I read the story “DU-Kobe Bryant parallel” in your most recent issue with great interest. I worked with the woman who was raped, and her story was missing from your article. I wasn’t there the night that Kavin Smith, a jury has decided, raped the woman. And I wasn’t there at the trial, so I can’t evaluate Paul Campos’ claim that Smith was convicted with insufficient evidence. In response to Campos claim “that there was no physical evidence because the woman had taken a shower and that the deciding factor was the witness’s testimony,” however, the woman points out that in fact the witness’s testimony was corroborated at the trial by the doctor who treated her.

I did see what the woman went through during the trial and for more than a year afterwards. She needed to withdraw from classes several times, and constantly struggled with lingering fear. After many difficulties, she was able to graduate, and she is now gainfully employed and more-or-less past what happened. The trial and its aftermath were grueling ordeals for her, but throughout she maintained that Kavin Smith had raped her and should be held responsible for his actions. His sentence isn’t just a punishment for what he did, but serves to protect other women he might harm, she maintains.

For the story you reported, it wasn’t possible to contact this woman for comment. But you could have–and should have, in my opinion–contacted an advocacy group for women who have been raped, such the Rape Assistance and Awareness Program (RAAP), 303.322.7273. As written, the story did not live up to the criterion of being fair and balanced–even in “he said, she said,” there are at least two sides to the story. You told only one.

Ned Muhovich