Savannah Dietrich, Sexual Assault Survivor, Faces Jail for Naming Attackers
Savannah Dietrich, 17, faces jail time for tweeting the names of two boys who pleaded guilty to sexual assaulting her. Dietrich was frustrated by their lenient sentence and decided to warn the public about the boys.
"There you go, lock me up. I'm not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell," Dietrich tweeted. She also released the names of the boys who sexually assaulted her and circulated pictures of the incident.
Now, though, she faces charges of contempt, which could put her in jail for 180 days and cost her $500. The boys' attorneys allege that Dietrich had no right to name her attackers in public and violated the court's confidentiality order.
"So many of my rights have been taken away by these boys," Dietrich told The Courier-Journal. "I'm at the point that if I have to go to jail for my rights, I will do it. If they really feel it's necessary to throw me in jail for talking about what happened to me … as opposed to throwing those boys in jail for what they did to me, then I don't understand justice," she explained.
Dietrich waived her own confidentiality to speak with The Courier-Journal about the situation. She has also allowed the media to be present at her contempt hearing and says that her First Amendment right should give her the opportunity to be heard.
"She feels it's important to speak out and chose to do so," Dietrich's attorney, Emily Farrar-Crockett, told The Courier-Journal. It's important that Dietrich tell her story, given that she violated the court order and the advice of her attorneys.
According to Dietrich, she fell unconscious after drinking at a party. She was sexually assaulted by two young men and later saw pictures that the boys had taken and shared. The two boys pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse and voyeurism as part of a plea bargain.
While terms of the plea bargain, such as what the recommended sentence is, are not known to the public, Dietrich feels the agreement is too lenient.
"I felt like they were given a very, very light deal. I wasn't happy with it at all," she explained.
The boys are due to be sentenced next month.
