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'Rape' a loaded word, judge says

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BY CLARENCE MABIN / Lincoln Journal Star

Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007 - 12:11:44 am CDT

Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront said in an order last week he decided to keep the word “rape” out of a sexual assault trial because it could unfairly bias jurors against the defendant.

Cheuvront has come under fire from, among others, a national women’s advocacy group and the woman at the center of the sexual assault case for his decision to bar the word and other terms from the trial of Pamir Safi.

Safi, 34, is accused of sexually assaulting then-University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Tory Bowen in his Lincoln apartment the morning of Oct. 31, 2004. Safi has said he and Bowen had consensual sex.

Story Photo
Jeffre Cheuvront

The Lancaster County Attorney’s Office said Bowen was too intoxicated to give consent.

In a Lancaster County District Court order Thursday, Cheuvront said “rape,” to many people, implies a vicious, violent sexual assault. He said prosecutors in Safi’s case are not alleging he threatened or used force against Bowen.

“The issue is one of consent and knowledge as defined by the statutes of the State of Nebraska,” Cheuvront wrote.

“Because of the nature of this particular case, this court concludes that the use of the possible inflammatory term “rape” is unduly prejudicial and unnecessary.”

Cheuvront noted he is permitting use of the term “sexual assault” in the case.

Bowen, of Washington, D.C., has been publicly critical of the word ban and has said it forces her to testify using unnatural, clinical terms to describe a traumatic experience. The ban also received national attention, including from a Chicago-based women’s advocacy group that in July organized a national protest against Cheuvront’s word order.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf openly expressed puzzlement at the ban, writing he could not understand why Cheuvront issued the order. The comment came in a footnote in Kopf’s order dismissing a federal lawsuit filed by Bowen against Cheuvront.

In a subsequent footnote in the order, Kopf qualified the earlier comment by stating he had never  tried a sexual assault case.

Safi’s first trial ended in November with a deadlocked jury. Cheuvront declared a second mistrial in July during jury selection. The state intends to prosecute the case again, probably some time next year.

Cheuvront ruled on a number of motions filed by prosecutors and Safi’s lawyers before the start of the first trial last year. The motions concerned a range of issues the attorneys wanted included in or excluded from the trial.

Rather than make the rulings in a formal, written order, Cheuvront ruled from the bench, the normal procedure, he said, for Lancaster County District judges.

Cheuvront on Thursday stated the rulings in the written order, without explaining why he is now diverging from the judicial district’s general practice.

Reach Clarence Mabin at 473-7234 or cmabin@journalstar.com.


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John wrote on October 3, 2007 1:01 am:
" She is testifying under oath what happened that night. If she was forcibly sexually assulted, i.e, raped then she has every right to let that be known to the court. This judge is nothing more than a self-aggrandizing megalomaniac desiring whatever national attention he can get-and he has gotten plenty of national attention. Just google his name! I think he may be padding his resume for a judgeship in Portland, OR or anwhere in Vermont. What a sad, disgusting, and telling portrait of the mockery that parts of our justice system has become! My thoughts are with Tory Bowen, the "possibly sexually assulted" victim, or is that term to prejudicial? "

 Dee wrote on October 3, 2007 1:41 am:
" Rape is when you are violated sexually and if someone is incapacitated and someone else has sex with them that is rape if they feel violated. What i dont get is how can they charge him if they cant say any of the words in court? it seems like you should be able to say the charge in court. "

 tom b wrote on October 3, 2007 7:04 am:
" bull...its a rape trial...what happen to common sense... "

 CS wrote on October 3, 2007 7:06 am:
" So he rules from the bench and he is a chauvinistic liberal judge. He changes and rules in a written form as seems to be the practice according to your article and he is now "diverging from the judicial district's general practice". Well, Let's examine that. Maybe he's diverging because the average person thinks they are a legal eagle because they watched too much Sam Watterson on cable? The average person has no idea how the judicial, penal, or enforcement systems works-a fact that TV and Cable happily capitalize on. If he does what is normal he is an activist judge, if he deviates he brings suspicion on himself for changing. If he allows the word rape, and the subsequent years of appeals and motions to dismiss that would follow he would be railroaded for spending the taxpayers money. Make up your mind, Ms. Bowen and LJS. You could have put this to bed a long time ago and appealed several times by now. "

 Sigh.... wrote on October 3, 2007 10:58 am:
" Great, more mixed messages for women (and men and children). According to Cheuvront its not rape unless its a violent encounter. If its against your will, its rape. Cheuvront is doing Safi's attorney's job. Why? "

 tim wrote on October 3, 2007 11:16 am:
" free up the language and let the attorneys battle it out a to what IS is. what a sad state of affairs. this judge needs to be gone. cant wait until election time. this will hit the voters well. maybe for a change people will take note of what judges they vote back to the bench. "

 Heather wrote on October 3, 2007 11:22 am:
" Rape... being forced to have sex against my will. If that is what happens to me, that is what I will say. No judge in this country will gag me and take away my right to say what has been done. When is this judge's term up, when is he up for re-election? Sex and rape are ABSOLUTELY not the same. Intercourse and rape are ABSOLUTELY not the same. This judge just cannot quit. In my opinion, he is urging on all the rapists out there to go ahead adn do it, your safe here in Lancaster county because I will not let the victim speak, and if she is so bold as to try to speak, I will write her a script. I am wholeheartly digusted and ashamed to have this person in such a high position in our county, for it sheds a dim light on us, that is for sure. How sad we are highlighted on CNN for the fact that in Lancaster County Nebraska, if you are raped, you had better not say so. This is the bottom line, and it is SICK. There is no better word to sum it up.... SICK. "

 Judge Fan wrote on October 3, 2007 12:49 pm:
" It's NOT "rape" until the guy is convicted of it. Judge Cheuvront is one of the best judges we have here. Look at his record on sentencing and you'll see he is way tougher on crime and sends more people to prison than anyone else. People complaining about this one case have NO idea what really goes on in court. "

 I don't get it. wrote on October 3, 2007 1:47 pm:
" So no one has ever used "rape" in a trial before? No one will ever use "rape" in a trial ever again? Or these are special rules just for this case? Why would this have just come up for the first time and if applied would it not set the standard for all "rape" trials in the future. "

 xgman wrote on October 3, 2007 3:14 pm:
" First, buy the judge a dictionary and put a bookmark on the page that contains r-a-p-e. Make sure the prosecution explains in graphic detail to the new jury exactly what sexual assault means. They should get the point. Let's hope this judge doesn't try the same think in any murder, incest, drug trafficking or other similar cases where the victim is not allowed to speak. "

 rob g wrote on October 3, 2007 7:46 pm:
" the jury needs to decide whether it was rape. That is not the Judges job! "

 Cheryl wrote on October 30, 2007 7:33 am:
" If Judge Cheuvront resides over a murder trial, then would murder and violent death be described as "everlasting peace", "greener pastures", or "the final resting place"? It would if he is at all consistent. When is he up for re-election? "

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