Is UM Violating the Civil Rights of Victim and Accused?

December 16, 2011 in Missoula, Missoulian, Montana, University of Montana

by jhwygirl

Oh don’t you know Pete’s correct – I’m going there. This is just one of probably several things I’ll have to say on the recent rape allegations against 3 Griz football players.

What a great headline to wake up to Missoula!

And don’t you know reporter Gwen Florio and the Missoulian were immediately attacked for writing such a story on a day the Griz were to play division championship football down in Sam Houston? Bad enough to criticize the Griz – we’ve done that here to some pretty thick skulls – but to do it on game day? During the championship run?

Montana sacrilege!! How dare they!!!

University Vice President Jim Foley is, of course, out front on this – and conveniently unavailable for interview and he’s with the team in Sam Houston. Foley, in short, is the biggest thug of all with regards to the Griz. He’s been there to defend each and every allegation over I don’t know how many years…and like he’s at work now making sure the University is fully CYA.

The Missoulian reports that the university has hired a private investigator – retired state Supreme Court Justice Diane Barz. Sounds all up-and-up?

I don’t know about that – from Silverstar, who left a comment on December 16, 2011, 3:46 am:

It seems unusual to me that the University of Montana hired an attorney to do an “outside investigation.” Montana’s statute regarding licensing of private investigators contains an exception to allow attorneys to conduct investigations “while performing duties as an attorney at law” just as it has exceptions for debt collectors to conduct investigations related to their duties and insurance adjusters to conduct investigations related to their duties.

Montana Codes Annotated 37-60-105 found at http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/mca/37/60/37-60-105.htm
does not suggest that attorneys can hire themselves out as private investigators unrelated to their duties as an attorney any more than debt collectors or insurance adjusters could. If she is representing the university as an attorney how it can be considered an outside investigation?

The reporter quoted Ray Murray as a representative of the Board of Private Security Officers and Investigators but didn’t mention that Murray is very closely connected with the University of Montana serving as vice president and professor of geology at the University of Montana from 1977 to 1996.

What does that mean? MCA 37-60-105 sure does pretty much say that the “investigator” that the University has hired can only act as an investigator if she is acting in her capacity as an attorney. So that means she has to have been hired by the University as an attorney – which means she is obligated to her client and her client only.

Do you see where this might be a pretty serious conflict of interest?

Not only that, but they couldn’t find someone to investigate that had something less than a 20 year association with the University???

Now – we know from past stories that the Griz team is well-represented when it comes to lawyers and things like a well-oiled CYA press machine (in the form of Jim Foley and pals) – what kind of support is the university giving to the two females involved in this issue?

Foley is pushing for a report by the beginning of the year. Nice. Kids are out of session today – the team is on the road, Foley included…holidays in the wings and he wants to know all he needs to know to protect the student’s University’s Griz’s best interests?

I wonder if the young ladies who the University’s so-called investigator will be speaking with will be fully aware of the ethical and legal obligations the University’s investigator has soley to the University of Montana?

Or was the investigator hired by the athletic department? Hell – considering how things go down there I have to wonder if the investigator was hired by some booster organization.

Not only all that – why is UM hiring an investigator? Katherine Redmond, founder of the Colorado-based National Coalition Against Violent Athletes points out: “If they’ve interviewed both sides, they don’t need a private investigator.”

Which is specifically accurate to Montana Code Annotated law.

Failure of this so-called investigator to disclose these entanglements completely to those that she interviews is, let’s just say, ethically challenged.

Given the possible implications of what she may discover when she interviews the victims, any truly impartial and ethical attorney/investigator would ensure that the victim had legal representation present.

Victim’s rights advocates have a right to be upset. This stinks to high heaven.

Florio and the Missoulian were right to cover this story. The University is in cover-up mode, with an ethically-challenged investigation that is been speed tracked over winter break during a championship run while the alleged victims are out of town.

Rape is one of the most under reported crimes – and here we have two females (at least) that quite possibly were drugged and raped…and no one advising them of their legal rights and counselling them with emotional support.

Meanwhile – the Griz fly to Sam Houston, they’ve got their attorneys…and Foley’s made sure they’ve got a private investigator keeping things all neat and tidy.

Griz pre-game let down

December 16, 2011 in Montana, University of Montana

by Pete Talbot

Woke up this morning, put on my Grizzly hoodie and then opened up the daily fishwrap.

The alleged sexual assault by at least three UM football players is above the fold and the administration is stonewalling.  Roofies, the rape drug, may be involved.  Great.  Kind of takes the wind out of our sails just hours before kickoff of the semifinal FCS playoff game, not to mention the trauma visited on the two alleged women victims.

Here’s the skinny.  The comments after the story give some insight into the community’s reaction, that is until they deteriorate into Monday morning quarterback banter.  I have a feeling that jhwygirl will do a more in-depth piece here at 4&20. She’s been following Grizzly football antics for years.  Sometimes I think she’s a bit too harsh but in this case: go get ’em.

I realize that folks are presumed innocent until proven guilty but this reeks.  If the players who are potentially involved in this assault suit up for the game, and are later charged and convicted, the fallout could be, rightfully, disastrous (as in UM’s administrators and coaches suffering the same consequences as did Penn State’s).  I’ll wait for more facts to come out but if indeed an assault occurred, may those who committed it face the full brunt of the law.

Liz’s Weekend Poetry Series: Hitchens, Iraq, And A Poem By Tadeusz Różewicz

December 16, 2011 in Montana

by lizard

So Christopher Hitchens is dead, and the war in Iraq is over. The former said of the latter:

“Will an Iraq war make our Al Qaeda problem worse? Not likely.”

In this specific instance, I think Hitchens is dead wrong. With every duplicitous proclamation from our President’s mouth about this war, America’s credibility worsens, and increases the likelihood of those unfortunate souls on the losing end of these global resource wars to turn to extremism.

For an example of how the President is trying desperately to transform this national disgrace into a rah-rah moment, there’s this little gem from his speech:

Unlike the old empires, we don’t make these sacrifices for territory or for resources. We do it because it’s right.

The Iraq war was wrong. And even if the justification for invading and occupying Iraq wasn’t a nest of lies, it was stupidly prosecuted, rife with malfeasance and corporate grift.

Chris Hitchens is dead, and the war in Iraq is over. Except a writer who is still read is never quite dead, and America’s wars never really end. Below the fold, this weekend’s poem, from Polish poet Tadeusz Różewicz