Tawana Brawley
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Tawana Vicenia Brawley (December 15th, 1971) is an African-American woman who falsely claimed that she had been gang-raped by a group of white men in what is now considered to be a Racial Hoax.
Background edit
On November 28th, 1987, Brawley was found unresponsive in a garbage bag with her clothing charred, her body covered in faeces and with the words "bitch", "nigger" and "KKK" written on her torso in charcoal. During interrogation, she indicated that she had been abducted and held captive for several days in the woods by four white men, who she claimed had sexually abused her.
Although public response to her story was at first sympathetic, with celebrities such as Bill Cosby, who would ironically later be revealed as a sex offender, offering vast sums of money towards Brawley, the case quickly became controversial after her representatives Al Sharpton, Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason began making statements widely regarded as ludicrous and intended to spark media coverage, such as claiming that the state government was trying to cover up the crime because the attackers were white and that the KKK, the IRA and the Mafia had aided in the cover-up. Brawley and her representatives later claimed that police officer Harry Crist Jr., who had committed suicide shortly after Brawley was found, had been one of the rapists, before accusing Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones of being involved when he attempted to defend the late Crist.
At the height of the controversy, a grand jury was called to hear Brawley's case against Pagones. Brawley did not testify despite being subpoenaed to do so. After hearing from 180 witnesses, seeing 250 exhibits and recording more than 6000 pages of testimony, on 6 October 1988 the grand jury ruled that Brawley's claims were completely false. Evidence for this included:
- A rape kit used on her after her initial claim did not indicate that she had been sexually assaulted.
- The epithets recorded on her body were written upside down, leading the grand jury to suspect she had written them.
- Several witnesses claimed to have seen her at a party at the time of her alleged abduction.
- Despite her clothing being charred, no burns were found on her body.
- She showed no sign of hypothermia or any other form of exposure to the elements, despite claiming to have been held outside for four days.
- A witness claimed to have seen her climbing into the garbage bag she was found in.
- The faeces on her body was revealed to have come from her neighbour's dog.
- Although one of her shoes had been cut through, she had no injuries to her foot.
Her mother Glenda Brawley and stepfather Ralph King were also alleged to have been aware she was lying, as witnesses testified that they heard Mrs. Brawley telling King that "You shouldn't have taken the money because after it all comes out, they're going to find out the truth" and "They know we're lying and they're going to find out and come and get us". Her boyfriend Daryl Rodriguez later claimed in 1989 that Brawley had told him she was lying. On June 8th, 1988, Glenda Brawley was convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to 30 days in prison, but evaded arrest, eventually fleeing with her family to Virginia Beach. Steven Pagones later sued Tawana Brawley, Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox and Vernon Mason for defamation. Brawley was ordered to pay Pagones $185,000 in compensation; she still had not paid by December 2012 and was forced to forfeit her wages until the debt, now over $400,000 due to interest, was paid off.
Brawley currently lives under the name "Tawana Gutierrez" in Virginia, where she works as a nurse. Since the case she has converted to Islam and joined the Nation of Islam, a black supremacist hate group.