Split Decision

Concerned citizens fight to make a judge pay for a controversial sex-crime decision.

by Sam Tremble

Michael T. Regan DENIAL CAMPAIGN: Matilda O'Neill gets the word out. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Inside an abandoned house in North Philadelphia, 19-year-old Dominique Gindraw and three of his companions allegedly forced a 20-year-old African-American mother to have sex with them at gunpoint. A fifth man showed up and found the woman naked and crying; he mercifully helped put her clothes on and took her from the house.

Like many women in Philadelphia, this woman makes a living as a sex worker. She negotiated a deal with Gindraw over Craigslist: $150 for one hour of sex in his home. When he asked if he could bring a friend along, she agreed — for another $100. But she never entered his home, only an abandoned house. A gun was drawn. And there wasn't one extra friend, but three. And she resisted. She said no.

According to Pennsylvania state law, sex by "forcible compulsion" is considered rape. It seems obvious that a group of four men teamed against one woman constitutes forcible compulsion, not to mention the presence of a gun.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 4, assistant district attorney Rich DeSipio presented the prosecution's case against Gindraw — essentially the above scenario — in a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge Teresa Carr Deni.

Judge Deni dismissed the charges, instead charging the defendant with "theft of services." According to a Daily News report, four days later Gindraw was charged with an identical crime.

That was not the first rape case Judge Deni dismissed that day, court witnesses say.

Judge Deni did not respond to a request for comment by City Paper's deadline, but according to Jill Porter's Oct. 24 column in the Daily News (Porter's story hit the stands on Oct. 12), Deni said, "I knew I was in trouble" when the story broke.

Not surprisingly, a campaign organized by concerned citizens and women's rights groups is growing to remove Deni from office. Spearheaded by Matilda O'Neill, the "Deny Deni!" campaign sees an opportunity in the upcoming retention elections on Nov. 6. The goal is to make voters aware of Judge Deni's record and have them vote no for retention. This is not as easy as it may seem.

The Philadelphia Bar Association has already endorsed Judge Deni and it would be difficult for them to change the endorsement at this point even if they wanted to. But this hasn't stopped people from all over the world from writing e-mails asking the PBA to make the switch.

Also, there are thousands of polling places across the city. It would be nearly impossible to pull off a campaign like that in such short time. And it would seem that the attention the case is receiving in the media (Porter has written two columns) and on the Internet (sites like feministe.us and Young Philly Politics have begun banging the drum) would boost the group's chances of success, but O'Neill isn't so sure, because, as she says, "an Internet surge can give the false illusion that this is bigger than it is."

The main strategy is to hand out as many fliers as possible up until the ballots close. If there is a political event between now and Nov. 6, Deny Deni! activists say they will be there. At a meeting Oct. 23 they made plans to distribute fliers at the Oct. 27 Human Chain for Peace and the Oct. 30 Trick or Treatment HIV funding rally at Drexel.

Among nearly a dozen concerned citizens at the Oct. 23 meeting was Mary Kalyna of Global Women's Strike, a local branch of a national pay equity group based at the Crossroads Women's Center in Germantown. She said her group is discussing ways to help the Deny Deni! campaign.

"When sex workers are not safe, then no woman is safe," she says. "Often serial rapists start with the most vulnerable women ... they'll go on until they're stopped. I am appalled by this decision. Women should not be judged by their occupation. That's the same as saying they were asking for it."

(tremble.sam@gmail.com)

For more information on the Deny Deni! campaign, contact Matilda O'Neill at no.on.deni@gmail.com.