Posted on September 17, 2009

Defense Attorney Says Cell Phone Video Vindicates 5 Men Accused in Hofstra Rape Case

Frank Eltman, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sept. 17, 2009

A prosecutor was considering Thursday whether to file criminal charges against a Hofstra University freshman who recanted claims that she was gang-raped by five men in a dormitory bathroom.

The student, whom officials have declined to identify, has been suspended from school pending a disciplinary hearing, said Hofstra spokeswoman Melissa Connolly.

The spokeswoman also said that a suspension against Rondell Bedward–the only Hofstra student among the five men implicated–had been lifted.

The attorney for another of the accused men, 20-year-old Kevin Taveras, said a video of the sexual encounter confirms reports that the victim was not forcibly attacked.

“It looks more like a porn movie,” Victor Daly-Rivera said. “It showed just the opposite of what the allegations were. There was no tying up, there was no bruising, there was no screaming.”

On Wednesday night, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice revealed that the 18-year-old accuser had recanted and said the sex with the five men had been consensual.

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Rice said in a statement that after the woman changed her story, her office began

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[Editor’s Note: The story as it was originally reported can be read here.]