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Announcement :: Civil & Human Rights |
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Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
Current rating: 0 |
by Brian Dolinar
Email: briandolinar (nospam) gmail.com (verified) |
18 May 2006
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Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
The $10 million Federal Civil Rights suit against Kurt Hjort, former officer of the Urbana police force, has been dismissed. The suit was filed by Amber Grohall, who alleged she was raped by Hjort, who had a history of sexual harassment while on the force. An undisclosed agreement was reached by the parties involved.
This comes after criminal charges were dropped by special prosecutor Jim Dedman in October 2005. Hjort resigned from the Urbana police, which Dedman said had “great significance” in his decision not to prosecute.
Community Court Watch calls on State's Attorney Julia Reitz to intervene in the case. While on duty, Hjort stalked Grohall, looking up her home address on the police computer database. His sexual advances on Grohall, a 25 year-old woman, is a great betrayal of public trust, especially in a town populated by many young women here to get an education.
Hjort says it was consensual.
Grohall says she was intimidated because he had a gun and handcuffs.
Once again, a cop beats the odds.
Police are treated as if they are above the law.
The word of a white male cop will always be trusted over that of a citizen. |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Local Yocal
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 May 2006
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The source for this information is......?
Any idea how much the settlement was? |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by BD
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 May 2006
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Secrecy is part of the deal.
Grohall's lawyer wouldn't tell me anything.
You can look up the case at the Fed courthouse. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Not surprising
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
19 May 2006
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You have to keep in mind that proving something beyond a reasonable doubt is very difficult. By the vics own admission she did not resist and said nothing because she was 'intimidated'. Try and convince a jury that she was raped when she didn't scream, fight, or say anything to make him stop and you wonder why the case didn't go anywhere. Add to that her lack of surprise when he arrived at her residence and the personal nature she engaged him. It would be difficult to get a jury to come to the absolute conclusion that is was rape. Because of the complete lack of resistence who is to say 'beyond a reasonable doubt' what led up to the incident.
Her move to a civil case was a smart one since the burden of proof is so much less. All one has to prove is it something more likely than not happened. The settlement is an indication of the parties to avoid a trial, namely Hjort.
You all need to take those 'The Man' is responsible off from time to time and see the world for what it is. Sometimes things aren't always what they appear to be. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Local Yocal
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 May 2006
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Fact: Kurt Hjort was on duty as a fully uniformed police officer on July 21, 2005.
Fact: Kurt Hjort looked up Amber Grohall's address on the METCAD Dispatch system in order to have sex with her while he was on duty.
So why can't we charge Kurt Hjort with Official Misconduct, a Class 3 Felony? Official Misconduct is a charge we don't even need Amber's character or lack of action to proscecute with. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Hey local.....
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 May 2006
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Didn't he resign in order not to be fired for misconduct? You can't pull the guy back into the department and then fire him for misconduct. That's just silly. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by historian
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 May 2006
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Misconduct is different than a criminal violation. Clearly, misuse of the METCAD dispatch system or any other official data processing system is more than simply misconduct -- it's a crime. If I stole from my boss, he could fire me or I could resign, but he or she could also bring criminal charges. Resignation does not give you immunity from criminal charges.
And when a cop gets a free ride for a crime he obviously committed, it is both more than civil matter and something that leads the public to conclude that, yes, there are two different justice systems at work -- one for certain favored classes and one for the rest of us.
The fact that another officer would then cast such conduct as simply misconduct, rather than clearly criminal, sort of makes it sound like using police computers to stalk a victim for sex is merely a case of "professional courtesy" that went just a little too far for your tastes. I doubt if this is helping anyone's confidence in the local justice system. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Did you read.....?
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 May 2006
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Didn't Dedman say that the resignation impacted his decision to prosecute? Knowing what little I know about the law, but wouldn't he have to show intent with his 'stalking'? I also wasn't aware that another cop was involved. Was there a conspiracy that only you are privy to? As far as my tastes are concerned I wouldn't involve myself with what has been said about her 'cuz I have better taste. Or did you mean I am a cop? I'm not, but I can see that the conspiracy nut is spreading its roots in your brain. |
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That Ethics Thing |
by historian
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 May 2006
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Well, maybe my point of view is skewed by working for the state. The state ethics test is rather laughable, but I suppose it is possible that the ethics standards for public officials in Champaign County might be lower than at the state level. That would be sad, but entirely possible from what I've seen.
Let's assume that Hjort's little trist with the young woman in question was entirely consensual, it seems to apparently be an already established fact that he used a secure, for-official-use-only computer system to come up with her address and then he turned on his apparently inestimable charms to talk her into sex between police calls, on the clock.
At a very minimum, I would say that his misuse of the computer system and the taxpayer's time to partake in carnal pleasure, no matter how consensual, do constitute some sort of crime, given that it took place under color of law and on the clock. As far as I can tell, if I do anything at all similar to that with a state computer and on the state's clock, it would be a crime. I don't see how this could possibly be different. In other words, my point is -- as should be obvious to anyone who's really been paying attention rather than just trying to make excuses for inexcusable behavior on the part of a uniformed officer -- even if there is no crime against the young woman, there seems to be substantive evidence that there was one against the public itself worth having a jury mull over.
I always find it amusing when the News-Gazette fulminates about "Chicago politics," given that occurances in Champaign County such as this are remarkably similar to some of the carrying-on of public officials up there -- only here it is _the N-G_ who is the defender of a power structure that seems obviously corrupt to the average citizen. Even the Chicago papers at least have the guts to occassionally gripe about public corruption. It's rare when this happens with the N-G. In fact, why haven't they called for State's Attorney Rietz to do a better job? After all, she is a Democrat, which usually is good enough for them to gripe about what a public official is up to. As one of many who supported Rietz's election who's had some second thoughts since, maybe she's the N-G's sort of SA, even if she is a Dem.
I think it is just the way politics has operated in Illinois for so long, no matter whether it is the Dems or the Republicans in charge. Let's hope some of the stirrings of reform both locally and at the state level can take root, like local civilian police review boards and state-level investigations into the seamy underside of financing politics and passing out favors to donors. There is also a much-needed .house cleaning in the state police still pending, given the findings in the Paris murders false conviction cases and the failure of their command to take responsibility for the corruption in their own ranks.
You really are going to have to try better to make Hjort look like just a bad apple, rather than someone who was tolerated by the system itself for far too long, became an repeated, public embarrassment to it, and who has now been hustled off-stage quickly to preserve the still-crumbling image of justice in Champaign County. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Not so fast...
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 May 2006
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The SA does not have to prosecute every case it gets and at times exercises that right for any number of reasons. Sometimes what a person does is not easily prosecuted as a crime, is a crime, or needs to be prosecuted as such. Another thing that has to be considerd is what is the publics interest in charging Hjort with improper computer use? Hjort isn't a police officer and won't be able to do that to anyone else in CC. He resigned from the UPD, and was subsequently released from another. It is unlikely he will be a police officer anywhere else.
The inner workings of the criminal justice system is complex and straightforwrad at the same time. That may be difficult for some people to understand and unless one is a lawyer or has intimate knowledge of how the criminal justice system works it is hard to grasp. (For the individuals who think its all about the minorities, minorities have also benefited from not having any charges proferred.) Brian Dolinar makes some absolute statements that should have been qualified, but understandable given his stance on this and other issues. The police are not always trusted over that of a citizen. I am not here to defend Hjort or his alleged actions, but to explain somethings that are frequently intentionally left out in order to achieve a desired result.
As in any field of endeavor there are individuals who slip through the various layers to prevent bad apples from ever putting on a badge, but some slip through. Does that mean that police departments and their SAs are involved in endless conspiracies in covering up dishonest officers as Dolinar would have you believe? Absolutely not. Does that mean that every accountant who goes to prison for bilking his clients exposes the profession as a bunch of crooks? No. Does that mean every building inspector that gets caught on the take condemn every other inspector? No. To follow Dolinar's logic is to impugn the good work and effort of every officer and attorney that work hard for the citizens of CC.
The SA works hard to do what is in the best interest of the citizens of CC. Sometimes you may not agree with their actions, but most of the time, if you look at the bigger picture, you will agree it does work. To cast such a disparaging picture of the local departments and the SA only makes their job harder to do and does a disservice to them as well. |
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Re: Hjort Beats Rape Charges Twice |
by Local Yocal
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
28 May 2006
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Actually, Official Misconduct is a criminal charge found in the Illinois Criminal Statutes. Dedman could still press this charge against Hjort, and it wouldn't matter if it were consensual sex or not. Using the METCAD computer and not doing your job should be the facts to consider.
Why bother, since he already quit his job?
This business of "Skirt Checks" is an old problem for the Urbana Police Department. In 1995, Sgt. Mike Miller of the UPD broke the story on the front page of the News-Gazette that officers were using the METCAD dispatch computer to look up cute girls and see if they were married and where they lived.
Like Judge Difanis says frequently in announcing his sentences, "We need to send a message". Hjort's freedom and outright walk from any criminal proscecution is a harm to the community. If proscecuters feel "misunderstood" regarding this matter, they created it for themselves by showing the community that cops can do whatever they want and nothing will happen. If I were a female in Champaign County, I would be demanding some insurances that other officers won't be doing unauthorized searches of their personal information. Proscecuting Hjort for using his position, his access to information, and our time might send a message back to all 4 department headquarters that you will be expected to behave professionally with the public trust or else.
And yet, there is this "aw-shucks, leave the guy alone already" mentality among many who claim they don't defend Kurt Hjort's actions, but also claim he's suffered enough through the loss of his job. (darn, he almost got a job in Gibson City too!)
Unemployment on a lifetime pension. Tell the guys in prison Hjort is suffering enough. |
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