Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Cops: Swim Team Star Rapes Coed in Dorm Room, Flees to Canada
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece. Well, it's happened again, according
- 0:17Speaker 1: to a rape victim and police investigators. How many times
- 0:24Speaker 1: will an athlete get preferential treatment after brutal rape charges?
- 0:35Speaker 1: This time we have a University of Utah swimmer actually
- 0:41Speaker 1: skipping the country and fleeing to Canada when his alleged
- 0:48Speaker 1: rape victim finally finds her voice and makes a complaint.
- 0:55Speaker 1: Talk about flight as being in dish of guilt. You know,
- 1:00Speaker 1: when a lot of jurisdiction's flight as inn disha of
- 1:05Speaker 1: guilt is no longer a jury charge. A judge doesn't
- 1:11Speaker 1: tell the jury that they can consider flight as evidence
- 1:15Speaker 1: of guilt. However, it can still be argued by prosecutors.
- 1:19Speaker 1: And I've never seen a case fit for that argument
- 1:24Speaker 1: as this case an elite university swimmer accused of rape.
- 1:31Speaker 1: Besides to what go on Vaca in Canada? Never seen
- 1:35Speaker 1: Niagara Falls? Do you believe that? Because I don't? Imancy Grace,
- 1:41Speaker 1: this is crime Stories. Thank you for being with us
- 1:44Speaker 1: here at Fox Nation and Serious ex sem one to eleven.
- 1:47Speaker 1: How do the whole thing start? Take a listen to
- 1:50Speaker 1: our friends at Fox thirteen.
- 1:52Speaker 2: A sophomore on the University of Utah swimming and diving
- 1:55Speaker 2: team has been charged with rape a student at the
- 1:57Speaker 2: Utah Police she met nineteen year old Ben Smith in
- 2:00Speaker 2: her dorm building last August, and later that day he
- 2:03Speaker 2: visited her in her room and started kissing her. She
- 2:06Speaker 2: said she told him no multiple times, but he kept
- 2:09Speaker 2: forcing her into various sex acts. When police interviewed him,
- 2:12Speaker 2: Smith first den I knowing the victim, but then acknowledge
- 2:15Speaker 2: having sex with her and knowing she was in pain.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Oh, dear Lord in Heaven, I haven't even gotten into
- 2:23Speaker 1: the beginning of the facts, and it's like deja vu,
- 2:27Speaker 1: a bad flashback, because that sounds like every rape case ever.
- 2:33Speaker 1: Let me just go straight out to Donna Kelly. I've
- 2:36Speaker 1: got an all star panel including Jared Page with the
- 2:39Speaker 1: guiptp art daily in Salt Lake City. But Donna Kelly,
- 2:42Speaker 1: former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney attorney for crimes victims,
- 2:49Speaker 1: helped form the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force. Can
- 2:53Speaker 1: they at least come up with a different story, because
- 2:58Speaker 1: first of all, it's that it didn't happen. Oh who,
- 3:02Speaker 1: I don't know her, and then you go, oh, well, look,
- 3:05Speaker 1: here's video from the bar and there you are sitting
- 3:09Speaker 1: beside each other on a bar steel. Oh that girl,
- 3:12Speaker 1: I still don't know her. I just saw her in
- 3:14Speaker 1: the bar. I had nothing to do with her. Well, sir,
- 3:17Speaker 1: if you look at the rest of the video, you
- 3:20Speaker 1: see you and her leaving the bar together. Oh yeah,
- 3:25Speaker 1: you know what I did offer as a gentleman to
- 3:28Speaker 1: walk her to her car because it was late at night.
- 3:32Speaker 1: And sir, we have your fingerprints on her car. Well,
- 3:35Speaker 1: I opened the car door for her. On the inside
- 3:37Speaker 1: of her car. Well, you know what. I sat in
- 3:39Speaker 1: there for a few moments and we talked. Well you
- 3:43Speaker 1: know what, she says, you raped her. Well, we may
- 3:45Speaker 1: have had consensual sex, but she wanted it. Well, the
- 3:51Speaker 1: rape kit nurse says she was raped. And your DNA
- 3:56Speaker 1: is there. See how the progression of that story go's
- 4:00Speaker 1: Donna Kelly. So here we say what who we see
- 4:05Speaker 1: him saying? What did it? Oh? Yeah her, that was consensual.
- 4:08Speaker 1: It's the same old, same old. Can't they come up
- 4:11Speaker 1: with something? Need just want surprise me?
- 4:13Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're right on, Nancy. I mean, many times
- 4:17Speaker 3: you will see and I've reviewed literally thousands of police reports,
- 4:22Speaker 3: many times you will see sort of the progression of
- 4:25Speaker 3: the suspect realizing that they are going to be caught
- 4:30Speaker 3: in the lie.
- 4:31Speaker 4: So the lie.
- 4:32Speaker 3: Starts changing as the interview progresses. Now this one, I
- 4:36Speaker 3: don't know, but it appears to be changing according to
- 4:40Speaker 3: the officer's knowledge and use of facts with him, and
- 4:46Speaker 3: he begins to evolve, the story begins to evolve, hopefully
- 4:50Speaker 3: to get him off the hook. But that is very common.
- 4:54Speaker 3: That is not unusual at all as we see in
- 4:58Speaker 3: these types of cases.
- 4:59Speaker 1: And that is where Rachel D. Fisher comes in. Registered nurse,
- 5:03Speaker 1: sex Assault Nurse Examiner s a ne expert, witness, private investigator,
- 5:11Speaker 1: author of Taking Back the Pen, Forensic Nursing Consulting and Education.
- 5:16Speaker 1: You can find her at legal r inconsult dot org. Rachel.
- 5:21Speaker 1: That's when I need a rape kit nurse or a
- 5:25Speaker 1: doctor that performed the rape kit. But it's usually you guys,
- 5:28Speaker 1: the rape kit nurses. I call them. You're a sane
- 5:32Speaker 1: sex assault nurse examiner. How can you It's basically a
- 5:36Speaker 1: pelvic and for all of youse, I just saw Jackie
- 5:39Speaker 1: just like, uh, make an you face. Yeah, nobody wants
- 5:44Speaker 1: to go in for a pelvic but a rape kit
- 5:48Speaker 1: nurse basically performs a pelvic exam times one hundred. So
- 5:54Speaker 1: how can you look at a woman's private parts and
- 5:59Speaker 1: help shine a light on whether she's been raped or
- 6:03Speaker 1: had consensual sex.
- 6:04Speaker 5: Yeah, so it starts with the basics. When that patient
- 6:08Speaker 5: comes in after being victimized and they turn to us
- 6:10Speaker 5: and tell her story, they have to sign a consent
- 6:13Speaker 5: form for us to basically interrogate them, go to those
- 6:17Speaker 5: deep moments of traumas bread their legs, poke, prod and
- 6:21Speaker 5: penetrate them again. So we're collecting evidence in this rape
- 6:25Speaker 5: kit and it's a very vigorous, intense process, but they
- 6:29Speaker 5: have to sign consent for us to do that. So
- 6:32Speaker 5: the issue here is he sexually assaulted y rapeder without
- 6:36Speaker 5: consent and she had to go through that process of
- 6:40Speaker 5: penetration by a stranger again because of what he did.
- 6:44Speaker 5: And so that process that they go to coming to
- 6:47Speaker 5: the hospital is a vulnerable one and it's very invasive.
- 6:50Speaker 1: Yeah, he's going to sign up for that voluntarily, But
- 6:52Speaker 1: what would you expect to see. I know, you do
- 6:56Speaker 1: a vaginal exam, you do a right combing of the
- 7:01Speaker 1: pubic hair to find out if the defendant's hair is
- 7:04Speaker 1: there or for any fibers or basically any of it
- 7:09Speaker 1: its you can find. You do an anal swab. Who
- 7:11Speaker 1: wants to sign up for that? Nobody an oral swab?
- 7:15Speaker 1: What would you expect to see in the vaginal or
- 7:19Speaker 1: anal exam that would say this woman has been right,
- 7:23Speaker 1: this was not consensual.
- 7:24Speaker 5: Do we look for any kinds of infection or injury
- 7:27Speaker 5: or cares. We photograph them as possible, but we swab
- 7:32Speaker 5: for DNA evidence and that is what goes into the
- 7:34Speaker 5: race kits. So if they're unconscious of they don't remember,
- 7:38Speaker 5: we just swab every area, the anus, the vagina, the
- 7:42Speaker 5: outer lits, the mouth, anywhere that could have been touched.
- 7:45Speaker 5: We swab and we go inside and we put that
- 7:48Speaker 5: swab inside those private areas and we look for pain.
- 7:51Speaker 5: So for swobbing, they tell us what hurts, and it's
- 7:55Speaker 5: guided by the history of what they remember happened. And
- 7:58Speaker 5: we'll take their blood, so we'll an iv in them,
- 8:01Speaker 5: take their blood, try to look for any drugs or
- 8:03Speaker 5: alcohol that was you, and then we put this all
- 8:06Speaker 5: in the kit and hopefully we're able to find DNA
- 8:10Speaker 5: from who hurt them. Sometimes there's foign objects inside them.
- 8:13Speaker 5: If it was done on the ground or in the woods, depending.
- 8:17Speaker 5: We look first things from the crime scene as well
- 8:19Speaker 5: on the patient's body.
- 8:20Speaker 1: So you can look with your exam into the vagina
- 8:25Speaker 1: and rectum and you can actually see tearing, blading, or bruising.
- 8:31Speaker 5: Yes it's not always president, but we're able to see
- 8:34Speaker 5: that when we put the speculum inside or if you
- 8:36Speaker 5: have to put anything into the rectum, you're able to
- 8:39Speaker 5: look for the jersey inside their body from what happened
- 8:42Speaker 5: to them forcefully.
- 8:42Speaker 6: Yeah, I is.
- 8:43Speaker 1: I'm heading to Jared Page joining us in the Get
- 8:46Speaker 1: Part Daily and Salt Lake, but I want you to
- 8:49Speaker 1: hear our friends at crime online dot Com.
- 8:52Speaker 6: The alleged assault took place in a dorm room at
- 8:54Speaker 6: the University of Utah on August sixteenth, but the victim
- 8:58Speaker 6: did not report it right away. The official report was
- 9:01Speaker 6: made in February, with university police detective Francisco Chevez investigating
- 9:05Speaker 6: the claims. After talking to the alleged victim, Chevez spoke
- 9:09Speaker 6: to Ben Smith. At first, Smith denied knowing the young woman.
- 9:13Speaker 6: He later changed his official statement, claiming he did know
- 9:16Speaker 6: the woman and the two had consensual sex. Smith conceded
- 9:20Speaker 6: that the woman was in pain throughout the encounter. University
- 9:23Speaker 6: police did not arrest Smith at that time. When they
- 9:26Speaker 6: returned a few days later with a restraining owner, Smith
- 9:30Speaker 6: had packed his bags and left.
- 9:31Speaker 1: Okay, there's so many things wrong with what I just heard.
- 9:36Speaker 1: Not that they're factually incorrect, they're just wrong. His denying
- 9:42Speaker 1: that he knew the woman had ever met her, then
- 9:45Speaker 1: oh yeah, I did meet her. Did you rape or
- 9:47Speaker 1: know that was consensual? How can you go from I've
- 9:49Speaker 1: never met her to oh, yeah, we had consensual sex? Guys,
- 9:54Speaker 1: is a lot more than I can play in sound bites.
- 10:00Speaker 1: I'm going to go straight out to Jared Page joining
- 10:02Speaker 1: us Get Park Daily in Salt Lake City, who's been
- 10:05Speaker 1: on the case from the very very beginning. First of all, Jared,
- 10:10Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. I know a little
- 10:13Speaker 1: bit about this guy's background. Jared Page, take a listen
- 10:17Speaker 1: to ourcut one crimeonline dot Com.
- 10:21Speaker 6: After graduation, Smith announces he will attend the University of
- 10:25Speaker 6: Utah in Salt Lake City in the fall to pursue
- 10:27Speaker 6: a bachelor's degree in marketing. As a freshman member of
- 10:30Speaker 6: the university's diving team, Smith wins the men's competition at
- 10:34Speaker 6: the Air Force Diving Invitational. Smith finished up his freshman
- 10:37Speaker 6: year for the University of Utah diving team, coming in
- 10:40Speaker 6: second in platform diving at the PAC twelve Diving Championship.
- 10:43Speaker 1: Wow. So this guy, the alleged rapist, is a superstar Jared.
- 10:49Speaker 7: Yes, by all accounts, he was a rising star, rising
- 10:54Speaker 7: diver on the University of Utah men's swimming and diving
- 10:58Speaker 7: team and had a strong freshman season and then came
- 11:03Speaker 7: back this incident there. The soptomore season started in September,
- 11:11Speaker 7: where this alleged indident alleged date took place in August
- 11:15Speaker 7: or just before that. And again, as as you noted,
- 11:19Speaker 7: the woman did not come forward immediately, and he continued
- 11:23Speaker 7: to compete and competed as recently as February tenth. So again, yeah,
- 11:27Speaker 7: this was an athlete who was having a really successful
- 11:32Speaker 7: career at the University of Utah.
- 11:33Speaker 1: I mean, for petty Psyche wins right off the bat,
- 11:36Speaker 1: he wins the men's competition at the Air Force Diving Invitational.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Then he finished our freshman year coming in second in
- 11:47Speaker 1: platform diving at the PAC twelve Diving Championship. That's no
- 11:53Speaker 1: small thing. I mean, he is elite amongst the elite
- 12:00Speaker 1: in the university system, and when you hear about the
- 12:04Speaker 1: way they met, it's almost as if it's out of
- 12:07Speaker 1: a rom com, a romantic comedy. Take a listen to this.
- 12:10Speaker 6: After a strong finish at the PAC twelve Diving Championship
- 12:13Speaker 6: as a freshman, nineteen year old Ben Smith is ready
- 12:16Speaker 6: to take on his sophomore year at the University of Utah,
- 12:19Speaker 6: and on August thirteenth, Ben smith sophomore campaign gets off
- 12:23Speaker 6: to a promising start, finishing third in a dive meat.
- 12:26Speaker 6: Three days later, August sixteenth, walking with a group of
- 12:29Speaker 6: friends through a common area, he meets a young woman
- 12:31Speaker 6: reading a book. After a brief conversation, they exchanged contact
- 12:35Speaker 6: information and go their separate ways. Later that afternoon, Ben
- 12:39Speaker 6: Smith reaches out to the young woman.
- 12:41Speaker 1: I'm just thinking this through. I want to go to
- 12:45Speaker 1: Scott Johnson joining US forensic Psychologists, joining US out of
- 12:49Speaker 1: Minnesota specializing in sex predators. Also professor Florida Gulf Coast University,
- 12:57Speaker 1: and you can find him at Forensic Consultation. Scott, thank
- 13:01Speaker 1: you for being with us. You know, when I heard
- 13:04Speaker 1: about how the rape suspect met the alleged victim, it
- 13:11Speaker 1: reminded me. Let's see, it's a Meg Ryan Tom Hanks movie.
- 13:17Speaker 1: Oh wait, it's You've Got Mail. It's You've Got Mail.
- 13:21Speaker 1: And she owns a bookstore and he owns a bookstore,
- 13:24Speaker 1: and he always is like spying on her in a
- 13:28Speaker 1: loving and caring way, and she's always sitting there reading
- 13:31Speaker 1: a book. And so it's my understanding, Scott Johnson, that
- 13:36Speaker 1: he's walking with a group of friends, he sees her
- 13:39Speaker 1: reading a book. He goes over and they talk for
- 13:41Speaker 1: a while in exchange numbers. That's the meet cute, the
- 13:47Speaker 1: setup for a rom com, as they call it. Now
- 13:51Speaker 1: my question to you, Scott Johnson, is in a way
- 13:55Speaker 1: the way that they met without in that lower her
- 14:00Speaker 1: her barriers. I mean, it just seems so normal and
- 14:06Speaker 1: friendly and kind of romantic. It's not like he's trying
- 14:12Speaker 1: to pick her up at a bar and immediately make
- 14:16Speaker 1: out with her. It sounds so innocuous, which I think
- 14:21Speaker 1: would lower her inhibitions and lower her protective nature.
- 14:28Speaker 7: Oh absolutely.
- 14:29Speaker 8: And his narcissism with this, I think demonstrates that he's
- 14:33Speaker 8: a predator. He knows how to groom, he knows how
- 14:35Speaker 8: to schmooze. He can take his time to do what
- 14:38Speaker 8: he wants to do, to get the victim in a
- 14:40Speaker 8: vulnerable situation to, as you say, let her guard down,
- 14:44Speaker 8: feel trustworthy.
- 14:46Speaker 9: Right.
- 14:46Speaker 8: And so he knows what he's doing, but he's very
- 14:49Speaker 8: good at it and very good at putting her at ease.
- 14:53Speaker 8: And that's certainly psychopathic traits, you know.
- 14:57Speaker 1: Donna Kelly. Many of the rape victims that I've represented
- 15:02Speaker 1: and worked with, they feel like it's somehow their fault. Oh,
- 15:07Speaker 1: I shouldn't have been at this bar. I shouldn't have
- 15:09Speaker 1: been out so late, I shouldn't have been wearing a
- 15:11Speaker 1: short dress. I shouldn't have been jogging and tied sent
- 15:14Speaker 1: a workout, braw all. That's complete and total bs. It
- 15:19Speaker 1: is not the rape victim's fault. Ever. This woman was
- 15:24Speaker 1: sitting there, minding her own business, reading a book, but somehow,
- 15:28Speaker 1: some way, I guarantee you, on some level, she thought, wow,
- 15:31Speaker 1: I should have fill in the blank.
- 15:33Speaker 10: Right.
- 15:34Speaker 3: I've worked with probably about three thousand victims over my career,
- 15:39Speaker 3: and I can tell you that in almost every case
- 15:42Speaker 3: there is some of that going on with all the victims.
- 15:46Speaker 3: And my understanding from talking to experts about this sort
- 15:51Speaker 3: of feeling, this sort of response is that it's your way,
- 15:57Speaker 3: your brain's weigh of protecting for the next time. In
- 16:01Speaker 3: other words, you want to feel safe. You want to
- 16:03Speaker 3: feel like you're safe in the world. And so what
- 16:07Speaker 3: you do is you go back and you analyze and
- 16:10Speaker 3: reanalyze what's happened, and you think of ways that you
- 16:14Speaker 3: can be safe for the next time. And so that
- 16:18Speaker 3: kind of response is very common on the behalf of
- 16:21Speaker 3: sexual assault victims. They need to be safe and feel
- 16:26Speaker 3: safe for the future, and that's their attempt to do that.
- 16:29Speaker 5: You know, I think it's really in this case, right,
- 16:31Speaker 5: go ahead, Yes, so is briefly, so she was just
- 16:34Speaker 5: talking about kind of fight fly their free response, and
- 16:36Speaker 5: so fight flight or freeze is what trauma victims typically do.
- 16:40Speaker 5: And everybody always asks, well, why didn't she just run?
- 16:43Speaker 5: Why didn't she leave? And then the victims blame themselves. Well,
- 16:46Speaker 5: if you hold it out what society holds, So why.
- 16:48Speaker 7: Didn't she run?
- 16:50Speaker 5: You look at him and you say, well, why did
- 16:52Speaker 5: he run from this scenario? So use that same predicate
- 16:57Speaker 5: and why did he run away from it?
- 16:58Speaker 1: That's a really good art argument.
- 17:00Speaker 8: What about it, Scott, Well, I was just going to say, also,
- 17:03Speaker 8: you know, Both of these experts are right on queue
- 17:06Speaker 8: here with why victims blame themselves. And also the perpetrator
- 17:11Speaker 8: was blaming her. He was minimizing throughout, and he was saying,
- 17:15Speaker 8: I'm just going to do this, I'm just going to
- 17:17Speaker 8: do that, and so he's putting her in a precarious
- 17:20Speaker 8: spot where he's catching her off guard, and therefore she
- 17:23Speaker 8: has that delayed reaction. But regardless of how she reacts,
- 17:27Speaker 8: things are still going to happen. So he minimizes what
- 17:30Speaker 8: he's doing, justifies what he's doing. Oh, it's just a
- 17:33Speaker 8: little bit, or it's just.
- 17:34Speaker 1: This, you know what. You're all three, so right. Have
- 17:37Speaker 1: you ever heard the phrase wolf in sheep's clothing? Well,
- 17:42Speaker 1: listen to our friends at crime Online.
- 17:44Speaker 4: Nineteen year old sophomore Ben Smith messages the young woman
- 17:48Speaker 4: he met in the dorm common area. He asks where
- 17:50Speaker 4: she is and where her roommates are. Innocently enough, she
- 17:54Speaker 4: replies her friends are at an on campus event and
- 17:56Speaker 4: she is alone in her dorm room. Minutes after he
- 17:59Speaker 4: finds out she is alone, Ben Smith is at her door.
- 18:03Speaker 4: After some small talk, Ben suggests that to play a
- 18:06Speaker 4: game of truth or dare. Smith reportedly starts kissing her
- 18:09Speaker 4: and asking her about her sexual history. Smith pushes her
- 18:12Speaker 4: shoulders to lay her down on the floor. The woman
- 18:15Speaker 4: pushes Smith off of her and tells him quote she
- 18:18Speaker 4: does not want to do that and more. Even though
- 18:21Speaker 4: the young woman tells Ben Smith she does not want
- 18:24Speaker 4: to have sex, the teen swimmer reportedly ignores her, takes
- 18:27Speaker 4: off his shirt and pants, and grabs the woman by
- 18:30Speaker 4: the back of her head. According to an arrest warrant,
- 18:33Speaker 4: the young woman tried to push back up, but he
- 18:35Speaker 4: held her head down. She pushed Smith again in the
- 18:38Speaker 4: chest and told him no, but Smith replied, okay, fine,
- 18:42Speaker 4: Then he allegedly climbs on top of her, continuing the assault.
- 18:58Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Me With Me is Jason Jensen, out
- 19:05Speaker 1: of Salt Lake City, private investigator, owner of Jensen Private Investigations,
- 19:10Speaker 1: co founder Cold Case Coalition, and you can find him
- 19:13Speaker 1: at Jensen Private Investigations dot com. Jason, thank you for
- 19:17Speaker 1: being with us in this case. We see in increments,
- 19:22Speaker 1: increments leading up to a full blown sex attack according
- 19:27Speaker 1: to this victim. And you know it starts off with
- 19:33Speaker 1: the meat cute okay. Then he comes over, then he
- 19:37Speaker 1: finds out she's alone. Then there's the truth or dare.
- 19:41Speaker 1: Then there's the kissing, and then there's the grabbing by
- 19:45Speaker 1: the shoulders. I mean it leads up to a full
- 19:50Speaker 1: blown brutal rape. Very often in court. Some jurisdictions have
- 19:56Speaker 1: required corroboration, and I'm putting air quotes around that, in
- 20:01Speaker 1: other words, bruises, tears, broken bones, ripped clothing and the course.
- 20:10Speaker 1: A lot of courts didn't like that. A lot of
- 20:12Speaker 1: prosecutors like me, didn't like that because, as in this case,
- 20:15Speaker 1: it was so incremental. You don't have a broken jaw
- 20:20Speaker 1: or a black eye. It's like, you know, you you
- 20:24Speaker 1: slowly turn up the temperature and the lobster doesn't even
- 20:27Speaker 1: know it's dying. All right, it's too late. By the
- 20:30Speaker 1: time it gets hot, it's boiled. So now in many
- 20:35Speaker 1: jurisdictions there is no longer that requirement of physical corroboration
- 20:39Speaker 1: for a rape. To corroborate a rape victims story, and
- 20:42Speaker 1: think about it, no other you say you got arm robbed,
- 20:46Speaker 1: does there have to be corroboration?
- 20:49Speaker 10: No?
- 20:50Speaker 1: Do when your car gets stolen, do you have to
- 20:53Speaker 1: corroborate your story?
- 20:54Speaker 11: No?
- 20:54Speaker 1: Only in rape cases is was that required. And it
- 20:58Speaker 1: got to a point where here's what you use, anything
- 21:02Speaker 1: like I don't know the car mileage, the position of
- 21:09Speaker 1: the seats in the car, him loose in the bottom
- 21:15Speaker 1: of the store. I mean, you could use anything, a
- 21:17Speaker 1: button being torn off, anything for corroboration, until most juristications
- 21:21Speaker 1: got rid of that requirement. But rape is still rape,
- 21:26Speaker 1: whether you're beaten to a pulp or not.
- 21:29Speaker 11: Correct, Nancy, I mean, you look at the information that
- 21:33Speaker 11: was filed. The particulars are pretty well outlined from the
- 21:38Speaker 11: detective the progression of his interview, and you're right, there
- 21:42Speaker 11: is no evidence of an aggravated assault in the commission
- 21:46Speaker 11: of this crime, and it shows that he lured her
- 21:50Speaker 11: in and easter as he progressed step by step.
- 21:54Speaker 1: You know another thing, Jared Page, You know for many
- 21:57Speaker 1: many years, guys are not allowed email dorms. I guess
- 22:01Speaker 1: that's all over.
- 22:02Speaker 7: Yeah, that is that is true. And uh, you know,
- 22:05Speaker 7: and again as you mentioned, whether it's whether it's a
- 22:09Speaker 7: a dorm room, is is is your residence, it's a
- 22:12Speaker 7: place where you live, and you know it's it's It
- 22:16Speaker 7: was a situation where that relationship really went quickly and
- 22:22Speaker 7: found out that she was going to be alone in
- 22:24Speaker 7: her dorm room and took advantage of that. And and unfortunately,
- 22:29Speaker 7: you know, you would hope that your college students when
- 22:32Speaker 7: you're going to school, that you're safe in your dorm room.
- 22:35Speaker 7: I mean that should be a place that you consider
- 22:37Speaker 7: home and a place of safety.
- 22:39Speaker 1: Guys, I want you to hear more of what we
- 22:41Speaker 1: uncovered during the investigation. Jack Let's play our cut eight
- 22:46Speaker 1: our friends at crime Online.
- 22:48Speaker 4: During his interview with Detective Chavez, Smith gave the officer
- 22:52Speaker 4: the names of two of his friends to talk to
- 22:54Speaker 4: and find out about his character. Smith assumed his friends
- 22:57Speaker 4: would paint a flattering picture, but instead they provided insight
- 23:01Speaker 4: into a possible sexual predator. The first friend said that
- 23:04Speaker 4: Smith keeps a list of women he has sex with
- 23:07Speaker 4: and shares the list with people to show off and
- 23:10Speaker 4: to quote feed his ego. The other friend told police
- 23:13Speaker 4: that Smith brags about the number of women he's had
- 23:16Speaker 4: sex with.
- 23:16Speaker 1: Okay, well, that didn't help out very much to Jared
- 23:19Speaker 1: Page joining us in the get part daily there in
- 23:22Speaker 1: Salt Lake City. So to try to show what a
- 23:24Speaker 1: great guy he is, the suspect, Benjamin is it Smith
- 23:30Speaker 1: or Smith?
- 23:31Speaker 7: I believe it is just Smith because it's spelled with
- 23:33Speaker 7: a why it is still with the y.
- 23:35Speaker 11: Yes?
- 23:35Speaker 1: Yeah, Benjamin Smith says, Hey, I'm a great guy. Here
- 23:40Speaker 1: are two of my friends. Ask them. I'm really surprised
- 23:43Speaker 1: the investigators even asked them, but they did. They go
- 23:47Speaker 1: and ask them for a glowing recommendation to Jared Page
- 23:50Speaker 1: and they get the exact opposite.
- 23:51Speaker 7: Yeah, if I'm interesting too that his character would some
- 23:54Speaker 7: of the ones that kind of added him as being
- 23:58Speaker 7: somebody who bragged about it conquests and kept a list
- 24:01Speaker 7: and kind of that you know, fraternity like atmosphere that
- 24:07Speaker 7: you know that I know a lot of the college
- 24:10Speaker 7: athletic programs are not are trying to keep out of
- 24:14Speaker 7: their locker rooms and this day and for certainly these days,
- 24:18Speaker 7: and I think the university does a good job of that.
- 24:21Speaker 7: But yeah, it's his his own character. Witnesses let people
- 24:27Speaker 7: know that this was this guy, this is what he does.
- 24:29Speaker 7: And he told police he also bragged about being the
- 24:34Speaker 7: first time for a lot of women, how he enjoyed that.
- 24:37Speaker 1: What why Manute? What did you just say?
- 24:40Speaker 7: Yeah? I just noticed in the police documents that we
- 24:45Speaker 7: obtained during the interview, he had said that he often
- 24:49Speaker 7: has been first time for women, and that's one of
- 24:54Speaker 7: the things that he likes as part of a conquest,
- 24:56Speaker 7: is to try to be their first.
- 24:58Speaker 1: Okay, I'm just letting that so can for one moment.
- 25:01Speaker 1: You know what, I really don't know who to go
- 25:04Speaker 1: to on this one, Dona Kelly.
- 25:08Speaker 3: Yes, ma'am.
- 25:09Speaker 1: You know that's uh, that's a first degree felony a
- 25:14Speaker 1: hole right there. I don't guess you've ever prosecuted one
- 25:17Speaker 1: of those, have you.
- 25:18Speaker 3: I have had some experience with that, yes, And it
- 25:22Speaker 3: really shows how he very clearly how he views women
- 25:26Speaker 3: as objects for his youth and discarding it really shows
- 25:32Speaker 3: that he doesn't think of them as real people. He
- 25:35Speaker 3: thinks very black and white. They exist for his pleasure.
- 25:39Speaker 3: And that was a stunning admission on his part and
- 25:45Speaker 3: also really interesting that he has very little self awareness.
- 25:50Speaker 3: You know, he believes that the names that he gives
- 25:54Speaker 3: the police officers are going to, you know, have this
- 25:56Speaker 3: glowing image of him, when that was not did all
- 26:00Speaker 3: the case, and so he has very little interest any
- 26:06Speaker 3: self awareness, and which is very typical of a creditor.
- 26:13Speaker 1: Scott Johnson for asic psychologist. What is she saying about
- 26:16Speaker 1: self awareness as it relates to this guy, Benjamin Dennis
- 26:21Speaker 1: Kai Smith.
- 26:22Speaker 8: Well, I think again it goes back to the psychopathic
- 26:25Speaker 8: traits of narcissism and really believing that whatever he does
- 26:29Speaker 8: is right, is in his mind delusionally it is okay
- 26:33Speaker 8: to do what he did.
- 26:34Speaker 1: List and what does he do? Put thee beside the
- 26:37Speaker 1: ones that were once sub verging for he got hold
- 26:39Speaker 1: of him, you know what, you kind of and I
- 26:41Speaker 1: think it was you, Scott Johnson. But guys correct me
- 26:44Speaker 1: if I'm wrong. That said the way he would say,
- 26:48Speaker 1: oh just a little bit, just a little bit, just
- 26:51Speaker 1: a little bit, you know what, that's really airbrushing. What happened?
- 26:55Speaker 1: She victim pushed Smith off her and said she didn't
- 26:59Speaker 1: want to do that, says the warrant. He ignores her,
- 27:03Speaker 1: removing his shirt, unclipping her bra then took off his pants,
- 27:07Speaker 1: grabbed her by the back of the head, forced her
- 27:09Speaker 1: to give him oral sex. She tried to push back,
- 27:13Speaker 1: but he forced her head down. According to the warrant,
- 27:17Speaker 1: she pushed Smith's chest and was able to stop. She
- 27:21Speaker 1: shook her head indicating no, and he replied, okay, fine,
- 27:26Speaker 1: I'm reading from the warrant. I'm not just making this up.
- 27:29Speaker 1: He then after he said okay, fine, clombs on top
- 27:33Speaker 1: of her, takes off her underwear, saying everything's fine, and
- 27:38Speaker 1: ignoring her objections that she did not want to have
- 27:42Speaker 1: sex with him, He says, what is this Something is
- 27:45Speaker 1: supposed to make her feel better? Quote I won't go
- 27:47Speaker 1: all the way in just a little bit. For a minute,
- 27:52Speaker 1: I won't go all the way in just a little bit.
- 27:54Speaker 1: The warrant states Smith then forced himself on her. In
- 27:58Speaker 1: other words, he did go quote all the way in.
- 28:01Speaker 1: When he was nearing ejaculation, he asked if he could
- 28:04Speaker 1: ejaculate in her mouth. She said no, so he ejaculated
- 28:08Speaker 1: on her stomach and then wait for it, wipe the
- 28:13Speaker 1: ejaculate with his fingers and put it in her mouth.
- 28:18Speaker 1: After denying he knew her, he admitted he did know her,
- 28:21Speaker 1: they did have sex, and that he knew she was
- 28:23Speaker 1: in pain throughout. Now, can I tell you the first
- 28:27Speaker 1: time I had to let loose his string of that
- 28:30Speaker 1: kind of talk, with every curse word I have ever
- 28:33Speaker 1: known to a jury, I actually had to practice. I
- 28:35Speaker 1: can hardly say it all. But you know what, if
- 28:38Speaker 1: you want to put somebody in jail, you got to
- 28:43Speaker 1: have Let me just say the backbone to say it
- 28:47Speaker 1: out loud. Now, just to top it all off, he says, hey,
- 28:53Speaker 1: listen to my good friends. He'll tell you what a
- 28:54Speaker 1: great guy I am. And they really unload the truth
- 28:58Speaker 1: on this guy. But I want you to hear what happens.
- 29:02Speaker 1: Then our cut ten are friends a crime online.
- 29:07Speaker 12: The alleged assault took place on August sixteenth, but was
- 29:11Speaker 12: not reported until February. On February sixteenth, the University of
- 29:15Speaker 12: Utah was made aware of the allegations when detectives went
- 29:19Speaker 12: to his room to serve a restraining order. Smith's roommate
- 29:22Speaker 12: informed the detectives that Smith had moved out.
- 29:25Speaker 1: Moved out, Okay, now take a listen to our cut
- 29:29Speaker 1: seven our friends at Fox thirteen.
- 29:33Speaker 2: Police say two friends of Smith told them he keeps
- 29:35Speaker 2: a list of people he's had sex with to brag about.
- 29:38Speaker 2: Police say soon after being interviewed, Smith moved out of
- 29:41Speaker 2: his dorm and returned to Canada. There is now a
- 29:44Speaker 2: warrant out for his arrest. Utah Athletics says they learned
- 29:47Speaker 2: of the allegation on February sixteenth.
- 29:49Speaker 1: Big question to Jared Page Get Part Daily, why did
- 29:55Speaker 1: they interview him? They knew the victim's complaint at the time,
- 29:59Speaker 1: and then they let him go.
- 30:01Speaker 7: Well, yeah, I am not so sure. The timing the
- 30:04Speaker 7: police reports don't aren't great with the dates of when
- 30:07Speaker 7: the report came in, when he was interviewed, how many
- 30:10Speaker 7: many days took place. But yeah, I guess, I guess
- 30:14Speaker 7: when they did interview him. He was not detained at
- 30:17Speaker 7: that time because he was allowed to go back to
- 30:19Speaker 7: his dormitory and clear out and head home to Canada.
- 30:35Speaker 1: Time Stories with Nancy Grace IRV Brandt joining me, Senior Inspector,
- 30:44Speaker 1: US Marshall Service International Investigations, Chief Inspector DOJ International Affairs
- 30:51Speaker 1: as Department of Justice, has worked in embassies all around
- 30:55Speaker 1: the world. Author of a brand new book, I Believe
- 30:59Speaker 1: his eight solo shot Curse the Bluestone on Amazon Earth.
- 31:05Speaker 1: They hear the victims complaints, and yes, she didn't come
- 31:09Speaker 1: forward immediately, not unusual. She did come forward. She told
- 31:14Speaker 1: them what happened. They go interview him, they catch him
- 31:17Speaker 1: in a lie, and they let him go when they
- 31:21Speaker 1: go back to issue the arrest. Want he quote moved
- 31:24Speaker 1: out in other words, fled to Canada, helped me out?
- 31:28Speaker 1: Or why didn't they arrest him immediately, Nancy.
- 31:32Speaker 9: On the face of it, you would it would seem
- 31:35Speaker 9: there was probable cause for the arrest just from the
- 31:39Speaker 9: interview and from the victim's statement, But the investigators chose
- 31:45Speaker 9: to take his statement and continue the investigation, and he
- 31:49Speaker 9: fled to Canada, which is not going to help him.
- 31:54Speaker 9: The US and Canadian authorities have a great working relationship,
- 31:59Speaker 9: whether it's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the Vancouver Police,
- 32:04Speaker 9: and there's an extradition treaty, a strong extradition treaty and
- 32:08Speaker 9: police where we can extradite Canadian citizens. So he's not
- 32:14Speaker 9: going to escape justice by any means.
- 32:16Speaker 1: I can't wait to tell a Jerry about him fleeing
- 32:18Speaker 1: to Canada. Guys, take a listen to our cut nine
- 32:20Speaker 1: crime online.
- 32:21Speaker 12: As soon as Ben Smith found out he was the
- 32:24Speaker 12: subject of a sexual assault investigation, he packed his bags
- 32:27Speaker 12: and headed for Canada. A charging document mentioned Smith's time
- 32:31Speaker 12: on the university's diving team, quote Smith left school and
- 32:35Speaker 12: returned to Canada. Smith was a member of the University
- 32:38Speaker 12: of Utah's diving team, and, according to the University of
- 32:42Speaker 12: Utah records, was on scholarship. It says Smith's flight from
- 32:46Speaker 12: the jurisdiction only after learning of an investigation into his
- 32:49Speaker 12: actions while enrolled in college classes as a student athlete
- 32:53Speaker 12: on scholarship, demonstrates the strong likelihood that he will not
- 32:57Speaker 12: submit to the court's jurisdiction and, if released on bail,
- 33:01Speaker 12: will flee again. The document states, the charging documents request
- 33:05Speaker 12: that Smith be held on no bail if he is detained.
- 33:09Speaker 1: So what is the easiest way for someone to get
- 33:13Speaker 1: in to Canada to flee the jurisdiction? And how many
- 33:19Speaker 1: more times will athletes college athletes get a slap on
- 33:24Speaker 1: the wrist for a full on rate? Does the name
- 33:30Speaker 1: brock Turner ring a bell? Take a listen to our
- 33:33Speaker 1: friend Matt and Gutman ABC and our cut fourteen.
- 33:36Speaker 13: The public outcrank still soaring tonight over a six month
- 33:39Speaker 13: sentence slapped on former Stanford University freshmen Brock Turner or
- 33:44Speaker 13: sexually assaulting a twenty two year old woman while she
- 33:47Speaker 13: lay unconscious next to a dumpster outside this front house
- 33:51Speaker 13: last year.
- 33:51Speaker 2: The judge is basically saying, you know, it doesn't matter
- 33:53Speaker 2: what your past actions were, just don't do it again.
- 33:56Speaker 1: I don't think six months was nearly enough. Yeah, I
- 33:58Speaker 1: would agree with that. Take a listen to our friends
- 34:00Speaker 1: at NBC cut fifteen.
- 34:02Speaker 10: With a hard push of the jailhouse door, former Stanford
- 34:06Speaker 10: swimmer brought Turner was met by a crush of cameras.
- 34:09Speaker 1: Are you thinking about?
- 34:10Speaker 10: He spent only ninety days in jail for sexual assault?
- 34:14Speaker 9: Are you?
- 34:16Speaker 10: NBC News was given exclusive access to evidence in Turner's case.
- 34:20Speaker 10: File pictures show him with a torn shirt hours after
- 34:23Speaker 10: he was tackled by students who saw him on top
- 34:25Speaker 10: of an unconscious female behind a dumpster on Stanford's campus.
- 34:29Speaker 10: Interrogation tapes taken after his arrest showed a calm Turner
- 34:33Speaker 10: responding to questions from a detective, saying, my intentions were
- 34:37Speaker 10: not to try and rape a girl without her consent.
- 34:39Speaker 10: I was just trying to hook up with a girl.
- 34:41Speaker 10: When pressing Turner about the victim, the detective asks, if
- 34:44Speaker 10: you saw her again, would you recognize her? Turner responds
- 34:48Speaker 10: probably not.
- 34:50Speaker 1: And then, of course in our cut twenty two from CBS,
- 34:55Speaker 1: how many college football stars gap rape charges? Take a listen.
- 35:03Speaker 14: The Ohio State University football players a Mere Reap and
- 35:07Speaker 14: Joson Went were booked into this Columbus jail late last
- 35:10Speaker 14: night after turning themselves in. The criminal complaint alleges that
- 35:14Speaker 14: on February fourth, a nineteen year old woman was having
- 35:17Speaker 14: consensual sex with Reap when she stopped, stating she did
- 35:21Speaker 14: not want to continue. Detectives say went then enter the
- 35:24Speaker 14: room and Reap, after asking if Wynt could join, pushed
- 35:28Speaker 14: her down by the neck, and the two men allegedly
- 35:30Speaker 14: raped her. Afterward, the report says, Reepe told the victim
- 35:34Speaker 14: to say the incident was consensual on a video as
- 35:37Speaker 14: he was laughing and she was crying.
- 35:40Speaker 1: Of course, many football supporters claimed the players should not
- 35:46Speaker 1: be in jail and that they were wrongly accused. So
- 35:51Speaker 1: Jared Page joining us Erv Brandt, Rachel Fisher, Jason Jensen,
- 35:56Speaker 1: Scott Johnson, Donna Kelly, I want to hear your thought
- 36:00Speaker 1: of what should happen now. But Jason Jensen joining us
- 36:04Speaker 1: Utah private investigator, What do you make of the way
- 36:08Speaker 1: the investigation has unfolded to this juncture.
- 36:11Speaker 11: Well, Nancy, it really does look like there was a
- 36:14Speaker 11: textbook approach by the detective from the university police department.
- 36:21Speaker 11: And I'm not surprised, I mean, after what happened to
- 36:25Speaker 11: star athlete Lauren McCluskey in twenty eighteen, it costs the
- 36:30Speaker 11: university thirteen point five million dollars after she was murdered
- 36:34Speaker 11: by her ex boyfriend. In spite of repeated the claims
- 36:41Speaker 11: of worry and complaints about her ex boyfriend's behavior to
- 36:45Speaker 11: the administration and to the police department, nothing was done.
- 36:49Speaker 1: Guys, This student athlete Benjamin Smith wanted on rape, forcible sodomy,
- 36:56Speaker 1: forcible sex abuse goes on the lamb. What do you think,
- 37:02Speaker 1: to everyone on the panel, and to you, specifically, Scott Johnson,
- 37:09Speaker 1: why is it so difficult for university administrators to accept
- 37:14Speaker 1: that athletes commit rape just like all other rapists.
- 37:19Speaker 8: I mean, I think part of that is the idea that,
- 37:22Speaker 8: you know, people lie, and somehow we still blame victims
- 37:25Speaker 8: and we still hold victims accountable for so much of
- 37:28Speaker 8: what happens despite the perpetrator premeditatingly engaging in violent behavior.
- 37:35Speaker 8: And the second piece, of course, is the liability aspect.
- 37:38Speaker 8: If we have someone on our campus that's committing violent acts,
- 37:43Speaker 8: if we didn't act quick enough, obviously we're liable. But
- 37:48Speaker 8: if we act too quick and it turns out not
- 37:50Speaker 8: to be true, then whose rights did we violate? When
- 37:53Speaker 8: in fact they should be saying, bottom line as we
- 37:56Speaker 8: protect the campus first and let the investigation fall where
- 37:59Speaker 8: it falls.
- 38:00Speaker 1: To Jared Page joining us Skip Part daily in Salt
- 38:03Speaker 1: Lake City. Do we have any idea of where he's
- 38:06Speaker 1: been hiding out in Canada?
- 38:08Speaker 7: Well, he's he is from British Columbia, and so I
- 38:13Speaker 7: know that's where. That's where he's listed in the charges
- 38:18Speaker 7: and it's believed to be fled from and University of
- 38:22Speaker 7: Utah police working with the private investigator, that's where they
- 38:25Speaker 7: located him. Found that he was in Canada. The details
- 38:28Speaker 7: about exactly where he was hiding and has been hiding,
- 38:32Speaker 7: but it was confirmed that he did across the border
- 38:35Speaker 7: and again he's he's home there.
- 38:37Speaker 1: Jared Page is joining us SKIP Part daily. We're learning
- 38:40Speaker 1: as we go to air that he has been returned
- 38:44Speaker 1: to the US or he is returning to the U
- 38:47Speaker 1: S What the US? What do you know?
- 38:49Speaker 7: That's correct? So, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney's office,
- 38:54Speaker 7: he was arrested. The location and circumstances of that or
- 38:59Speaker 7: are unconfirmed to me. Media reports have reported that he
- 39:03Speaker 7: was arrested in Seattle, the circumstances of which whether he
- 39:08Speaker 7: was caught when he was coming back across the border,
- 39:11Speaker 7: or exactly what took place, I do not have that.
- 39:14Speaker 7: We have reached out for more information, but we do
- 39:16Speaker 7: know that he is in police custody now, so he
- 39:18Speaker 7: is no longer hidden from police.
- 39:22Speaker 1: We wait as justice un false. Goodbye for him