Student Whose Sexual-Assault Case Drew National Attention Is No Longer Enrolled, Syracuse University Says
By Grace Elletson
July 9, 2019
A student accused of sexual assault in a case that drew national attention no longer attends Syracuse University, according to a statement released early Tuesday by the institution.
The student, identified in court documents only as “G.M.C.” and not named in the statement, was enrolled as a freshman at Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, according to a directory entry that had been taken offline as of Tuesday. Until Syracuse issued its statement, he was not publicly associated with the 2017 case, in which a New Jersey judge’s reluctance to try him as an adult raised eyebrows.
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A student accused of sexual assault in a case that drew national attention no longer attends Syracuse University, according to a statement released early Tuesday by the institution.
The student, identified in court documents only as “G.M.C.” and not named in the statement, was enrolled as a freshman at Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, according to a directory entry that had been taken offline as of Tuesday. Until Syracuse issued its statement, he was not publicly associated with the 2017 case, in which a New Jersey judge’s reluctance to try him as an adult raised eyebrows.
An emailed request for comment to what is thought to be the student’s university account, part of The Chronicle’s effort to confirm his identity, went unanswered on Monday night.
Prosecutors say G.M.C., who has not been convicted of a crime, sexually assaulted a girl at a party when he was 16. The girl, who was also 16 at the time, according to court documents, was drunk, “her speech was slurred, and she stumbled as she walked.” G.M.C. allegedly filmed himself having sex with her, penetrating her from behind. He sent the video to his friends, court documents say, and later texted them: “When your first time having sex was rape.”
But the family-court judge, James Troiano, said he was not sure that the incident should be classified as rape, The New York Times reported. He disagreed with the prosecutors’ argument that G.M.C.’s behavior had been “sophisticated and predatory.” Prosecutors had sought to try the case in adult criminal court.
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Troiano said, according to court transcripts, that G.M.C. came from “a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well. … He is clearly a candidate for not just college but probably for a good college. His scores for college entry were very high.”
The case may now be headed to a grand jury, which will deliberate on whether to indict G.M.C. as an adult, according to the Times. A New Jersey appellate court has accused Troiano of having a bias for privileged students, stating that “the judge decided the case for himself.”
Troiano now faces petitions for his impeachment as well as death threats, according to the Times. A protest has been scheduled for this Thursday in front of the Monmouth County Superior Court to demand his removal from the bench.
Speculation that a Syracuse student was the defendant in the case started circulating on social media on Saturday. Some posts called for his dismissal from the university. In its statement, Syracuse said it does not tolerate sexual violence.
“The individual in question is no longer a student at Syracuse University,” the statement said. “Syracuse University does not tolerate sexual and relationship violence of any kind, including incidents that occur off campus. In compliance with federal privacy laws, we are unable to provide further comment.”
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The case mirrors that of Brock Turner, the Stanford University swimmer who was sentenced to just six months in jail in 2016 after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The California judge who imposed that sentence was later recalled from his position.