Did Barbara Boxer lie about Priscilla Owen?

It's moot now ("Owen Takes Oath for Seat on Appeals Court"), and I've taken to ignoring VRWC action alerts, but what I'm about to discuss is pretty outrageous, albeit not too surprising.

Buried in this long anti-Owen screed from California's wackier senator is this:

...Let's check those cases out. How about this one: Rape victims; she was the only member of the court to vote to overturn the conviction of a rapist of a 17-year-old girl because she believed the victim gave mixed messages to the rapist. She stood alone on the side of a rapist, alone as a woman on a court that has six Republicans and one Democrat...

I believe #4 might have already commented on this, but because it's for subscribers I don't know. In any case, my VRWC sources tell me that this was a case of consensual sex at a party, but the girl told the 17-year-old boy to stop since she had to get home. The boy tried to get her to continue. Owen apparently wanted to reduce his sentence because she didn't think he should receive the full sentence due to the circumstances. Now, I don't have the complete details at hand, and I'm not going to look them up, but - if my source is correct - what Boxer says is, if not completely false, then quite misleading.

Looking up this case, and discrediting all of Boxer's other statements in her screed, is left as an exercise. Part of the answer has already been filled in.

Politics · Thu, 06/09/2005 - 04:11 · Importance: 1