http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/07/02/Soccer_Star_Nate_Jaqua_Accused_of_Sexual_Assault.htm One can only hope we avoid the previous mistakes here on the boards when in came to Freddy Montero. Please keep the comments in good taste.
Wow, if this is true, why does it take chicks this long to say something? It's been 2 years since, WTF. Why didn't she go to the police right after it happened?
This seems to be a purely civil case in nature at the current time. It's within the statute of limitations per a quick search of Oregon law, but no charges seem to have ever been brought. On what might be a purely coincidental point, he was traded from LA to Houston on July 2, 2007.
So she's claiming he straight up raped her? Damn..... Also, what is it with this R. Kelly syndrome of wanting to pee on girls? Not even cool.
Well, we presume there was no criminal charge sought at the time because we didn't hear about it. Oregonians - is there a statute of limitations on a civil case such as this? Seems odd that it would not only be two years later, but exactly two years later. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like it would be hard to make a case two years later in something that would seem to depend on physical evidence or contemporaneous victim/witness testimony to a large extent. But I don't know. And this is the only report we have of the facts of the case, so we're largely inferring things. We'd have to see a more in-depth story. The potentially unfortunate/potentially purely coincidental thing is the date of his trade from LA to Houston.
It sounds very serious now , but the law should have done something then. Just doesn't make any sense that the police didn't file any charges in 2007. We need to hear from both sides.
From all indications, based on his time in Chicago, Nate is a model citizen and a great guy. I don't think even Mike Tyson did what this girl is alleging Nate is accused of.
Clearly when Nate talked to her about the differences between college and pro ball she didn't hear the part about how little MLS players make. I don't think Nate has earned a million dollars, total, in his career, let alone has anything close to it on hand. I tend to give the victim the benefit of the doubt in cases like this but this has a hard-time passing the smell test. First off, she waited TWO YEARS to make a case? Why? And instead of going to the cops it's a civil case? Were the police even involved? If not, why not?
Because, God knows, there are no female police officers in Portland, Oregon. (Oddly enough - Portland's Chief of Police is a woman.) My lucky number is four billion. That doesn't come in real handy when you're gambling. "Come on, four billion! Darn! Seven. Not even close. I need more dice."
$10 million in damages!!!!!!! Lady your suing Nate Jaqua NOT Messi.... This happened in 2007 and only now can this very terrorized woman want a lawsuit And for 10 million! Am not being sexist I understand that this could be a very tramatic experience but if some bastard rapped me I´d want him in jail! Not demand 10 million... Either way I think its all BS.
I am.... I read more of the story I mean he rapped her, peed on her, and did she tell family????? Friends???? I mean did she scream???? Am giving Nate the benefit of the doubt here.... This seems alot more UNREAL than the Montero case which seemed much more inclined to things that MAY happen.
Yawn. This again? And just for money, not a criminal case? If there was any way Montero was going to stay in this country another year after what he went through (1% chance), that chance is totally gone after watching his strike partner go through the same thing, but to even more absurd lengths. Can you imagine what he's telling his folks on the phone back in Colombia? "Papa, no me crees, pero ahora lo mismo esta pasando a Nate!"
A quick search reveals the lawyer specializes in this type of case. (Personally, I think it sad that someone feels the need to specialize in it).
As a Shrink I can tell you that many victims (not just women) are so traumatized after sexual battery that they are unwilling to come forward at all and sometime will, belatedly in an attempt to put the assault in some sort of perspective. It's very hard to put yourself in their shoes and say what they should or should not have done or are doing. This timing is not unusual. Best we all stay open to both sides of the question and hope that justice is done without prejudice to either party.
Oh, no question there's a huge psychological component to this, and no one who's not been a victim of such a crime or worked with people who have can have a great perspective on it, I don't think. All that said...if you'd been too traumatized at the time to bring criminal charges (which is not at all uncommon), it just seems too concidental to me to file a civil suit on what appears to be the last possible day you could do so if "justice" was what you had in mind. The wisdom of suing an MLS player for $10M is another topic, but my limited understanding of such lawsuits is that the figure you put out there is rarely what you actually expect to receive a check for, am I right?
Civil suit. Not a criminal action. Conceptually, yes, sure. We should assume that the limited facts we have are only one side of the story and that if there's a day in court, the facts will come out (tell that to Eric Frimpong, though). But I don't know that there's going to be a finding of "guilty" or "innocent" if this goes to court, is there? EDIT: Also, is it possible that the timing is such because they knew when and where Jaqua would be last night and they didn't serve him until the Sounders came to Portland? Just thinking out loud. There may or may not be a statute-of-limitations component, it may have just been that to serve him with the suit, they needed to find him. And that if they knew he was coming to them, it made more sense to just wait until he showed up. I don't know.
I'm sure the claim will be that the timing is a result of the Sounders playing in Portland last night and as a result, it is the game, not statute of limitations, that triggered the lawsuit. Since Portland is not a MLS city, she could avoid mention of his name, etc. but since there was a lot of coverage of the Timbers vs. Sounders game and a lot of it dealt with Keller and Jaqua's ties to Portland, this triggered her to act.
I need to hit the next button before I reply to comments. Hmm.. The article doesn't mention any dates as to when the suit was filed, so it could have been filed weeks ago, or it could have been filed yesterday. So could be either way?
Hadn't thought of it until just after that original post. It makes sense. I have no idea what the statute of limitations is in Oregon with regards to this. The game may not have triggered the lawsuit (it may have been in the works for a while, we don't know), but it may have had more to do with the timing and convenience of serving someone than with any statute of limitations.
Again, we don't have enough information based solely on this one brief story. Once it hits the P-I or the Oregonian, we'll have more information.