Despite Ford Allegations, Montgomery Co. Reveals No Criminal Report Has Ever Been Filed
According to Christine Blasey Ford’s account, the sexual assault she blames on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh happened in Montgomery County, Maryland. That’s led many to wonder why local authorities aren’t conducting an investigation.
Well, part of it is the fact that there has never been any report filed in the case.
In a news release Friday, the Montgomery County Police Department issued an open letter to Delegate Ariana B. Kelly, a Montgomery County Democrat and chairwoman of the Democratic Caucus in the Maryland House of Delegates, regarding the Montgomery County House Delegation’s request to open an investigation into Ford’s claim that Kavanaugh assaulted her during a house party in the early 1980s.
“First, let us be clear that our agencies take seriously all criminal reports of sexual assault or rape against any victim,” the release states. “The decision to report the crime of sexual assault or rape to law enforcement is a deeply personal one and a decision that must be made by the survivor.”
And that decision to report the alleged assault to the police, according to the letter, hadn’t been made by Christine Blasey Ford.
“To date, there have been no criminal reports filed with the Montgomery County Department of Police that would lead to the initiation of any criminal investigation related to Judge Kavanaugh,” the letter reads.
Find the Police and State's Attorney Response to the Montgomery County Delegation's rquest to open a criminal investigation involving sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh here: https://t.co/YB5xHK5VEQ
— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) September 28, 2018
There was also an issue with the statute of limitations in the matter.
“Furthermore, the law at the time the offense occurred is the law that must be applied to any charges that might be brought,” the letter states.
“For example, in 1982, assault and attempted rape were both misdemeanors and subject to a one-year statute of limitations.”
However, the letter notes that “(t)he Montgomery County Police Department and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office stand ready to investigate any sexual assault allegation from any victim where the assault occurred in our jurisdiction.”
What this means is somewhat complicated. Obviously, it would be difficult to file a charge at this point, particularly given that the statute of limitations apparently passed 35 years ago.
However, this is the problem with any possible investigation of the alleged assault: It’s looking at an alleged crime with no outside witnesses and no corroboration, for which no report has ever been filed.
This is what we’ve just authorized an FBI investigation on — an investigation that is supposed to take one week and uncover what, exactly?
All of the individuals named in the investigation so far were in high school at the time. Beyond the problems of investigating an alleged crime 36 years old with no physical or circumstantial evidence thus far discovered, there are also the problems of memory and jurisdiction. There were no charges filed, no corroborating witnesses, nothing.
President Donald Trump, according to The Washington Post, has promised that the FBI is “all over talking to everybody. . . . They have free rein, they can do whatever they have to do, whatever it is that they do. They’ll be doing things we have never even thought of.”
Maybe that will turn up something.
Given what we know, however, I strongly doubt it.
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