CHANEL MILLER: the woman the system called "Doe," who wrote the words that outlasted the judge.

[ShazzieB]

6. This reminds me of something that came out during the E. Jean Carroll case.

That same year, 2016, the California legislature had already passed new laws closing the loophole Persky's sentence exposed — making prison time mandatory for assaulting an unconscious or intoxicated victim, and expanding the legal definition of rape to include digital penetration.

New York State law didn't include digital penetration in the legal definition of rape at the time of E. Jean Carroll's first lawsuit against Trump, thereby providing MAGA cultists with an excuse to claim that what he did to her was not "really" rape. (If I had $5 for every time I've heard or read of one of them making that claim, I would not be a billionaire or even a millionaire, but I would have enough $$$ to take myself and Mr. B out for a really nice dinner! )

MAGA apologists are still using this as an excuse to quibble about that verdict. What none of them seem to realize is that the language of New York State law was changed after the E. Jean Carroll verdict brought attention to this deficiency in its definition of rape.

More info: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/new-york-expands-the-legal-definition-of-rape-to-include-many-forms-of-nonconsensual-sexual-contact

I plan on keeping this info in my back pocket for the next time this comes up. I know it won't convince the really obstinate ones, but there have been some that I'm pretty sure would have been at least thrown off balance by being informed that the exact behavior that was not defined as rape in New York law before 2024 now is. Hey, MAGAs, it's rape NOW, even if it wasn't always defined that way!