Jane Peoples needed to compose herself. The subject matter hit her like a linebacker in the football crazy town of Knoxville, Tenn. Five minutes and she would call back. Five turned into 12, maybe 15 minutes before the executive director of the Sexual Crisis Center of Knoxville returned the call.
She was asked, again, what it meant for Tennessee to sign Daniel Hood to a scholarship.
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| Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin feels Daniel Hood deserves a second chance. (US Presswire) |
Surely, Tennessee had consulted Peoples when it signed a 19-year-old who, as a 13-year-old, was found to be a part of kidnapping and aggravated rape of his then-14-year-old first cousin. Surely, in its vetting process Tennessee had run the possibility past the director of the second oldest sexual assault program in the country. Certainly the issue was worthy of feedback from the center in downtown Knoxville just minutes from campus where Daniel Hood would take classes.
"No, actually you're the first one to call," Peoples said.
Tennessee made a big deal about how it spoke to everyone from Hood's principal to friends, family and coaches about the athlete's character. It got resounding endorsements, even one from the victim, who said that Hood deserved a scholarship to Tennessee.
For Peoples, though, this story is a continuation, not an end.
"She may be saying she's fine now and that's great, but you have to [know] that whenever a woman is raped, that becomes a part of her for the rest of her life," Peoples said. "For her to carry it for the rest of her life and him not having to carry for the rest of his life, I think is not fair."
Peoples suggested that the victim, now a young adult, might not know what fallout from the assault lies in future. In a decade or so, some event could trigger trauma, "anxiety, depression, an inability to work," Peoples said. "When a woman is raped, that becomes part of her for the rest of her life."
The victim is friends with her cousin. She has forgiven him. Isn't that enough in this situation?
Peoples was reminded of something a victim once told her: "My rapist will always be one of my partners."
"Once you've been raped, that is part of your integral being," she said. "It's a hideous crime. It's just the ultimate power and control someone can place on another being."
"I don't know the circumstances," Peoples added. "I don't know what [the victim's] emotional well being is. [But] you can ask the questions: Was she pressured into it [endorsement]? Is all this publicity making her feel that way? ... She's still young. Will she feel that way when she is 27?
"Potentially, will she have problems later? I don't know."
These are questions that Tennessee apparently hasn't asked. A second chance is an easy thing to earn when you can play a heck of a defensive line. Peoples has been executive director for 1½ years, but the center has been around for 35. (The one older is located in Washington, D.C., she said). That gives her, and it, some unique insight.
Admittedly, Peoples didn't read the court documents (note: Explicit content), parts of which were too graphic to put in the average newspaper.
• Peoples doesn't know that the documents state that the victim was violated with a toilet plunger wrapped in cellophane to form a "condom". She doesn't know that the victim was duct-taped over 70 percent of her body, including initially over her mouth, eyes and vagina.
• Peoples isn't aware that the trial court found that Hood was a young man with a 119 I.Q. who was "a follower rather than a leader." Hood showed "virtually no remorse" and "consistently downplayed his role" in the crime. In 2006, he was categorized as a "pseudo-socialized child exploiter," who "desired sexual pleasure through exploitation of his victim." That year Hood was assessed to be a low- to moderate-risk sex offender who was clearly in need of therapy.
• Peoples doesn't know that when Hood's 17-year-old friend used the plunger, that court documents state Hood, "failed to protect his cousin when he could have easily done so ..."
• Peoples also doesn't know a court document called Hood's home situation "problematical." It said there was a "clear lack of parental supervision ... letting children of the opposite sex sleep over at the home, with the girls sleeping in the same bed with the son (Hood)."
Hood told a radio host this week, "Me, myself, I don't deserve a second chance. Through the power of Christ, that's the only reason I am who I am."
"I'm just concerned about the message it's giving other teenagers that I can commit a heinous crime and be rewarded a scholarship," Peoples said. "Degradation of women is still an accepted part of our culture. All you have to do is see the ads, listen to music. We still put women down in our culture. If women are seen as property, it's easy for us to be put in a position of being hurt."
In one report, Hood was quoted as saying he "witnessed" a "brutal rape." Although Hood says he did not use the plunger on the victim, the jury said he was certainly more than a witness. The friend, Robert Sanico, was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Hood was ruled to be a juvenile and delinquent by a Sullivan County (Tenn.) Juvenile Court. After an appeal, a jury trial found him delinquent on the basis he had committed the adult offenses of kidnapping and aggravated rape.
"You ask what I'm guilty of, I'm guilty of not knowing what to do, being in fear," Hood told the radio host.
What has saved Hood, he says, is counseling, therapy, treatment and his faith. Knoxville Catholic High School looked into his background before admitting him. Posting a 3.8 GPA and leading an apparent exemplary life led Tennessee to take a chance.
Approximately 25 colleges pursued Hood until learning about his background. At least Tennessee officials stuck to their convictions. For the other schools, a cursory check of the Internet would have revealed Hood's court case. Tennessee might be wrong, but it is not wrong and hypocritical.
Coach Lane Kiffin and his boss, Mike Hamilton, know what they're getting into. They knew they would be inviting criticism. Their shield is that football is king on campus and apparently Hood can play a little bit.
Let's hope this isn't the next Willie Williams case. The Miami administration admitted the stud linebacker who had been arrested 11 times and was on probation at the time. President Donna Shalala went to bat for the kid who went on to play for five colleges in three different divisions.
Hood might deserve the right to a college education, but why at the tax-supported state university of Tennessee? For free.
Maybe Hood becomes a star, or even better, gets his degree and lives a pure life. Maybe the one thing Tennessee did in this whole situation is shine a light where it needs to be shined. The Department of Justice reported recently that one in five college women will be the victim of attempted or actual sexual assault during their time in school.
Three years ago, USC's Mark Sanchez was arrested for alleged sexual assault. The case was not prosecuted because of a lack of evidence, although Sanchez was disciplined for underage drinking and using a fake I.D. Sanchez had to take a rape awareness class. The woman involved left USC.
The episode was barely mentioned in the breathless assessments of Sanchez's talents leading up to draft day. Should it have been?
Hamilton, the AD, did not return a phone call asking for comment for this story. In Knoxville, though, the Hood issue won't go away any time soon.
"That's my concern," Peoples said. "Is the girl getting a full scholarship to UT? What are her second chances? ... How is she going to live with this for the rest of her life? What about the kids who can't play sports who will never be able to get those scholarships?
"Should we all be given second chances?"
JGant333 
