[DiamondSmiles]

This is good to see, but, what about the NC LaCrosse team? Where are the other two or three children?

The woman at the center of a notorious 1987 New York City kidnapping case has ducked a defamation claim awarded to her accuser. That cost her 9% interest each year, but she won't owe anything if she recants.

By Jason Notte 4 hours ago

Growing up in New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s meant growing up surrounded by the stories of Bernhard Goetz, Michael Stewart, Howard Beach, Bensonhurst, Eleanor Bumpurs, Crown Heights and the pall cast by racial divisions within the rapidly changing metropolitan area.

Though shadows of each of the above linger -- most recently in parallels between Goetz and George Zimmerman in the midst of the Trayvon Martin case -- few left a wound so raw as that of the case surrounding then-15-year-old Tawana Brawley.

Her story of being kidnapped, raped, smeared with feces, carved up with racial slurs and left in a garbage bag by a gang of white men, including a police officer and a Dutchess County prosecutor, in 1987 was declared a lie by a grand jury and is repeatedly used by detractors of Brawley's key supporter, the Rev. Al Sharpton, as a bludgeon against his credibility.

With Brawley now paying the first installments of a defamation suit against her by one of the men she accused, her case and its aftermath are still fresh more than 25 years later. With interest.

Former Dutchess County Prosecutor Stephen Pagones won a defamation suit against Brawley and her supporters back in 1998. Sharpton was found liable for $66,000, Brawley attorney C. Vernon Mason was found liable for $188,000 and disbarred in 1995, and attorney Alton Maddox was ordered to pay $97,000. All had their fines paid by benefactors.

Brawley, meanwhile, was ordered to pay $185,000 at 9% annual interest. After moving to Richmond, VA, becoming a nurse and avoiding payment for 15 years, Brawley's share has ballooned to $431,492. She has now been required to pay Pagones $627 out of her wages each month and $3,764.61 so far.

Pagones, who watched his first marriage and career as a prosecutor fall apart after the case, is now with a New York private investigation firm. He has remarried, has three daughters and a son, and still lives in Dutchess County. He's spent more than a decade tracking down the now 41-year-old Brawley and told The New York Post that he'd forgive the debt if Brawley recanted her story and admitted wrongdoing.

"Every week, she'll think of me," he told The Post. "And every week, she can think about how she has a way out -- she can simply tell the truth."

Brawley, who now has a husband and a young child and is employed as a nurse in a nursing home, isn't backing down. According to the Post, in a July 22 legal brief signed by Brawley and submitted by Maddox, Brawley refused to comply with the order of the New York court that handed down the defamation verdict because an appearance in the court, "which inferentially sympathizes with the Confederate States of America, would be contrary to the U.S. Constitution and would amount to a, 'badge of slavery.'"

Credit Maddox with the turn of phrase. He has petitioned a Virginia court to halt the garnishing of Brawley's wages and gave a quote to the Post about the double standard perceived in New York law -- a quote that sounds remarkably like the language of his legal brief.

"The common law applies to whites," he said. "The slave code still applies to blacks."

Meanwhile, one of New York City's more sordid stories continues, the anger lingers, and the wound still festers. Like Brawley's payout, its effects have only amplified with interest.

[Megamel29]

I haven't read much about this case. Are her accusations true or not, based on whatever evidence there is?

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by Megamel29 ↗

I haven't read much about this case. Are her accusations true or not, based on whatever evidence there is?

Not true, just like the Duke LaCrosse team! This case was before that one and was only mentioned briefly.

It's nice to see Sharpton fined for a change - FINALLY!

I cannot believe people fall for these crooks, just like Zimmerman! Donating their money to the wrong sides!

[banana dick]

inb4 a bunch of misogynists use this as "evidence" that false allegations of rape are anywhere near common

[Megamel29]

So why did she do that? What was her motive?

[chefbob09]

[banana dick]

Originally Posted by Megamel29 ↗

So why did she do that? What was her motive?

this. WTF? I personally know 2 guys that were falsely accused of rape; both of these incidents were totally random. I could think of no reason for the false accusation. one of the 2 girls admitted it wasn't true, and the other simply kept changing/adding to her story and eventually stopped trying to spread the lies when she realized nobody believed her.

mind you, I will always take the word of a woman who says she was raped. when she randomly accuses her boyfriend of beating her, starving her yet somehow also poisoning her, pushing her off her bike, and raping her? nah dawg

[Dynamo47]

It's a damn shame the victims (in this case the accused men) didn't sue that fat racist pig Al Sharpton for damages.

[rapeWhistle]

Originally Posted by banana dick ↗

inb4 a bunch of misogynists use this as "evidence" that false allegations of rape are anywhere near common

Hey, we're still waiting on that detailed description of the dude's penis, sayin'...

[bigjoe]

Probably the only time in American history when a woman who falsely accused a man of rape was forced to pay for damages.