slapphead_otool

I have always wanted to be an author. It would help if I could spell and string words together into coherent sentences, but let’s overlook that for the time being.

I have a half written book about a character who meets a drunken girl in a bar, goes to her place and has sex with her. Later that night he goes home to his wife and children.

Ten years later he is asked to undertake a DNA test to eliminate him from a crime. They test all of the men in a factory. He volunteers, with no fear. He is innocent of that crime.

He is then arrested at dawn in his home, the police tell his wife he raped a girl 10 years ago. The girl had reported it as a rape and they took DNA evidence. They have her statements of events, her evidence, but he has nothing – he can barely remember the night.

His wife leaves him, taking the kids. He loses his job, and is on the streets, so he cannot meet his bail terms. He is put in jail awaiting trial.

He says the woman took him to her home, willingly undressed and got into bed with him. She says she told him to stop, and he cant even remember the bar where they met.

He is sentenced to 3 years for a rape that in his opinion didn’t happen.

Who is right, the guy or the girl?

(I haven’t decided yet and need to finish the book, so comments are welcome)

sonlymewalter

throw it in the bin. You'll never get out.....

rasen78

The wife, for leaving him.

(pulls up a chair, gets a glass and settles down to watch the fireworks)

slapphead_otool

I half wrote in some years ago, its one of my better efforts, Im reluctant to trash it.

Bermudashorts

Impossible to say unless you elaborate on what actually happened that night. Did she tell him to stop or not? I doubt he would have been convicted though in a case like this.

Dorothy

If he can't remember the night then how can he be sure she was so willing?

sonlymewalter

I'm joking.

Have you thought of getting it published?

slapphead_otool

Exactly, and I skip over that in the book.

She willingly takes him back to her house in a taxi, but did she mean for him to stay for sex?

Or is she annoyed because he left to go back to his wife.

The point is that she made a statement with the fresh facts in her mind. Ten years later he cant remember the circumstances, but insists that he wouldn’t rape someone.

Dorothy

Ah, but we're all capable of doing something we normally wouldn't do. It's a tough one all right. It could be that she wasn't willing and he forced her or that she was pissed when she found out he was married or that she was willing then withdrew her consent. Any number of scenarios there my friend.

You're probably better off selling the idea to Grisham or someone who can then make it into a bestseller and then a movie starring Matthew McConachie as the happily married man who finds himself in this situation 10 years after a one night stand.

My old man (FWIW) thinks your protagonist is a dickhead for screwing around on his wife and deserves what he gets. Who says I ain't got him trained?

slapphead_otool

Hasten to add it’s not autobiographical.

Your OH’s reaction is one of the two key points of the story, the guy cheated on his wife, and therefore he won’t get a lot of sympathy. The jury hate his guts.

The other is the impossibility of proving your innocence after a 10 year period. The bar staff cant be traced, the taxi driver is dead. She admits that she met him in a bar, and says they shared a taxi back to her place. He then persuaded her to take him indoors, and then raped her, leaving semen stains on the bed. She doesn’t report the rape until the next day, when her friend comes over and she talks about it.

It could have been rape, it could have been consensual. In the current version what happens after he goes inside isn’t detailed. The book is written in the current time complete with his memory errors - for instance he had been playing around a lot in at the time, and he gets confused about which girl it really is.

Dorothy

It might be good if it were written in the first person. Kind of a "look what happened to me and I don't remember it" kind of feel. You could have him trying to find the bar staff/taxi driver/witnesses. Make it into a mystery thriller book. Oh, and I want royalties for all the ideas.

eddie007

Its too easy to cry rape ..... And ruin someones life in the process....

The victim with their right to anonynmity, and the perp being outed in the press...

Rape is a serious crime.

the wife leaving the husband....? she must have her suspiscions... Or have reason to want a convenient out... Must be an element of mistrust in there somewhere... Either that or she's a rabid feminist who doesnt believe a woman could ever be wrong...

slapphead_otool

I need to finish it, and it is in the first person – it was originally set in real time when I started it in 2007, so it had things like the Pasha Bulker in it. I took a lot out in a 2009 rewrite.

There is also a solicitor (his solicitor) who is convinced he is guilty, and was raped herself when she was a student. She tries to get him to plead guilty, but begins to have doubts.

In the original framework you never know if he is guilty or not. I might change that. I also had him being raped whilst on remand. I might take that out.

The wife takes a simple view – either he was unfaithful, or he raped someone. Either way she doesn’t want him. Her parents persuade her to leave him, and take an AVO out on him.

Pollyana

Might be worth looking at whether the case will stand using the DNA.......
If the only evidence is the DNA, plus her word against his.....

His DNA was taken for elimination purposes in connection with a completely different crime. Now, I don't know where you are basing the book, or what the laws are in that country, but you'd need to check the laws wherever it is based, and the date of the DNA sample.
When DNA testing first came in any DNA taken for elimination purposes in the UK had to be destroyed at once if the person was found to not be involved in that offence (ie not charged/.convicted). (same as fingerprints) So even if a comparison was done then the evidence was inadmissable in court.
The law changed in the UK in 2001 to allow DNA to be kept and used for comparison in other crimes even if the suspect was cleared of the offence for which the sample was taken.
Hence if your book is set prior to 2001 and suspect gave his DNA for elim purposes, they wouldn't be able to use that DNA in court in connection with the rape charge - could give you options for extra plot twists? There were cases where DNA was used when taken for another crime but later had to be destroyed because a person was cleared of that offence - leaving the police frantically seeking other evidence for the conviction as they could no longer use the DNA.

Since 2001 (in the UK) volunteers giving elim samples have to give written permission (when they give the sample) for the DNA to be held on the database - the reasoning is if they have nothing to hide, whats the problem. Scottish Law differs from the rest of the UK on this, and they still destroy samples following aquittal, and allow volunteers to withdraw their consent for the sample to be kept. "The Information Commissioner for Scotland believes that the indefinite retention of DNA profiles of individuals arrested but not convicted of any offence, and where there are no longer any policing concerns about them, is an ongoing intrusion into their private lives" Having worked in forensics for a few years in England I have to say I personally agree with him, but thats a whole different subject.

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn258.pdf

Can't speak for the laws elsewhere but its worth looking into, I'm sure you can find somewhere that the law will fit what you want the outcome to be! If you can get someone with good legal knowledge to look at it you can come up with excellent plot twists on the DNA alone.