Please give Abram Elam a chance. I was not there that night, so I don't know what happened, but I've followed the case very closely since it started. And from everything I've heard from people who know him, he is a very nice, polite young man who just made a mistake. His dorm even wrote a petition vouching for his character trying to get him to be allowed to stay in school. And these weren't other athletes; these were normal college kids from all over the country.
Abram wasn't convicted of rape. In fact, if he hadn't been tried first, I think he would have been acquitted of everything. Basically he was convicted of watching a rape that, according to a court of law, never took place. The 3 men who did have sex were either acquitted or had charges dropped against them. This was because her story had so many holes in it.
After being "raped", she went downstairs, got a drink, went back upstairs, took off her jeans, and slept the rest of the night with one of her supposed attackers. She admitted this herself.
She did not report the "attack" until it was too late for any medical tests to be done.
She said herself that before she was "attacked" she was allowed to go to the bathroom. She removed her tampon she said because her period was over. Yet, the only blood found in the investigation was menstrual blood so apparently her period wasn't over.
Yes, he did fondle her and that was wrong. But, the main reason that the woman didn't allow Abram to do anything was because he had a girlfriend. If not, she probably wouldn't have cared. If Notre Dame had believed that the acts were consesual, she would have been expelled as well. As long as she said it was an attack, there was no way they were expelling her.
What all 5 people did was wrong; the woman needs to quit trying to destroy the 4 mens lives. They have paid for their sin enough. She needs to realize that she has made a mistake too. Surely, the experience has left her with bad memories; that's why sex isn't a game. However, she shouldn't continue to try to destroy their lives.
Abram knows that he made a mistake of even being in the situation. What he did was morally wrong. And he has paid; he is forever a convicted sex offender, he lost a Notre Dame education and career, he has to live with what he did forever, and public opinion is forever turned against him. NO WHERE was he sentenced to never play football again. I'm glad he has continued to move on with his life, continued his education, and worked to make something positive of everything that happened. Hopefully, with a little support, he will be able to continue to do positive things with his life (whether with the Dolphins or not). I'm glad he got another chance first at Kent St. and now with the Dolphins. I wish him the best.
