Preston Wido was convicted of 2 of the 9 charges against him. Which, as per usual, leaves me thinking “oh thank god they got him on something . . . ONLY TWO OF THE CHARGES? But at least he’s been convicted . . . wait, ON ONLY TWO CHARGES?” Sigh.
Preston Wido at 2:45 p.m. today was found guilty of 2 of the 9 charges against him.
He was found guilty of the charges of third-degree rape and third-degree criminal sexual act.
The jury reached its verdict this afternoon after 25 hours of deliberations in the seven-week trial.
As the verdict was read, Wido’s attorney John Parrinello rubbed his client’s back while Wido’s girlfriend wiped away tears in the row behind him. A man on the jury wiped away tears as verdict was read.
Wido was acquitted on three counts of first-degree rape, three counts of criminal sexual act and one count of first-degree sexual abuse.
The two charges Wido was convicted of pertatin to one of four alleged victims. He was accused of raping three classmates at Hobart & William Smith Colleges and sexually abusing another.
Wido faces a maximum of 8 years in prison. He was sent to Ontario County Jail without bail to await sentencing July 30.
His girlfriend is crying? His girlfriend is crying? I somehow doubt that it’s at the sudden, horrible realization that her boyfriend is a rapist. And a man on the jury? We don’t know what he was thinking, but my guess is that it wasn’t regret for being unable to convict him on more, but sadness over — as I said before — putting away such a nice young man for a silly little thing like rape.
Have I ever mentioned that I hate people?
What say you? Goods news or bad news? Disappointing news, but the best we could have realistically hoped for? Any law-savvy people who can tell me the difference between third and first degree rape? Or want to take a guess what what his actual sentence will be?
I hope we end up getting some jury interviews, actually. Those are always infinitely revealing. As for right now, I think I’m coming down with something and am off to rest and try to forget how much this world fucking sucks.
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If I had a boyfriend convicted of rape I would probably dump him… I tend to always believe the victims.
Ok so I’m coming out of my normal lurking to try to answer your question about the degrees of rape. I’m not really a law person (actually studying biochemistry) and I’m actually a Canadian. Any way after some googleing I found this http://www.slc.edu/security/Penal_Law.php copy of the New York penal code (I believe Ontario county is in New York so these definitions should be the ones of interest).
A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when:
He or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is incapable of consent by reason of some factor other than being less than seventeen years old;
Being twenty-one years old or more, he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person less than seventeen years old; or
He or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person without such person’s consent where such lack of consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent.
Rape in the third degree is a class E felony.
A person is guilty of rape in the first degree when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person:
By forcible compulsion; or
Who is incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless; or
Who is less than eleven years old; or
Who is less than thirteen years old and the actor is eighteen years old or more.
Rape in the first degree is a class B felony.
Any way I hope that is of some help and before I go I’d just like to say what a good job I think your doing with the blog. Keep it up.
Thanks for the info, Michael. I guess I’m still trying to figure out what all of that means.
What I’m getting is this (and if you or anyone else have an idea if I’m right/wrong on this, I’d appreciate it!):
Third degree rape is a large bulk of statutory rape, rape where the victim is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol and rape where the woman did not consent . . . but did not physically fight back? Or maybe rape by means of blackmail/bribery/threats? That’s the only difference I’m working out between “lack of consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent” and “forcible compulsion.” The details of which case exactly he was convicted on don’t seem to be available quite yet (or I’d have to dig through a bunch of news articles to possible figure it out), which make this a bit more difficult.
Your welcome Cara. I think that your on the right track with your understanding of the laws. Here are some clarifying points.
“rape where the victim is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol” would fall under 2nd degree rape. I’ll summarize that one you can look it up in the link if you want the full legal wording. It’s a small subset of statutory rape (11-15 year olds) and rape of the mentally disabled or mentally incapacitated. Previously they have defined mentally incapacitated as being through drug use without the persons consent.
Also some of the other items like threats would fall under forcible compulsion which by their definition which includes
“a threat, express or implied, which places a person in fear of immediate death or physical injury to himself, herself or another person, or in fear that he, she, or another person will immediately be kidnapped.”
And just to be more complete physical helplessness is “a person is unconscious or for any other reason is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act.”
Any way I hope that helps a bit with your confusion. If you want to go to that link it has the full section for sexual offenses of the NY penal code along with some definitions of what some of the terms mean.
I think what probably falls into 3rd degree rape from reading some more of that link would be from this part of lack of consent.
“Where the offense charged is rape in the third degree as defined in subdivision three of section 130.25, or criminal sexual act in the third degree as defined in subdivision three of section 130.40, in addition to forcible compulsion, circumstances under which, at the time of the act of intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse, the victim clearly expressed that he or she did not consent to engage in such act, and a reasonable person in the actor’s situation would have understood such person’s words and acts as an expression of lack of consent to such act under all the circumstances.”
This is separate from forcible compulsion. So probably rape that was deemed not to use physically forced or with the threat of physical force and with a conscious victim is what falls into that part of the 3rd degree rape definition.
Any way sorry for posting twice there. I hope that helps clarify the laws.
Yes, it does. Thanks. In basic terms, I’m understanding that third-degree rape (partially) is rape of a conscious victim who has indicated non consent but does not require a physical struggle or exertion of force in order for the rapist to commit the crime.
I vote for disappointing news. I was going to say with some good in that he’d see the inside of a prison cell, but I’m going to wait to hear the sentence before I say that.
first off do you even know preston? he isnt a rapest all those girls where friends and he started talkin friends to friends you know how girls are they will do anything for there friends not to be mad at them. hes actually a sweet heart taht dated my friend and never forced sex on her when she didnt want to plus those where stupid drunk collage girls and i dont know who u r blabin off your mouth you dont even know him and maybe his girlfriend was crynin because she loves him? and knows he isnt like that.
GUESS WHAT ERICA. HE’S A CONVICTED RAPIST.
Rapist. Rapist, rapist, rapist. Legally. As decided by a jury of his peers! As confirmed by 4 different women, who can be as stupid and drunk and collegy as they like without negating the fact that they were raped.
I know the truth hurts, but don’t take it out on me. In any case “I know a single woman who Preston didn’t rape” is just about the worst excuse for a rapist I’ve ever heard in my entire life, and gives me a pretty clear picture of the kind of guy he is he is to warrant that defense. Christ, is that seriously the best you can do for the guy? Just like on the last thread, the more Preston’s buddies come here to try to defend him with their horrible rape apologist arguments, the worse he looks.
Can anyone tell that my patience has run out? Especially since this happens every time I write about any rape case? I swear to god, based on the comments on my blog, it’d be pretty easy to argue that not a single person in the world knows another individual who has committed rape. All of them, every last one, is innocent. Which means that either every real rapist is a hermit and therefore getting around A HELL OF A LOT. Or, it could mean that all rape victims are lying, stupid, drunk, college whores (what does the “college” reference even mean?). Regardless of the precise reasoning, the message is always clear “fine bitch, talk about rape if you must. but god, don’t try to hold anyone responsible for it.”
Erica needs to realize that WE’RE the type of people who will have her back should she ever be raped (I pray she never is) and that the friends of her rapist will be doing exactly what she is doing right now: defending her rapist while calling her a drunk slut.
Erica, by your logic, the next time you’re drunk (I’m pretty sure you already have the stupid aspect down pat) if a guy “forces sex” on you (RAPES you), it’d be all hunky dory with you? You know, since you were drunk and stupid?
That said, Cara, your patience has lasted a million times longer than mine. You are saintly. I consider this to be disappointing news since recently all I feel like we’ve been doing is telling rapists that they can rape someone and on the unlikely chance that they’re actually convicted, they’ll get the absolute minimum in sentencing (and possibly avoid a prison cell altogether). Hopefully this time he’ll serve a respectable amount of time, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
ps: I’m not alone in taking issue with the term “forced sex” right?
Yeah, “forced sex” is an obnoxious euphemism to me. Though in all fairness, it’s about a million times better than just “sex,” which is used WAY too often.
Erica needs to realize that WE’RE the type of people who will have her back should she ever be raped (I pray she never is) and that the friends of her rapist will be doing exactly what she is doing right now: defending her rapist while calling her a drunk slut.
Quoted for importance.
“you know how girls are they will do anything for there friends not to be mad at them”
Funny, none of my many male friends have ever got mad at me because I wouldn’t be their sex toy.
I suppose that’s one of the reasons why they’re my friends…
Yeah, funny how I don’t buy the argument that a guy will get mad at his “friends” for not have sex on demand is a total sweetheart. Really, the more I analyze this comment, the worse I start to feel for Erica. I find it hard to be angry at a woman who actually views friendship with men this way.
I did not know how to react when a former friend confessed to having raped someone. I was just so completely blind-sided by it. What do you do? What do you say? This person is a rapist, but it never seemed that simple at the time.
The whole situation was one giant… ugg. I don’t really want to get into here. I have this horrible feeling whenever I think about it too much.
I never talked to the girls he raped or tried to rape about it. I never talked to anyone at the time about the things he was saying or the notes he was leaving around my flat. Everything felt like danger, even talking about it. Sometimes I try and forget the whole thing ever happened.
I know he wasn’t innocent. I know he wasn’t innocent.
I wish I could pretend he was. It would make it easier.
Cara – I don’t think anybody would blame you for running out of patience. I ran out of patience about 5 years ago when the guy I was seeing at the time started spouting bullshit about how men are the true victims of rape, because most women are lying about it and because the irrational fear women have of being raped leads them to mistrust and misjudge all men.
Erica, just because you know this guy, and just because you’ve only known good things about him, it doesn’t mean he didn’t rape those girls. For any rapist, murderer, pedophile – you can probably find someone who thinks “but they’re such a good person.” You don’t know what goes on in anybody else’s head. Therefore you have no way of knowing what somebody is and isn’t capable of.
Just because a girl is drunk doesn’t make her a living breathing sex toy. No is no, even if you’re drunk or wearing a skirt up to your hoo ha or walking around totally naked or have had sex with 1,000 other people – none of that is an excuse to “force sex”, on someone.
As for the verdict, it’ll be good if he actually serves his time. But I’m sure his scummy little lawyer is working on a way to get him out of that.
I’m still amazed that in many cases of rapists, its WOMEN who are their most ardent supporters.
How many times have I seen a mother claim on TV “I didnt raise my boy like that” or see a rapist’s girlfriend claim that “he’s not like that”
BTW, I will count this case grudgingly as a “win.”
I posted in an earlier thread that I suspected the guy would get off scot-free because of the lack of DNA, previous sexual contact with teh victims, etc.
So the max is 8 years, but even if the judge gave him the max, its very unlikely he would serve that long. Some idiot states like Indiana have absurd laws where violent convicts get HALF their sentence shaved off automatically for “good behavior.”
Its time to wipe these sentence reductions off the map for violent offenders.
well im glad you all think im stupid but any way.
preston was dating my good friend for a long time he would never force her to have sex. i wasnt talking about guys being friends im sayin. those girls where all friends that where all messing around with him and didnt want each other to be mad. if the girls where really being raped they would have been pushing him off they didnt.. they came up into his room drunk hes a guy. they know he wants sex they shouldnt even have gone up there any way im not going waste my time with a whole lot of big mouthed people that have never even met him
Erica, I’m simply going to repeat what newslang said up thread. If you were ever raped — and I also hope to god that you’re not — people would almost certainly say the same exact things about you. Clearly you don’t actually understand rape, and it’s sad to me that you have no interest in learning. But again: if it were you, us big mouthed people would be the ones having your back. Personally, I’m very, very proud to be an owner of such a big mouth.
Just to fill in the audience about the goings on backstage, I’m now getting spammed by erica and her friends talking about how women get drunk, become unable to keep their legs closed and just don’t want to admit it the next morning and therefore accuse someone who just so happens to always be Preston of raping them.
Sorry folks, I’m not letting your comments through. Have your fun, but I’m done being angrily impatient and am now just impatiently bored by you. Tell Preston I say Hi when you go to visit him in jail.
Okay, I was wrong and this is just hilarious: erica is either having a big slumber party and every one of her friends is spewing their misogyny from the same computer, or all of them are actually, oops, erica. I can see your IP address, dumbass.
no i whouldnt write comments about my self. it is a friends of mine buts they where upset that every one was bashing on my comment maybe preston is guilty but i think that he has gone though enough . hes never gunna get a good job or a date i think enough is enough let him live his life if he did the crime let him do his time that by law was supota be his punishment.
they shouldnt even have gone up there any way
Why, if he’s such a sweetheart who would never rape anyone?
I don’t know how to put this in words, but really I need someone to give me a honest answer and how I should feel about this issue. I know this is not a Dr. Phil website, and i’m not just some random crazy person looking for help, but right now i’m just lost and confused.
Preston is my best friend, i’ve known him for years.. I can talk about a lot of stuff until i’m blue in my face, about good things and bad things. but i’m not going to do that, we heard a lot of it already… we know the story and we have are own opinions, which is great.
But put yourself in my position? That all i’m asking..I love the kid too death! Honestly, If you are going to tell me it’s hard for me to deal with the truth, that not a good enough answer for me..
I’ll be the first person to tell you that he had sex with these girls.I know this is going to be shocking to you but, I can see preston having sex with girls, but I just can’t see preston being a “Serial rapist” But we don’t know what really happen. We don’t know what he was thinking those nights when he was with those girls.
Basically, you are going to tell me he’s a “Serial Pariest” base on…. “Rapist. Rapist, rapist, rapist. Legally. As decided by a jury of his peers! As confirmed by 4 different women” which 3 girls gave him consent and was found not guilty. I also found in a article’s that jury’s members were crying when the verdict’s were being announced.. You can take two side of this. Either, something bad happen in the past with a rape victim, or they don’t believe he’s guilty (That a whole another story)
The point i’m trying to prove is that you are calling him a rapist “legally” base on the media & “juror of his peers”… Maybe he needs a little help, we are not all perfect. but to call him a rapist is not right at all..
What happen here is wrong no matter if he was guilty/not guilty… My prays go out to the preston wido and his family.. My Prays also goes out to the victims whoever gotten sexual rape.. I’m really not here to fight with anyone, I just trying to be a normal person and express my feeling and also asking for a little help from other.. I just hope I haven’t offended, I’m sorry if I did.. Very nice website and thanks for your time. hope to hear some comments & suggestion.
those girls where all friends that where all messing around with him and didnt want each other to be mad.
Oh, I see. It’s not that he’d get mad, it’s that these four women, aside from being stupid and drunk, are such stone-cold callous sluts that they’d try to put a man in jail rather than fight over him.
Somehow, I find the theory that they’re telling the truth to be the more convincing one. Can’t think why…
Erica is banned, but I just had to let her last comment through because . . . wow. It took her 20 comments, but finally she spoke the truth.
John, I haven’t got the slightest clue in hell what to do with you. First of all, you actually didn’t really end up posing a question. I’m guessing that you’re looking for general advice with regards to how to handle the situation of having a friend that is a rapist? Secondly, I haven’t got the slightest clue whether or not you’re for real. You might not really be Preston’s friend and are a troll. You might be Preston’s friend determined to get one comment through so that you can from that point on start acting like a rape apologist nut. For that reason I’ve kept you on moderation, and you get one shot. If at any point I decide that it’s your goal to just be an asshole, or if you have no interest in actually learning anything but only in apologizing for your friend, we’re done. Got it?
Okay, so what would be good enough for you? As I’ve said elsewhere many, many times, I don’t understand the whole “but I know him! I love him!” Okay. Well, that really has to fucking suck for you. But you know who it sucks a lot more for? The women who were raped. If we’re dealing with one of my brothers, I don’t believe that either of them could possibly rape. If four separate women came forward and accused one of them of rape though, that’s that. I believe rape victims. I would probably always still love them because they are my brothers and that’s how family tends to work. But I wouldn’t want anything to do with them.
So in this case, John, one of two things are true: Preson is a liar, or all four women who accused him of rape/sexual assault are liars. I understand why your first inclination is to believe your friend, but try looking at it from a rational point of view here. In any case, it doesn’t matter what Preston was “thinking” those nights. What matters is what he did. Did he explicitly gain consent and make sure that the sex was okay before preceding? Did he stop when they said “no”? Were they sober enough to know what was going on around them and therefore consent? If the answer to any of those questions is “no,” then it doesn’t matter what Preston was thinking; he’s a rapist.
The point of a trial is not to prove innocence. It’s to prove guilt, which is not the same thing. When proving guilt fails, that doesn’t mean the person is not guilty — it merely means that there was not enough “proof.” Which could be said for virtually every rape trial under the sun, because it seems like a video surveillance tape and DNA evidence isn’t enough these days to get a damn conviction. “Not guilty” does not mean “innocent” or “those women gave consent.” It means that the jury did not feel that they knew beyond a reasonable doubt that the women did not give consent.
How many people genuinely believe that O.J. Simpson is innocent? Or that Michael Jackson didn’t molest those kids? Failing to convict in absolutely no way proves innocence, and I think the public generally recognizes this unless they have a vested interest.
Also, I highly, highly doubt that they would let anyone on the jury who had been raped or had a close family member who had been raped. Which is bullshit, complete bullshit. But it’s how things work. And especially with this defense attorney? I would be utterly shocked to find out that someone fitting this description who didn’t lie during their interview was sitting on the jury.
So what the hell does one have to do earn the title “rapist” if even being convicted of rape is no longer enough? He doesn’t need “a little help,” though rehabilitative efforts sure as hell couldn’t hurt, seeing as how he’s going to be back out in the world soon enough. But being a rapist doesn’t make one need “a little help.” That’s a lot of fucking help, buddy.
Lastly, you say that your prayers go out to rape survivors. Now, you ask us to be respectful of the fact that Preston is your friend. But I am a rape survivor. Many people reading this are rape survivors. We’re all sitting here, looking at your words. And what your words are doing is saying that yeah, your friend might have raped someone, but can’t we move on? Sure, he might have raped someone, but none of us are perfect! Do you have any idea what that looks like to a rape survivor? At all? So I ask — and let’s be fair, it’s really not asking, it’s requiring — that you respect that.
Now, hopefully I didn’t just completely waste my time. I won’t hold my breath, but we’ll see.
And here we see the classic example of the consequences of dehumanizing rapists.
Odd isn’t it?
If we treat rapists like animals, the consequence is that people refuse to see that “a nice boy” could be a rapist…so the only people who are convicted of rape are those who look scary.
If we treat rapists as fucked up human beings wholly and completely responsible for the harm they cause to others, then any human being (including those “nice boys” that someone just loves to death) could be a rapist.
So, John, there is your answer. A rapist is not some foreign evil that you could spot a mile a way. A rapist does not stand outside women’s bathrooms in a black cape, rubbing his hands together sinisterly and cackling while plotting his next attack (okay maybe some of them).
A rapist is a person, a human being. A rapist is someone who “has sex” with an extremely inebriated person. A rapist is someone who “has sex” with a girl who says “no” but “we all know that’s just a line.”
A rape occurs every 2 and a half minutes. Not by evil demons…but by otherwise “normal” people… by college students… by comics on stage… by soldiers (This is not a statement about ALL soldiers any more than the prior statement was about ALL comics)…and by coworkers
People. All types of people. Who do really awful things to other people.
Your friend apparently joined that illustrious club. He sucks as a human being and deserves to go to jail. Deal with it.
I had a close friend who got together with another friend of mine. They are together for a while and they seem to have a really dysfunctional relationship.
Everyone around thinks she’s the one who’s a bitch cos he’s such a “nice guy” and she’s crazy. Well, turns out he wanted sex when she didn’t. So he just took what he wanted. This included once when she was more or less passed out due to a fever.
A year or so after they break up she tells me this and a lot of other things that went on in his bedroom. At first I couldn’t match up the two pictures of him, but I didn’t doubt her. I just wondered how a guy could do that to someone he claimed to love.
So finding out your friend is a rapist doesn’t mean his victims were lying. It just means he wasn’t such a nice guy after all. Dump him and be done with it.
If anyone wants more details on my former friend: http://mortality.wordpress.com/2008/03/17/some-people-should-stay-single/
I’d say this is bad news. Yeah, he was convicted on *something*, but that defense “lawyer”, and many others (including, I’m sure, “erica”) put those four women through hell. Once again, how many women will be discouraged from even bothering to report their rapes? So this affects all women, not just those four.
As far as sentencing, I’d be extremely surprised if the rapist is given anywhere *near* eight years, and I’ll bet he’ll be out in months (and crying about the unfairness of it all).
P.S. I think that “erica” is a sockpuppet for some cheeto-munching rape-apologist dude.
I think that’s pretty likely, too. But unfortunately I’ve also met women think this way.
Let the dude sit in jail and think about what he did to these poor young women. Does anyone know what is going on with his sentencing? Im still waiting on it…
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