Then Kyle was the one that coded the plastic baggy with Vaseline.
Starting point is 01:34:57 He was found guilty of one count of rape and attempted aggravated assault. Bryant Grober was acquitted of rape, but he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit rape. The boys were allowed to be out on bail while they awaited their sentencing and remember how he liked the judge for a brief moment, judge Cohen, yeah, no more. So, okay, now, Chris and Kevin, as well as Kyle, had the most serious charges.
Starting point is 01:35:22 They were sentenced to 15 years, but they would serve 22 months. Why? Good behavior. They got out on good behavior. So they all served less than two years. 15 years to two years? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:35:36 So with usually with rape charges, they'll give out this crazy number, 10 years, 15 years, right? I believe the national averages anywhere between 22 months to 29 months for rape sentence. Number 10 years 15 years right I believe the national averages anywhere between 22 months to 29 months for a room sentence. Brian was sentenced to three years probation and 200 hours of community service and it was um disgusting. Everyone was jumping up from their seats. The judge felt like, come on, you don't want to lock up all American boys and then throw the key away. Robert the prosecutor said,
Starting point is 01:36:06 What Leslie feared may have come true. They will walk out the door. They will laugh in the face of this court. They will laugh in the face of the victim, in the face of the victim's family, in the face of millions of victims, overwhelmingly female, who are subjected to sexual violence.
Starting point is 01:36:21 In fact, Kevin was actually laughing outside the courthouse. Which you like, wait, they were just sentenced. How are they out of the courthouse? The judge said, till their appeals were processed, the boys didn't have to start their sentence yet, which meant that they had another year or two of complete freedom. The jury was pissed. They said that they worked hard, gave up their lives for months. They were exhausted. They came to their verdict with heavy hearts, and the judge didn't care. Everything that they tried to protect, lastly, from didn't matter. The judge went easy on them during the sentencing.
Starting point is 01:36:54 The press went wild with it. They said, it seems like there is still nothing like being white, wealthy, and suburban to get the benefit of the doubt in the court of law. The favorite parents said, after everything he just let them go. It makes you wonder. After everything Leslie went through was the trial worth it. So side note, remember Chris Archer? Well, the trial was all going on and he was still allowed to play sports as a senior. He actually graduated with nicest eyes in his class, which is ridiculous.
Starting point is 01:37:27 So this is like before the trial started, he graduated. And then he finished top of his class, went to Boston College, and at Boston College, Chris was accused of leaving a girl. She reported it to the campus police. She was sobbing, distraught, worried, and the victim said that he was violent. He had ripped her clothes off and shoved his fist into her vagina and then assaulted her rectum with his fingers. And he did this off-campus on a public street at night.
Starting point is 01:37:53 And because it wasn't on campus, the school refused to do anything about it. He raped her because she didn't want him to come back to her dorm room. And after he raped her, he got up and shrugged his shoulders and said, I'm a best and left. He would never be charged for the rape, but he would leave Boston College because of it, but he still graduated, I think, from the University of North Carolina if I'm not mistaken. The Shurs are families sold their house and moved. Their house took a while to sell because nobody wanted it after what happened in the basement. Most of the boys' families moved, Richard Corker and his dad blew the tenant retired,
Starting point is 01:38:29 and most of the boys went off to college as if nothing had ever happened. The favour stayed in Glen Ridge, and when they were asked why, they said, this is where we live. Why should it be stay? Leslie would sometimes see Mrs. Archer drive by before the Archer's moved, and Leslie would stop playing basketball, run to the front of the house to wave. Leslie thought she saw Mrs. Archer wave back, but she didn't know for certain. Her car never slowed down, but Leslie waved every single time.
Starting point is 01:38:58 And she said, I like Mrs. Archer. She's a great lady. That is the story of the Glen Ridge gang- case. Please go read the book, our guys. I don't- I don't even know what to say. This has- like, yeah. This case has been so emotionally, mentally draining for weeks. I like, yeah. Sorry, I was so angry too. I just... I think when
Starting point is 01:39:28 you read the book and I think when you spend so much time thinking about it you can't help but be angry. Please stay safe and I will see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye!

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