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DA drops sexual assault case against BU hockey player for lack of evidence

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office said today it has filed a nolle prosqui document in the case of Max Nicastro, a defenseman on the Boston University hockey team, who was arrested in February.

After a three-month investigation and a comprehensive review of the evidence it developed, prosecutors determined that they could not meet their burden at trial of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and had an ethical obligation not to pursue it further.

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Comments

I think the real investigation should be who in the DA's office is a season ticket holder...

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If you're going to ask that question of anyone, it probably shouldn't be those in the DA's office. In my experience, it's pretty unusual for them to nol pros a case - they will often go ahead with very little evidence.

They must have had nothing or next to nothing. I'm sure that the DAs had some pretty pointed questions for the police in recent days w/r/t their investigation.

Incidentally, which police force was in charge of the investigation, BPD or BUPD? Did it change during the course of the invest.?

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99% of the time when a null process happens, it is because the victim is unwilling to testify.

In sexual assault cases, they often don't get processed because the victim changes their story.

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I don't remember seeing mention of it here on UHub in March, but the rape charge against Trivino from December was also dropped for the same reason.

http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/major-charge-dropped-...

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Looks like that was an attempted rape charge that was dropped, not rape. And it says he still has a bunch of sex assault charges.

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Trivino was charged with assault with intent to rape. That was in relation to the drunken groping of the RA.

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My point was that when a second BU Hockey student was arrested for a sex-based offense, the school quickly formed a Task Force to investigate what they could improve and the entire world came down on the hockey team having heard of two separate incidents involving players molesting another student.

In both cases now, the sex offense has been dropped after investigation by the prosecution. Since this one was brought up today, I felt it important to also mention that the strongest of Trivino's offenses was also dismissed by nolle prosequi.

Basically, I didn't see anyone clarifying the fact that they were up on "different charges" when Nicastro was arrested. Then it was just "another BU Hockey player arrested". Well, now it's just "another BU Hockey player charge dismissal".

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Awesome day for women in the commonwealth today. You get sexually assaulted, and there's no one there to see it, no matter how much you say it happened, the commonwealth is not going to be there to stand up for you.

Even if they had no evidence aside from the witness statement from the woman who was assaulted this case should have been prosecuted to show an example: you will not sexually assault women in this state without facing prosecution. Period.

Shameful actions on the part of the district attorney's office.

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if this is another Duke case where everyone jumped on the accused simply because he was accused, or whether politics are at play with some backroom deals. Too bad we even have to wonder.

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Or is he saying he sucks as a prosecutor? Because I don't imagine there are usually too many witnesses to date rape, or all that much in terms of physical evidence.

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It says in the Globe article that the victim is still adamant that she was raped, but there is not enough evidence to prosecute beyond a reasonable doubt.

That probably means that the victim didn't have a rape kit taken at a hospital, and without DNA evidence it's her word against his.

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That's the philosophy that puts innocent people behind bars and gets prosecutors disbarred. Google "Mike Nifong."

If the evidence isn't there or points away from guilt, a prosecutor should drop the case. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it seems to me there are a few options besides the two you present.

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If Nicastro didn't do it, he'll have to carry the stigma of being accused of a heinous crime, for which he wasn't even prosecuted.

If he did do it, then the victim receives no justice.

Sad all around.

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You're leaviong out the idea that the victim still believes that he committed the crime, but does not want to go through what is likely to be a very public trial.

Sexual assault cases are generally the only cases in which the DAs office does not force a victim to testify and will not proceed with a case against the victim's wishes.

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