Megyn Kendall calls Duke Rape Defendant’s Prior Assault “Minor Offense”
Reported by Ellen - May 19, 2006
FOX News reporter Megyn Kendall was back on Hannity & Colmes tonight. She sported a new hair cut but her pro-defendant bias was the same as ever.
Sean Hannity once again made a point of smearing the woman who has accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape. “So much about this woman seems to be ignored by people who just want to believe it because she made an accusation – her condition that night, her mental state in the last year, her prior accusation, exculpatory evidence.”
Kendall never mentioned the fact that the accuser is an honor student and a military vet. Instead, Kendall said, self-righteously, “The accuser’s got this problem with these prior allegations. She’s got, you know, she was charged with several FELONIES (her emphasis) and pled GUILTY to misdemeanors. She’s had a mental health history and these guys, on the other hand – zero.” Then Kendall caught herself and said, “Whatever their minor offenses have been, ZERO, ZERO accusations of any sort of violence towards women.”
What Kendall neglected to mention was that Duke defendant Collin Finnerty has been accused of violence – assault, as a matter of fact – though it was against a man, several months before the alleged rape. To quote from a FOX News article about the charges stemming from a November, 2005 incident,
Finnerty and two friends, Daniel D'Agnes and Patrick Bonanno, were accused of punching Jeffrey O. Bloxgom after he told them to "stop calling him gay and other derogatory names," according to court documents. The three males were lacrosse players together at Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y.
Is a recent history of violence les signifcant because it was toward a man instead of a woman? Does Kendall consider assault a "minor offense?" Or are past transgressions only relevant when committed by the accuser?
Comment: Once again, FOX News is doing its best to acquit these defendants before trial. And once again Megyn Kendall is doing her best to help. It’s a shame that Kendall, a former attorney, doesn’t have enough scruples to let the courts do their job without interference.
