XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: hpark@utep.edu   
      
   LIBERTY - Liberty County prosecutors described Jared Len Cruse   
   as one of a "pack of dogs" who gang-raped an 11-year-old   
   Cleveland girl, while the defense likened the girl to a "spider"   
   who lured men into her web.   
      
   Testimony in this case was over in a single day after Cruse, now   
   20, declined to testify and his attorney, Steve Taylor, rested   
   without calling any witnesses Tuesday.   
      
   During opening remarks and the questioning of the young girl,   
   Taylor stressed how she never shed a tear nor voiced a single   
   complaint about her sexual encounters with any of the 20 males   
   accused of assaulting her two years ago.   
      
   The girl, whose name was withheld because she is a juvenile,   
   answered "yes, sir" when Taylor asked if she had been a "willing   
   participant." She also acknowledged never making an outcry until   
   questioned by authorities after graphic sex tapes of her   
   encounters surfaced at Cleveland High School.   
      
   She had a slight smile and talked softly on Tuesday, although   
   she did cry during the trial of another defendant when the sex   
   videos were played.   
      
   A forensic nurse also testified Tuesday that the girl had told   
   her about crying once during the assaults.   
      
   Taylor questioned whether the accused knew the girl's true age.   
   He insisted that she had lied about being 17, the legal age of   
   consent, but was unable to produce testimony to back that up.   
      
   Taylor asked Jared McPherson, who is serving a 15-year sentence   
   for assaulting the same girl, if she had lied about her age to   
   him, but prosecutors objected and he was barred from answering.   
      
   Prosecutor Joe Warren used McPherson to identify Cruse as the   
   person on a video having oral and vaginal sex with the young   
   girl.   
      
   In his opening remarks, Warren said Cruse was so proud of his   
   sexual exploits with a child that he had his friends make a   
   videotape.   
      
   "There he is with his face grinning at us," the prosecutor said.   
      
   Former Cleveland Police Department Sgt. Chad Langdon, who was   
   the lead investigator on the case, also testified that an 11-   
   year-old - due to her emotional immaturity - legally cannot give   
   consent for a sexual encounter.   
      
   Taylor questioned why the underage girl had not been charged   
   with anything for choosing to violate that rule, indicating that   
   she was "the reason" that the encounters happened.   
      
   "Like the spider and the fly. Wasn't she saying, 'Come into my   
   parlor, said the spider to the fly?'?" Taylor asked.   
      
   "I wouldn't call her a spider," Langdon replied. "I'd say she   
   was just an 11-year-old girl."   
      
   "I hope nothing like this ever happens to your two teenage   
   sons," Taylor snapped back.   
      
   Prosecutor Joe Warren asked Langdon what he would do if his own   
   sons had been involved in such a case.   
      
   "I would not whitewash it or sweep it under the rug," the   
   detective said.   
      
   Cruse is the second of 20 male defendants to be tried for   
   allegedly sexually assaulting the girl over the course of four   
   months in 2010 in Cleveland. The first, Eric McGowen, was   
   convicted and received a sentence of 99 years in prison. Seven   
   juveniles have received probation and six adults received 15   
   years in prison after pleading guilty in exchange for plea deals.   
      
   Cruse already is serving an eight-year sentence on convictions   
   for aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly   
   weapon.   
      
   Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday in State District   
   Judge Mark Morefield's court.   
      
   http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Lawyer-   
   likens-gang-rape-victim-to-a-spider-luring-4071735.php   
      
        
      
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