Exactly. 10 characters

 

Was she still on probation?

 

Agreeed completely. This is exactly how these things go. Other than some vague FCIF, we’ll hear little more about this. Both pilots will remain flying here unless they themselves decide not to due to a healthy payout and NDA.

Whether one believes her story or not, with this length of time having passed and no police report filed, any defense attorney will have a field day showing reasonable doubt. Furthermore, no criminal charges been filed.. just a suit against the company... makes you go hmmm. It’s all about public image and $ at this point and that’s where the payouts and NDAs come into play. Everyone’s got a price. Unfortunately that’s the cold reality of how this will conclude.

 

Sometimes the DA has to prosecute, even a weak or losing case, because the political/PR ramifications of not prosecuting will be far worse than losing. If there's no outside pressure, DA's prefer open and shut cases (which usually plea out anyway).

 

Law enforcement and the DA in MSP probably didn't even know about until they read the paper a few days ago. You can bet they're spooling up now, just in case.

They do not need the victim's concurrence to prosecute, although in a case like this they would clearly need her testimony. Also they may choose to not prosecute a good case if it will put the victim in the spotlight (ie public testimony), and the victim doesn't want to go there.

Also... a plaintiff's attorney may advise a victim to NOT push for criminal charges. The lawyer wants money, not justice, and depending on the potential source(s) of money, a convicted perp may be less lucrative. The perp may wind up unemployed, may spend all his money on criminal defense, and liability insurance typically won't cover a deliberate act (a conviction proves it's deliberate). You'd be amazed at what can be passed off as "unintentional" by both plaintiff and defendant in order to access the insurance payout... about the only thing that can get the insurance company off the hook is a criminal conviction (maybe not even then).

But if the plaintiff is going for the employer's pockets only, then a conviction would seem to help prove that the company didn't protect the plaintiff from a dangerous situation. Might see charges yet.

 

I just want to chime in here and remind everyone that this is a public forum. Not only can the plaintiff, defendant, and their attorneys read this, so can possible judges and jurors. The Spirit debacle proved what can happen when people carelessly shoot their mouths off here. It would take very little to get people subpoenaed and I'd hate to be wrapped up in this one.

This is a very serious incident, regardless of which side you choose. We as airline professionals should be above this, and not play the court of public opinion. And most of the comments on this thread are very troubling. I have daughters her age and I hate to think of the wolf pack they face in this world on a daily basis, where a woman alleges rape and gets torn apart on the internet and slut shamed. As a veteran pilot, I feel for a Captain with a clean record who makes a bad decision and faces the end of his career or even prison. This is bad all around.

I vote the mods close this thread. It's been beat to death. Let the courts deal with it, not pseudo experts hiding behind screen names. Uphold your profession.

 

You can get an amen.

Close it.

 

Nobody is getting subpoenaed here unless they have first-hand knowledge of the events.

This is an important issue in general and it's probably helpful for many to learn what others may think (even if some of it's distasteful). Folks posting distasteful thoughts may benefit from learning what others think of their position.

Nothing is far enough off the rails to warrant closing this thread.

Also since the plaintiff is giving interviews in the media, there's case for protecting her privacy.

 

So you’re basically insinuating that she got raped and the cptn made a bad decision and you want the thread shut down?!

 

Are they going to subpoena all the soccer moms on Facebook speculating about this peculiar case? Get real man.