It was not that long ago that in many jurisdictions in America, it was impossible for a man to rape his wife. Why? Because under most rape statutes, rape was largely a property based statute, and a man could not rape something he owned.

Thanks to the feminist movement, we have moved far beyond those days, at least statutorily. Anyone who has gone to college has surely heard “no means no,” over and over. Things are far from 'fixed,' of course. The numbers of women that report being assaulted and raped by acquaintances is staggering. The hurdles that rape victims still face when they report crimes is still shameful.

Which brings us to Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni. Deni, as most of us know, dismissed claims by a prostitute that she was gang-raped at gunpoint, instead calling it theft of services. As with many people, I had a visceral reaction when I heard that news. But, after a little while, and talking with multiple lawyers who had good experiences with Deni in court, I thought it would be better to take a step back before advocating to effectively end this judges career. Try and look at any context I was missing, etc., and then make a decision.

Well, deep breaths taken, steps back taken. And, I still strongly believe that Judge Deni should not be retained. I have never been able to read the transcript, but, the Chancellor of the Philly Bar Association did, and this was her response:

Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni's handling of the case was an "unforgivable miscarriage of justice," said Jane Leslie Dalton, the bar association's chancellor. "The victim has been brutalized twice in this case: first by the assailants, and now by the court."

Dalton's criticism came just 28 days after the association recommended that voters Tuesday retain Deni for a third six-year term.

The Bar Association is a pretty ‘polite’ and staid group, not prone to issuing statements condemning their own members (especially one they just effectively endorsed). To hear this amount of outrage after Dalton read the transcript is really telling of just how screwed up this whole thing is.

A judge can make a screwed up ruling, but, when they make that kind of ruling against a rape victim, and then make a statement like this...:

"Did she tell you she had another client before she went to report it?" Deni asked me yesterday when we met at a coffee shop.

"I thought rape was a terrible trauma."

A case like this, she said - to my astonishment - "minimizes true rape cases and demeans women who are really raped."

...you should not serve as a Philadelphia judge.

Does this mean problems with how sexual assaults are treated in the justice system are magically fixed? No. Does it mean that Judge Deni may be replaced by a judge who is potentially less friendly to poor folks? Potentially. But, if society has gotten anywhere with a change in attitudes towards rape and rape victims, then there is a line that Judge Deni has stepped far, far over, and I think it merits her not being retained.

If you like, you can head over and read RussDiamond's ranting about PACleanSweep and their plan to defeat all the judges up for retention. But this isn't about that.

I have to confess that I typically vote against retention unless I have a specific reason to vote for a judge, because I think retention elections are dumb. I haven't decided what I'll do this time; I don't really align myself with PACleanSweep.

However, PACleanSweep or no, you must vote no on retaining Teresa Carr Deni. She just made a catastrophic ruling so activist and with such blatant disregard for the law and the roles of the legislature and jury that she is clearly not competent to sit on the bench.

She decided that a prostitute, who had agreed to have sex with two men for a certain amount of money, and who was then gang raped at gunpoint by five men and given no money, was not a victim of rape but merely a victim of "theft of services".

The law is quite clear: rape is having sex with a victim by forcible compulsion. And once there's a gun in her face and she's saying no, that is forcible compulsion. Doesn't matter how she makes her living, doesn't matter what was said before. These jerks were forcibly compelling this woman to have sex, and in taking the decision away from the jury, this judge ignored the law.

You can read about this appalling disgrace at Feministe or Philly.com

PACleanSweep believes that all the judges have violated the Constitution and thus proven themselves unfit to sit on the bench. That may be, but it is certainly a more esoteric argument than this one, where the law, the allegations and the subsequent gross dereliction of duty are absolutely clear.

VOTE NO ON RETAINING JUDGE TERESA CARR DENI.