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Woman gets prison for false rape claim

James Bond

James Bond

Diamond Member
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110413/NEWS010702/304130047/

When Melinda Denham lied about being raped, it resulted in two people being placed behind bars.

• More Blue Ash news

First, the man she accused, Shannon Hudson, was jailed for two months last year before Denham admitted she lied.

On Wednesday, a judge threw Denham into prison for six months, a rarity on a conviction for Ohio’s lowest-level felony, which usually results in probation.

“What you did in this case is, you caused a man to be incarcerated and he had done nothing and the worst part about that was you knew from the very start that he had done nothing,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Steve Martin told Denham. “What you did was terrible beyond any words.”

Denham, 25, told police she was sleeping at her father’s Blue Ash home Aug. 13 when Hudson, her former boyfriend, came into the bedroom and raped her. Later, though, she wrote a letter to the judge presiding over Hudson’s rape case stating the sex was consensual, that she’d not been raped and wouldn’t testify against Hudson. Hudson could have gone to prison for 30 years on those charges.

She said in the Sept. 15 letter that she loved Hudson, 36, and wanted to be with him.

Denham is now six months pregnant and Hudson isn’t the father, she previously told the judge.

“I don’t want to get in trouble no more,” Denham told Martin.

Prosecutors charged Denham with making false alarms and perjury for swearing to tell the truth before the grand jury and then lying.

In a plea deal, Denham pleaded guilty to making false alarms in exchange for prosecutors dropping the more serious perjury charge.

This was one of two instances in the last five years where Hamilton County prosecutors have charged women who recanted rape allegations.

“I think it’s kind of obvious that Ms. Denham is not the most sophisticated young woman,” her attorney, Roxann Dieffenbach, told the judge.

Hudson spent two months in jail before Denham recanted.

“He’s now got a rape allegation against him that is completely unfounded, completely untrue,” the judge told Denham, “but other people are still going to think ill of him because of that.”
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Apparently she didn't look in the mirror and come to the correct determination that nobody would rape her, and nobody would believe it even if it did happen.
 
“I think it’s kind of obvious that Ms. Denham is not the most sophisticated young woman,” her attorney, Roxann Dieffenbach, told the judge.

😀 That's the best defense ever.

"Your Honor, first I'd like to state that my client is a complete moron."
 
Man, first the guy has to suffer with a having a girl's name his whole life and then this. 🙁 Poor guy.

And the lying bitch is a lying bitch. 😡
 
You know there are a lot of crimes depending on the circumstances I could justify. Rape not one of them. Whenever someone falsely accuse someone else it seriously undermines the legitimate cases. She deserves prison.
 
She deserves longer than six months in prison. Examples need to be set so that other women don't do this in the future.
 
Win. Finally justice prevails (although 6 months is on the short side, but it's better than the usual nothing that women get for situations like this). Only way this could have turned out better is if she had to pay restitution to the court (wasting it's time with false charges) and the guy (for ruining his reputation, lawyer fees, etc).
 
ahenkel said:
You know there are a lot of crimes depending on the circumstances I could justify. Rape not one of them. Whenever someone falsely accuse someone else it seriously undermines the legitimate cases. She deserves prison.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Situations like this are actually pretty rare, but it makes people assume it happens all the time. I've had some arguments on here where some people seem to believe that half of rape accusations are made up (whereas the FBI says it's about 8%). And every time a situation like this happens you make certain types of people automatically assume a woman is lying when she accuses a man of rape.
 
While this lady certainly deserves jail time, the sad thing is that a case like this might discourage legitimate rape victims from coming forward.
 
Cogman said:
While this lady certainly deserves jail time, the sad thing is that a case like this might discourage legitimate rape victims from coming forward.
Click to expand...

I doubt it. If a woman was raped, reports it, and the guy is found not guilty, it doesn't open the woman up for false allegation prosecution.

There's a difference between not being able to prove something that happened and making shit up completely.
 
Disgusting. Glad she's getting 6 months. I don't care what it is, you don't make shit up to put an innocent person behind bars because you're fucked up.
 
Even though he was only in jail for "2" months I'm sure it must have been hell the whole time.

Wonder if she only got 6 months because of the pregnancy, if it would have been more had she not.
 
"Denham is now six months pregnant and Hudson isn’t the father, she previously told the judge.

“I don’t want to get in trouble no more,” Denham told Martin.

“I think it’s kind of obvious that Ms. Denham is not the most sophisticated young woman,” her attorney, Roxann Dieffenbach, told the judge."



What really infuriates me is that this (6 months in jail) is not the norm as she would typically get probation for this.
 
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