‘Everyone deserves second chances’
Alleged rape victim urges judge to allow lesser charge in plea
An alleged 22-year-old rape victim urged a judge yesterday to accept her surprising plea agreement that would allow a former MIT student and basketball star to admit to a lesser charge.
“I can see what’s in front of my eyes,” Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders said of the accused. “I see a young defendant with no criminal record and with family support. I also see a defendant who is quite privileged and has money . ... A privileged person from (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) should be treated just like the inner-city black person with no privilege at all.”
Declining an offer to speak privately with the judge — even though she does not want to get “dragged through the dirt” by testifying against Samson Donick at trial — the accuser, a Boston Uni- versity graduate, insisted on ad- dressing the court publicly when the change-of-plea hearing fell apart.
“My wishes are to resolve this. It’s been a very, very hard time, not just for myself, but my family,” the aspiring nurse said, her voice trembling. “I’m a young 22-yearold. So is the defendant. And I believe everyone deserves second chances in life. What he did to me will never, ever be OK, but I believe this life is short and that the opportunity to make up for it in different ways going forward is important to me.”
The hearing resumes this morning at 9, when Donick’s attorney David Marks is expected to announce whether they’re willing to agree to Sanders’ plea terms.
The judge wants Donick to describe on the record what he did to the woman in sexually graphic detail. If not, they’ll take their chances with a jury.
A guilty plea to a lesser charge of indecent assault and battery could put Donick at risk of having to register as a sex offender where he lives in California, which Marks said he’s trying to avoid.
“Frankly, he should have thought about that before he committed this act,” Sanders said.
Donick, who a clerk-magistrate banned from Massachusetts in 2016 when his family posted $10,000 cash bail, faces a potential prison sentence of no less than 10 years to life if he goes on trial Thursday and is convicted of aggravated rape.
Donick was a stranger to his accuser when, on Oct. 18, 2015, he allegedly broke into her dorm room at BU and began sexually assaulting her as she slept — conduct Sanders called “a gross violation of someone’s bodily integrity and privacy.”
Even after hearing from Donick’s accuser, Sanders said she could not agree to let the alleged victim reduce the aggravated rape charge and continue it without a finding for five years probation, provided Donick performed 500 hours of community service and apologized.
Sanders indicated she might agree to probation and 1,000 hours of community service if Donick pleaded guilty to indecent assault and battery and recounted the assault for the court in explicit terms.
District attorney spokesman Jake Wark said the case may be lost without a plea agreement. “The victim has expressed a strong preference not to testify,” he said. “Without that testimony, we would not prevail at trial. It’s asking too much of a jury.”