Life Afterwards?

[BlackLantern]

Hello, it took a bit of courage to post here, but I'm from the U.S and I was charged with rape. I of course, could not even imagine committing such a heinous crime but, regardless was jailed and charged. I was all over the papers in my smaller-sized town, and my picture was posted all over the place. Naturally many people assumed me guilty from the get-go, and because of this I spent the majority of my time on bond alone. I quit contacting any of my friends for fear they would no longer want to hang out with me or would talk about me contacting them and be in the spotlight again.

My case was finally dismissed and the grand jury decided not to indict. Since the Case was dismissed it can always reopen, since it is basically she say, he say; I fear any bad public commit about me drinking, or going to a social party, or anything negative said about me might cause them to reopen the case?

I know the best solution would be simply to move somewhere where the majority don't think of me as some kind of monster despite my case being thrown out, but I have no idea how to go about it, seeing as background checks will still show where I was arrested on a felony charge, thus really making it hard to find work.

What I really want to know is, those of you who have had happy endings in your cases, did any of you attempt to live in the same town where the whole mess started?

Would I have to change my name to prevent google searches scaring off all potential romantic interests?

I just feel as if I have lost all of the optimism I once had, when I was so fueled to prove my innocence. And now here I am, case dismissed, with no idea how to fix my life up to the point it was at before this...

It seems impossible beyond starting over in a new town with a new name. It really isn't fair that our names our dismissed even when they have NO EVIDENCE whatsoever.

[mumneedinghelp]

You posted a reply to my thread so I thought I would find out your story. As you know my son has only recently been charged so we have a long way to go. He says if he is found guilty he will have to move away when he comes out of jail but if he is found not guilty he is happy to stay where he is. Luckily for him the false accuser lives in a different town, in a different county and comes under a different police force so the only people who know what is going on are those who he has told. He is also self-employed so there is no employer to deal with which causes huge problems for some falsely accused.

I am sure someone who has come out the other end will post. Good luck to you.

[BlackLantern]

Oh man.

You posted a reply to my thread so I thought I would find out your story. As you know my son has only recently been charged so we have a long way to go. He says if he is found guilty he will have to move away when he comes out of jail but if he is found not guilty he is happy to stay where he is. Luckily for him the false accuser lives in a different town, in a different county and comes under a different police force so the only people who know what is going on are those who he has told. He is also self-employed so there is no employer to deal with which causes huge problems for some falsely accused.

I am sure someone who has come out the other end will post. Good luck to you.

I really hope when he IS found to be the victim, things work out as well as he plans, but in my personal experience, I know there are more ignorant individuals than rational ones, meaning, inevitably, some retard will think it will make him look cool to attack the guy who was accused of some heinous, monstrous act, unaware of it ending positively.

Something he really needs to prepare though, is that if people in his hometown know about it, even with a Not-Guilty, there will always be plenty of people that deep down wonder. "what if he just got away with it?" But I would hope he is able to stay in his own town, as long as he feels safe there.

[is there justice?]

Hi BL

Hub's FA has already done the damage in our small village whether or not it gets thrown out. To this end we have already agreed a sale on our small business, the buyer will subsume the business into their larger business, run from their own premises a few miles away.

We have received both support from locals and been gossiped about by locals. The FA and her sidekick have been keen to gossip in a bid to put us out of business because she has started a rival business.

When this is over, or maybe even before, we will be moving some 5 hours away and enjoying semi retirement.

[Izzy]

I also stay in a small village. In the beginning I thought there was no way we could stay especially after what seemed to be a bit of a vigilante attack - did report it but nothing could be proved.
I did find everyone who knew us were supportive as were some who didn't. There were of course the gossips and although it cuts deep at the time you do learn that you will always come across people like that and they quickly move on to the next hot topic, not worth letting them get you down. It has though taken me a long time to be able to see that and I can understand why people move on.

I have certain responsibilities which mean I can't really move at the minute but I must admit there are times when I bump into certain people I don't want to see it makes me want to leave. Other days it's ok really - swings and roundabouts.