Haglar calls on Robin, who has been completely silent, to come sit at the table and give her opening statement.
Accompanied by Sanderson, she sits toward the end of the table near the door where we entered, and Sanderson sits between her and me, partially blocking my view of her and certainly Dade’s, who is sitting to my right. I start to protest that she should change places with Sanderson, but realize it will just irritate the board.
Robin, to my dismay, is disturbingly convincing. Without halting or even clearing her throat, she tells the board her story, which uniformly tracks the statement she gave Detective Parley. Though it is vague in spots, she leaves no doubt that she was convinced she had no choice but to submit to Dade.
“I know some of you are probably thinking I was stupid to go over there, but I never really believed anything like this would ever happen, especially not with Dade,” she says, her head turning slowly back and forth, making sure she has eye contact with each board member.
“Shannon and I had gone over to that same little house in the spring, really so she could meet Dade when you talk to her you’ll see she’s a real Razorback fan. We felt perfectly safe the whole time. Two other players were there and, I guess, their two girlfriends. They were as nice as they could be. One is here today, I think, as a witness for Dade….”
As she talks, I go back and forth in my mind as to whether Dade should try to get her to admit that he had tried to kiss her in the spring, but it seems too damaging.
If she isn’t going to mention it, he might be better off not bringing it up because in some ways her story helps Dade. He comes off as a perfect gentleman. She has admitted as much. As she concludes, I whisper in his ear not to mention it to the board. He nods, relieved.
Though we have practiced it several times, Dade’s opening statement doesn’t come out of his mouth nearly as smoothly as Robin’s. Halfway through it, he begins to ramble and says crudely, “Robin didn’t get anything she didn’t want.”
Though it is clear what he means, this one simple statement might well make him sound far more brutal than he is, and I look at the faces of the females on the board to gauge their reaction. Perhaps I am imagining it, but Judith what’s-her-name seems to turn even paler than she already is, and she shrinks back in her seat. Dade comes off in this exchange as a defensive, almost sullen young man with a chip on his shoulder, doubtlessly a victim in his own eyes, but one who doesn’t inspire sympathy. Instantly, I regret not having him admit that he tried to kiss Robin. Without that admission, his actions seem purely motivated by lust.
The board members begin to ask questions. Predictably they are most interested in why Robin waited so long to go to the hospital. Growing more comfortable by the minute, Robin speaks with a practiced earnestness that is impressive.
“I think I was almost in shock from the time I left the house on Happy Hollow Road until I woke Shannon up with my crying. If it hadn’t been for her, I don’t think I would have gone to the hospital. I was too ashamed. Until I talked to Shannon, I was afraid nobody would believe me, just like Dade said….”
The “I Board doesn’t roll over for her. One of the fe male professors asks why she took her car if she wasn’t worried about anything happening.
“I just wanted to be able to leave whenever I thought I needed to,” she says carefully.
“Maybe down deep I wasn’t as sure of the situation as I thought I was.”
“Why did you feel ashamed?” a male professor at the far end of the table asks.
“I don’t know,” Robin says, her voice hoarse with emotion for the first time. Her eyes redden and she begins to cry.
“I guess because I knew it was my fault for going over there by myself. And I knew how much pain this was going to cause my parents. They’re very conservative. It was stupid to go there by myself; I admit it.”
We stop for a moment while she composes herself, and I have a chance to study her. Damned if I can tell whether this is all an act.
Throughout she is vague on the actual details of the rape, and understandably the “J” Board is reluctant to press her too closely. The student at these hearings, ac cording to the papers Dozier gave me, is permitted not to answer a question if she or he chooses not to, and theoretically, no inference of wrongdoing can be made. She isn’t even under oath. If she chooses not to answer, she can simply refuse, which she couldn’t do at a trial.
There are several other questions, but Robin, though shaky, handles them well enough, and at a bathroom break requested by the oldest professor there, I take Dade into a corner and try to persuade him that he should ask her if she admits that he tried to kiss her at the party in the spring. If she does, and she further contends she resisted him, then he can ask her why she so willingly came over alone a few months later.
Dade, sweating profusely in a dark wool suit that is too tight in the shoulders, flatly refuses.
“I’m not doing it now. I should have told them when I first started talking.
They’ll think I’m lying now.”
“No, they won’t,” I plead fervently.
“Tell them the truth. Tell them your parents told you never to get involved with a white girl, but that you liked her. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Dade shakes his head and leaves me standing by myself.
I follow him back to the table, feeling terrible. I should have figured this out better beforehand, but I just kept going back and forth in my own mind and had hoped I could resolve it before the hearing in a way that made sense. Shit, I hate this business of the lawyers not being able to ask questions. It isn’t fair to the student.
The board members are not as gentle with Dade.
Clearly, some of the faculty members think he forced her to have sex. Though their questions are not unexpected, it is the tone that bothers me. I whisper to him that he should continue to say that he never threatened Robin, nor did he ever say that she would not be believed. All I can do is sit here and listen to him repeat his answers and hope he doesn’t trip himself up.
“Mr. Cunningham,” a Dr. Darcy asks, after a flurry of questions by the males on the board, “did her coming out there give you the wrong idea, as Robin has suggested?”
I can’t decide whether she is trying to trap him or not.
Even if he agrees, that is still no justification to force her to have sex. I whisper to him that now is the time for him to say he had tried to kiss her in the spring and that he thought she had changed her mind about their relationship.
Even if it sounds crude, it may be his best chance to convince them he didn’t rape her.
Dade nods, but answers, “It was just how she acted when she got there,” and describes how she had come over to him after a few minutes.
“She wanted me to kiss her, and it was her idea to get in the shower, but when it was all over she just got up and left.”
Frustrated, I force myself to sit poker-faced. There is nothing I can do. I don’t want to give them the impression I am arguing with him. Judging by their frowns, this answer doesn’t sit well with some members of the board, who obviously would find more plausible a case of classic date rape. A professor named Dow asks the same question for the second time, “Now, what did you tell her you would do if she told anyone?”
I can’t remain, in the words of one of the “Irangate” lawyers, a potted plant, any longer.
“Dr. Haglar, this has already been covered.”
Professor Haglar, not unlike some judges I’ve appeared before, mutters something unintelligible and clears his throat and nods indecisively. I whisper to Dade to say that he has already answered that question twice.
He does, and five minutes later there is finally silence in the room.
Dr. Haglar looks down at his watch, and after consultation with Ms. Dozier, suggests that since we are moving so quickly we work through lunch, since it appears we could be through before two. Not a single board member objects, and Ms. Dozier goes through the door in the back of the room and brings back Shannon Kennsit. I no tice for the first time Shannon is wearing a “Beat Alabama” button over her left breast. She is that not-so-rare article, a genuine female Razorback nut.
If Dade’s trial comes off, I fear she will be a devastating witness. In comparison to Robin’s coolness, this girl is friendly and open as a puppy and entirely believable.
She, too, in response to the questions, tracks the statement she gave to the police. She tells the board that she was in the room with Robin the night of the rape and she was sure she didn’t have anything to drink that night be fore she left the sorority house. She describes the little party she and Robin attended as “fun” because she got
