Macomb, IL – Protestors in McDonough County demonstrated against a ruling in a Nebraska Court rape case.
A group of about 15 people, all wearing gags, showed their objections to the ruling that forbade an alleged rape victim from using certain words or phrases the trial of her alleged assailant.
They included "victim," "assailant," "rape," sexual assault kit" and "sexual assault nurse."
The ruling was made in a court case in Loncoln, Nebraska.
Diane Mayfield is the Victim Services Director of the Western Illinois Regional Council. She says the prohibition on language kept victim Tory Bowen from conveying the horror of her attack to the jury.
Mayfield says the words that describe a crime should not be kept from use in the courtroom.
She says the judge did allow the use of "intercourse" and "sex." However, she says such neutral words should not be allowed to mask the violence of an assault.