Her accusation came amid a storm of press coverage about the prominence
of sexual assault in the military, and it led to a criminal
investigation and the end of the fellow cadet’s Army career.The problem, a Virginia court found on Aug. 1, is that it wasn’t true,
and in naming the colonel whom she claimed raped her, she defamed him to
the tune of $8.4 million, the Associated Press reported Aug. 11A Fairfax County jury sided with retired Col. David ”Wil” Riggins, who
filed a lawsuit in Virginia district court back in 2014, when it became
apparent that he would lose his nomination for promotion to one-star
general after Shannon’s post came to the attention of Army leadership.
The post also led the Army to launch a criminal investigation.“The allegations of rape were investigated by U.S. Army [Criminal
Investigation Command], and it was determined that there was no
testimonial or physical evidence to corroborate Defendant Susan
Shannon‘s statements concern Colonel David W. Riggins,” according to the
lawsuit.Shannon alleged in a post on her WordPress blog, “Short Little
Rebel,” that Riggins raped her after she‘d blacked out from drinking
beer at Eisenhower Hall on campus.“I felt the need to tell the story about a rape of a soldier I
personally know: that soldier is me,” she wrote on July 15, 2013. ”The
man who raped me, Will riggings [sic], class of 1987, is now a Colonel
in the Army. The rape is the reason I left West Point. So, while his
military career is soaring, I left mine far behind.”In his filing, Riggins poked holes in her story, arguing that cadets
are never served beer on campus and, at the time, were not allowed to
drink at all. He also said he did not have a car and couldn’t have had
one on campus to drive her home that night, as she alleged.“When pressed on the details as to what happened, Susan Shannon does
not state that she actually recalls the alleged rape by David W.
Riggins,” according to the complaint. ”Rather, she only asserts that she
woke up the next morning and concluded that she had sexual intercourse
with someone the night before.”In reality, according to the lawsuit, Riggins said the two had dated
briefly, and that she had left West Point to pursue medical school.The jury agreed that Shannon had defamed Riggins with her blog post,
damaging his career and livelihood with her posts about the rape.The court ordered her to pay him $3.4 million in compensation, with another $5 million on top in punitive damages.
Under Virginia law, the AP reported, her actual damages will probably
top out at $2.3 million. Her attorneys are planning an appeal.thot #rekt
Why do they plan on appealing? There’s nothing to appeal. She got her ass handed to her for being a lying thot and now she has to pay for it.
Because they always appeal, it’s standard practice with payouts of this size to try and get it reduced.
Sadly no criminal charges are being brought against her as far as I can tell.
Disgusting. I hope her life is ruined.
A woman who accused a former colonel of rape will be forced to pay millions in defamation damages
Obscure Fandoms 