This is really a difficult thing to take sides on because if the woman was really sexually assaulted, she deserves to be compensated and the attacker deserves to have a judgment set against him in criminal court and if feasible civil court. However, if the claims are false, they can ruin a person's career -- this is one of the dangers of living such a public life.

It is not unheard of to have a celebrity accused of rape only to have the claims recanted later. Former NFL player, Michael Irvin, dealt with this and it caused him a lot of trouble. That said, it is for the court systems (as imperfect as they are) to help find the truth here.

Let's hope the a person would not willfully make this sort of claim just to receive monetary benefit.
Source(s):
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-19082480.html

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I have to say two things on this matter.

One, here in the US, despite other issues with the judicial system (which definitely has ISSUES), the presumption of innocence is vital. Innocent UNTIL proven guilty. This and reasonable doubt are terms most Americans are comfortable with, even though they both are completely different in theory versus being on a jury (ie in practice). So until he is PROVEN guilty then we have to afford him the legal status of innocent.

This does not mean that in the "court of public opinion" that he is innocent. It is like ethics, to be unethical, you do not have to break any rules or codes, you merely have to APPEAR unethical. It will be like that for David. He probably will win in court (people with money tend to get away with more IMHO) but may never recover in the public courts. Think of Michael Jackson, court says not guilty, public at large is far more divided. So in this regard, this will probably mar him in some manner with some people for a long time to come.

Second, there are all sorts of claims like this and they often tend to fall into a certain category where both parties are lying or not being completely truthful. Let me explain. David Copperfield may have had sex with this woman. It may have been consensual. That being said, both parties have agendas (David to stay rich and famous, and Seattle woman who knows) and biases that will mud up this issue and make it into something it was not, but something that makes the best possible scenario for them now. It is not black and white, rather shades of grey.

thanks
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