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[Piecake]

Col. David “Wil” Riggins, after a highly decorated Army career that included multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was on the verge of promotion to brigadier general in July 2013 when he got a phone call at the Pentagon from the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division to come in for a meeting. Once there, he learned that a blogger in Washington state had just accused him of raping her, when both were cadets at West Point in 1986. An investigation was underway.

Then, Riggins sued Shannon for defamation, claiming that every aspect of her rape claim on the West Point campus was “provably false,” and that she wrote two blog posts and a Facebook post “to intentionally derail [his] promotion” to brigadier general. During a six-day trial that ended Aug. 1, a jury in Fairfax County, Va., heard from both Riggins and Shannon at length. And after 2½ hours of deliberation, they sided emphatically with Riggins, awarding him $8.4 million in damages, an extraordinary amount for a defamation case between two private citizens. The jury ordered Shannon to pay $3.4 million in compensatory damages for injury to his reputation and lost wages, and $5 million in punitive damages, “to make sure nothing like this will ever happen again,” according to one of the jurors.

Shannon, 52, said she was devastated by the verdict and fearful for her family’s future. “I feel like I’m a financial slave for the rest of my life” to Riggins, Shannon said. “I told the truth in my article and at trial.” She and her lawyer, Benjamin Trichilo, said in an interview that they felt Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Daniel E. Ortiz wrongly prevented them from presenting witnesses and evidence about Riggins’s past and the Army CID investigation findings, and they plan to appeal.

Shannon wrote in a court filing that “the demons from the rape haunted [me] for years” and that a “decade of suicidal depression led me to Christ.” She writes frequently on her blog, Short Little Rebel, about her Christian faith. She has acknowledged staking out controversial positions on her blog, including that the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was “a planned event” and that “I believe our GOVERNMENT shot those kids and teachers and used Adam Lanza and his family to pull it off.” That post was not presented to the jury in Fairfax, but other inflammatory comments by Shannon were placed in evidence, Trichilo said, while witnesses who were prepared to testify against Riggins’s past were not allowed to testify.

The CID investigation found that, in light of the vastly different stories provided by Riggins and Shannon, and interviews of more than 30 people from that era, there was no “testimonial or physical evidence to corroborate Ms. Shannon or Col. Riggins’ version.” Trichilo said the jury should have been allowed to hear that Riggins’s version of events also was not substantiated. But shortly before the trial began, the judge ordered references to the findings on Riggins’s version struck from the trial, Trichilo said.

“Honestly,” said juror Marshall Reinsdorf, “we thought who was telling the truth was too obvious to be discussing. We held a vote, and everybody believed the colonel. The only argument was how big the damages were going to be.” Of the four women and three men on the jury, two other jurors declined to comment, two jurors did not return messages and two could not be reached.

Reinsdorf said he had numerous problems with Shannon’s testimony. “Her story had so many details in it that couldn’t have been true,” he said. “They started questioning her about the [pedestrian] tunnel, she kind of backed off. … She was so evasive. It was unbelievable.”

The scope and speed of the Internet can compound the damage for the subject of a false story, and the liability for the author, according to Tom Clare, a defamation lawyer who represented University of Virginia assistant dean Nicole Eramo in her lawsuit against Rolling Stone. “People really understand the value that a reputation has,” Clare said. “Especially in today’s Internet environment when even a blog post or a tweet can have such a broad impact. It can literally go around the world. And if something out there is false, juries are prepared to issue significant awards.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...l-she-accused-of-rape/?utm_term=.d555c9ff6af9

 

[Volimar]

She has acknowledged staking out controversial positions on her blog, including that the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was “a planned event” and that “I believe our GOVERNMENT shot those kids and teachers and used Adam Lanza and his family to pull it off.”

 

[Sarcastic Poster]

What an awful human. Lock her up please.

 

[Khaos Kontrol]

Good. Should also lock her ass up.

 

[djplaeskool]

Sandy Hook truther eh?

...shame

 

[AlexFlame116]

She can't be serious can she???

 

[Anoregon]

Yeah, at that point you're fucking done. You've given the word explicit permission to never take a single thing you say seriously ever again.

 

[tearsintherain]

I wonder how far away we are from someone inventing a 100% accurate lie detector.

 

[m0dus]

Sandy Hook truther eh?

...shame

 

[TheRedSnifit]

He said no free beer was provided on the West Point campus, that drinking was prohibited by cadets, that Riggins did not have a car in 1986, would not have been allowed to drive it on campus, and that anyone emerging from the pedestrian tunnel couldn't have been seen from the road. Shannon's claims that her grades plunged after the event and that she returned her class ring were also untrue, Horvath said.

Seems pretty definitive if this is the case. Many of these seem easy to verify.

Sandy Hook truther eh?

...shame

 

[WesternHeretic]

Sounds like a crazy person.

 

[chicken_pasta]

She has acknowledged staking out controversial positions on her blog, including that the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was “a planned event” and that “I believe our GOVERNMENT shot those kids and teachers and used Adam Lanza and his family to pull it off.”

I'm sorry, but I can't take seriously anyone who believes this.

 

[Kayhan]

Shannon, 52, said she was devastated by the verdict and fearful for her family’s future. “I feel like I’m a financial slave for the rest of my life” to Riggins, Shannon said.

Maybe you should have thought of that before you falsely accused someone of rape.

You were perfectly willing to destroy his life for your personal gain.

 

[Chumly]

It doesn't really surprise me that a sandy hook truther made up a story or details to a story.

 

[Snkfanatic]

I'm sorry, but I can't take seriously anyone who believes this.

That's more than taking them serious, that's "get the fuck away from me" territory.

 

[Volimar]

I mean, you can have terrible views and still be raped, but considering the holes in her story, the addition of the truther stuff doesn't tend to help her credibility.

 

[Piecake]

Maybe you should have thought of that before you falsely accused someone of rape.

You were perfectly willing to destroy his life for your personal gain.

My guess is that her motive is that she is legit nuts and actually believes it happened rather than personal gain

 

[Plum]

Sandy Hook truther eh?

...shame

 

[Parch]

That's a huge settlement. Lying rape accusation cases are getting serious.

 

[benicillin]

I'm curious why it's so common for threads to be made about false rape accusations on GAF. I've noticed it a lot lately.

 

[Robdraggoo]

She's a West point grad and this is how her life ended up? A blogger, Sandy hook truther and possible false rape claimist.

 

[Volimar]

I'm curious why it's so common for threads to be made about false rape accusations on GAF. I've noticed it a lot lately.

It does tend to distort perceptions. But GAF currently also has a thread about Kesha's comeback after her altercations with her producer and a thread about Taylor Swift's testimony about a man that groped her, so if there's concern about some sort of MRA agenda, I don't think that's the case here.

 

[Instro]

I'm curious why it's so common for threads to be made about false rape accusations on GAF. I've noticed it a lot lately.

I don't know that it's a GAF thing per say, but it definitely seems like the media really latches on to it. It's kind of stupid really, because it only helps perpetuates MRA type nonsense.

 

[clarknova156]

She's a West point grad and this is how her life ended up? A blogger, Sandy hook truther and possible false rape claimist.

No offensive to Military folks here but when you join the US military you are force fed huge amounts of propaganda and bullshit. They basically hammer your brain to pudy and then reshape it for military purposes. That fucks with you , sometimes for some people it fucks with them so much no amount of training or help really does much for them. This is all just speaking of domestic posts and not front line soldiers who have a high chance of suicide right after they get home.

How we treat mental illness in the western world is fucking shameful.

 

[Piecake]

I'm curious why it's so common for threads to be made about false rape accusations on GAF. I've noticed it a lot lately.

I posted the story because I thought this was interesting

The scope and speed of the Internet can compound the damage for the subject of a false story, and the liability for the author, according to Tom Clare, a defamation lawyer who represented University of Virginia assistant dean Nicole Eramo in her lawsuit against Rolling Stone. “People really understand the value that a reputation has,” Clare said. “Especially in today’s Internet environment when even a blog post or a tweet can have such a broad impact. It can literally go around the world. And if something out there is false, juries are prepared to issue significant awards.”

The internet ruining some regular person's reputation is something that seems to happen on a rather regular basis, and this was the first article that I personally read that talked about a person getting damages from the person who ruined his/her reputation.

That, and the whole Sandy Hook truther thing

 

[KHarvey16]

I think at least acknowledging the tiny minority of cases involving false accusations is part of taking the issue of rape and rape culture seriously as a whole. Those who do these kinds of things harm efforts to combat cultural attitudes and acceptance of abuse too, and provided the discussions are intelligent and thoughtful I think they're good to have.

 

[SolidSnakex]

No offensive to Military folks here but when you join the US military you are force fed huge amounts of propaganda and bullshit. They basically hammer your brain to pudy and then reshape it for military purposes. That fucks with you , sometimes for some people it fucks with them so much no amount of training or help really does much for them. This is all just speaking of domestic posts and not front line soldiers who have a high chance of suicide right after they get home.

How we treat mental illness in the western world is fucking shameful.

I don't know how much the military has to do with this. Her blog is basically one big love letter to Christianity. That's largely what she talks about there.

 

[Robdraggoo]

I don't know how much the military has to do with this. Her blog is basically one big love letter to Christianity. That's largely what she talks about there.

He's was more replying to me being surprised she is kind A nuts and being a West point grad. They usually become career military, senators and other high positions in the country.

 

[clarknova156]

He's was more replying to me being surprised she is kind A nuts and being a West point grad.

This. Glad you understood what I was saying.

 

[xandaca]

I'd rather she spent time behind bars and getting any rehabilitation that might help her understand the terrible thing she did. The guy undeniably deserves compensation for being falsely accused, but she won't learn anything from being financially crippled for life, if anything she could just get more bitter. I always think it's better to at least try to rehabilitate where possible rather than only punish.

 

[Mark L]

It is true that lying about rape can destroy a man's reputation, probably permanently, but I do not see what asking her to pay many times more than she will ever afford does to fix the situation.

I am also concerned about the chilling effect this can have on legitimate victims.

She absolutely needs to pay to reimburse him for what she has done, I just don't know the best way to go about it.

 

[Mark L]

I'd rather she spent time behind bars and getting any rehabilitation that might help her understand the terrible thing she did. The guy undeniably deserves compensation for being falsely accused, but she won't learn anything from being financially crippled for life, if anything she could just get more bitter. I always think it's better to at least try to rehabilitate where possible rather than only punish.

I respectfully submit that in America, imprisonment does not lead to rehabilitation. I am not saying it does elsewhere, I couldn't speak to that, but it sure doesn't here.

 

[Kotetsu534]

There is an interesting point here about how our online personas/blogs/profiles/tweets, being so easy to access, can easily be used by jurors to assess the credibility of a witness (although of course they should never go home and search them, but, people being people, some will search for key witnesses during trials). If you're online blog trumpets bizarre conspiracy theories, that's going to have an impact on how your recollections are perceived, rightly or wrongly. Or even just journalists/commenters generally, outside of courtroom scenarios.

 

[Living the Dream]

Seems pretty definitive if this is the case. Many of these seem easy to verify.

Oh my god this GIF 😂😂😂

 

[NealMcCauley]

9/11 made her become a born again Christian conservative. One of her recent FB posts is wondering what she did to make God hate her.

I hope she doesn't do anything drastic.

 

[TS-08]

She's a West point grad and this is how her life ended up? A blogger, Sandy hook truther and possible false rape claimist.

She actually isn't a West Point grad. She dropped out her junior year.

 

[Aselith]

Beyond the Sandy Hook shit, her blog name being Short Little Rebel makes me think she might be a South Will Rise Again type.

 

[WarMacheen]

No offensive to Military folks here but when you join the US military you are force fed huge amounts of propaganda and bullshit. They basically hammer your brain to pudy and then reshape it for military purposes. That fucks with you , sometimes for some people it fucks with them so much no amount of training or help really does much for them. This is all just speaking of domestic posts and not front line soldiers who have a high chance of suicide right after they get home.

How we treat mental illness in the western world is fucking shameful.

As a veteran I'mma say this is an exeggeration about domestic and even international non-combat assignments. Combat deployments you are correct about depending on where you are what you had to do and what you saw.

 

[Volimar]

As a veteran I'mma say this is an exeggeration.

That's what the pinko commies want you to think.

 

[Quonny]

Don't read her Facebook page comments.

 

[SolidSnakex]

This. Glad you understood what I was saying.

But I was referring to you saying that the military reshapes your mind. The only reference in her bio to her military career is that she calls herself an ex-soldier. The rest is just her talking about how she went from being a liberal to conservative while dumping on liberals now. She talks about how 9/11 changed her because she became hooked to CNN/Fox News and it changed her into a hardcore conservative. So it seems like her current belief system is driven more by news networks and her religion than the military doing anything to her.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

Seems pretty definitive if this is the case. Many of these seem easy to verify.

his fucking jaws are misplacing all over the place.

in this cases btw, that amounts of money you cant pay in a lifetime if she dies does her family keeps paying it?

 

[Mudcrab]

I'm curious why it's so common for threads to be made about false rape accusations on GAF. I've noticed it a lot lately.

Are you also curious as to why the Washington Post decided to report on this case?

 

[Gaz_RB]

his fucking jaws are misplacing all over the place.

in this cases btw, that amounts of money you cant pay in a lifetime if she dies does her family keeps paying it?

On purpose I think, like the gif

 

[benicillin]

Are you also curious as to why the Washington Post decided to report on this case?

I often think that the media over-reports about false rape accusations, yes.

 

[Pankratous]

How does it work when someone is ordered to pay that kind of money to another? Not like you can get a loan for 8.4 million dollars.

 

[snap0212]

I often think that the media over-reports about false rape accusations, yes.

Every false accusation that happens publicly should to be reported publicly. A wrongly and publicly accused person they deserve to be redeemed if the accusation turns out to be false. Every single such case should be reported, in my opinion.

 

[Fuchsdh]

As batshit crazy as it makes her, I don't really like the fringe conspiracy theories like that being used to discredit her rape allegation. It should be taken on its own merits.

That said, if the statements she made are demonstrably untrue—like having a car and being able to drive it on campus—then that's enough to sink her credibility, Adam Lanza payoff or no.

 

[PandaShake]

Are punitive damages calculated based on income? I'm assuming her wages will be garnished.

 

[KHarvey16]

As batshit crazy as it makes her, I don't really like the fringe conspiracy theories like that being used to discredit her rape allegation. It should be taken on its own merits.

That said, if the statements she made are demonstrably untrue—like having a car and being able to drive it on campus—then that's enough to sink her credibility, Adam Lanza payoff or no.

Yup, and even one of her own witnesses contradicted her denial of knowing he was going to be promoted and having that be the motivation for the blog post. Her story was a mess.