Current Events > Man convicted of rape declared innocent after new evidence emerges

(+) Yeah! (+)

Danny Kay's sentence was quashed by the Court of Appeal after deleted messages were found in an archived folder backing his version of events.

The 26-year-old had denied rape at Derby Crown Court in 2013 but was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Judges ruled on Thursday the new evidence supported his claim the sex was consensual.

The messages showed that jurors at the trial had been given an "edited and misleading" picture of the conversation between the pair, the court heard.

In his ruling, Mr Justice James Goss said: "We have come to the conclusion that, in a case of one word against another, the full Facebook message exchange provides very cogent evidence both in relation to the truthfulness and reliability of (the woman) ... and the reliability of (Mr Kay's) account and his truthfulness."

Judges heard police asked the woman to retrieve Facebook messages that they had exchanged.

Three pages of messages had been printed and the woman, who cannot be identified, told jurors she had deleted some to free up storage space.

She had said there had been little contact after sex, but defence lawyers argued the new evidence showed otherwise.

From http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-42453405

What kind of incompetence had to occur for this not to be caught before
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Thus backing up my statement that rape trials are nothing more than a fucking dog and pony show.
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bumpo

Metro2 posted...

Three pages of messages had been printed and the woman, who cannot be identified, told jurors she had deleted some to free up storage space.

Wait, why in the world were they accepting any kind of communication log from one of the parties involved in the trial rather than just subpoenaing Facebook for them to ensure they weren't altered?
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Because that implies the victim might be lying, and a victim of rape would never lie.
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We need to make rape cases innocent until guilty. That's how out system of justice is supposed to go not this guilty until proven innocent bull crap we have now.
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