Shocking Rolling Stone Rape Story Retraction and Police Shooting Deaths Showdown

Defense attorney Mike Cavalluzzi weighs in on the recent apology and retraction by Rolling Stone after it ran an article alleging a series of horrific gang rapes at the University of Virginia, but the magazine later discovered multiple inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the accuser’s story.

“We really have no reason to believe her at this point – the facts of her story have been shown to be false,” said Cavalluzzi, who cites several major aspects of the alleged rape victim’s story that turned out not be true.

“This undermines her credibility to such an extent that we can’t really believe the story. Now, did something happen to her - was there some form of sexual assault or forced sexual behavior – that caused her real emotional harm in that she has now exaggerated? Very possible.”

Cavalluzzi adds that while it often occurs for victims or witnesses of crimes not to always recall specific details about the circumstances of what they went through, in this case the magazine was not even willing to stand by its story.

“If Rolling Stone were out there saying ‘Look, she made some factual errors. She made some mistakes, but we believe in the overall thrust of our story.’ I would trust her more,” he said.

“What is the evidence to suggest that she’s credible?” Cavalluzzi asks, pointing out that other witnesses who corroborated the accuser’s story only corroborated details that were not in the Rolling Stone version of the alleged events.

“I found the events to be so horrific that they did not sound true to me… When I read the facts as they were detailed, they did not ring true to me – they just didn’t.”

One example cited is that the alleged victim told the magazine interviewer that she had been injured, but provided no information about exactly how the injury occurred.

The discussion also turns to recent shooting deaths by police of two young men who were found to be carrying toy guns.

The most recent case involved 12-year-old Tamir Rice, and earlier this year, John Crawford, 22, was gunned down inside an Ohio Walmart while shopping for an air rifle.

The topic is explored about what role the backgrounds of victims of alleged excessive force by police should play in whether or not the officers involved should be indicted.

“To my mind, the issue isn’t whether or not someone has a criminal record. It’s the relevance that that record has on what’s going on at the moment the police encounter the person,” Cavalluzzi said. “If the person has a violent history, that may be relevant to when police have contact with them. If the person has a drug history, that could be relevant in their contact with the police.”

Specifically in the case of John Crawford, he says he doesn’t see the relevance of any history to the case.

“We’ve also seen that juries come down in favor of the police even when videos clearly contradict them. That’s one of the big fears that I think people have – those of us watching this closely – is, what stops the police from engaging in this type of behavior if videotaped evidence doesn’t.”

Watch the video to also hear an in-depth discussion about the repeated cases of police violence against members of the black community, as well as when excessive force by law enforcement becomes a federal issue.