When Hillary Defended A Rapist By Putting the 12-Year-Old Victim on Trial

The Washington Free Beacon has discovered audio recordings of Hillary Clinton from interviews in the early 80's. In the recordings Clinton show an almost flippant attitude about the most significant case of her legal career, a man who raped a 12-year-old girl who she got off by attacking the evidence, including the account of the victim.

Drawing from the court files Politico's Glenn Thrush then the political reporter of Newsday, described the basics of case in 2008 saying that the victim had joined Thomas Alfred Taylor, and two male acquaintances, including a 15-year-old boy she had a crush on, on a late-night trip to the bowling alley. Taylor drove the group around in his truck, feeding the girl whisky mixed with Coca-Cola on the way. The group later drove to a “weedy ravine” near the highway where Taylor raped the 12-year-old. Later that evening, at about 4 a.m., the girl and her mother went to the hospital, where she was given medical tests and reported that she had been raped. The doctor who examined her said her injuries were consistent with being raped. In the end based on an evidentiary mistake by the lab, Hillary negotiated a plea deal, her client plead guilty to a lesser charge and got off with time served (two months).

Thrush also reported that:

"Rodham, records show, questioned the sixth grader’s honesty and claimed she had made false accusations in the past. She implied that the girl often fantasized and sought out 'older men' like Taylor, according to a July 1975 affidavit signed 'Hillary D. Rodham' in compact cursive…"

Hillary Clinton, or any defense attorney for that matter was ethically required to do anything she could to protect her client, that includes winning the case if the defendant chooses to plead not guilty. However it seems disingenuous for a candidate whose campaign planks include fighting for the rights of women to attack the credibility of a 12-year-old rape victim.

As heard on the tapes published Monday, Ms. Clinton takes an almost flippant attitude to the case and based on her own words she possibly violated client/attorney privilege by implying her client passed a lie detector test event though he was guilty.

Describing the events almost a decade after they had occurred, Clinton’s struck a casual and complacent attitude toward her client and the trial for rape of a minor.

“I had him take a polygraph, which he passed – which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs,” she added with a laugh.

Clinton can also be heard laughing at several points when discussing the crime lab’s accidental destruction of DNA evidence that tied Taylor to the crime.

Nowhere during the interview (embedded below) does Clinton mention the rape-crises hotline she set up as a result of this case, nor did she express any regret over the plight of the 12-year-old rape victim.


The full Washington Free Beacon Story can be found here