Activist groups gathered at the Santa Clara county district attorney’s office to protest District Attorney Dolores Carr’s decision not to take the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl to court.

Upset with the district attorney’s decision to not file charges, women’s rights advocacy groups including Democratic Activist for Women Now and Stop Family Violence organized the event on behalf of the alleged victim.

De Anza students Lauren Chief Elk and April Grolle, who claimed to half witnessed the incident, did not attend the protest. “The purpose [of this protest] was to give the victim’s statement. She’s going to ask the attorney general’s office to intervene because there’s no justice here,” said Weiser.

Katherine Redmond from the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, also expressed her concerns about the way the case was handled. “She left out the most compelling parts of this case,” said Redmond, about the district attorney. “I think that the public should be demanding some answers. The DA has a duty to the public to explain her position fully and explain why she presented half the evidence to the grand jury.”

One of the speakers during the protest was Laura Casas Frier, a member of the De Anza College’s board of trustees. Frier spoke as “a local citizen, and urged witnesses to come forward. “Please boys, you come forward and provide the DA with the additional witness statements. You know who you are,” said Frier.

Claudia Shope came to support the protest because she was also a victim of rape and said that she understands the tedious judicial process. She said she thought the message being sent with the decision was that it was OK for people to have their way with other people and get away with it.

Although many of the protestors doubt their actions will have a major impact for any reconsideration by the DA, Weiser said they will not quit until something happens. District Attorney Dolores Carr said she understood the aggravation from the protestors, but unless major new evidence surfaces, her decision not to press charges still stands.

“I think that everyone in the community is feeling frustrated and helpless and we are too,” said Carr. “We want to support the victim. We want to hold people accountable, but we want to judge cases on admissible evidence. And we have to do that objectively and balance both sides.

“So we have to set aside our feelings to make decisions on the case, and that’s what we did,” she said.

Mandy Benson, president-elect of the Nation Organization for Women of California, said that there was enough evidence because there are three eye witnesses and DNA samples. “[But] the three unbiased eye witnesses were not brought before the grand jury, nor was the victim,” said Redmond.

“Taking a case to a grand jury generally is an option we have, but where the case is clear, like we felt this one is, that there is not enough evidence to charge, then we would not make the victim go through a grand jury process before we made the decision,” said Carr.

Some of the protestors believed Carr did not press charges because of the similarities with the situation of District Attorney Mike Nifong and his involvement with the Duke lacrosse case.

Just as Nifong over-exaggerated the seriousness of the case he handled for Durham Country in North Carolina, Carr is doing the extreme opposite and down-playing the case, said Redmond. “This DA is going to end up with a Mike Nifong reputation, but it’s going to be the opposite way. She was looking to save her reputation by not bringing this case.”

“What I would say to the De Anza students is that drinking alcohol and sexual behavior sometimes can be a lethal combination for both young men and young women,” said Carr.

“I would hope that all the people in [De Anza’s] campus would now be aware that they could do other people a big service by watching out if they see something that doesn’t seem like it’s going right.”