Re-Opening Rape Charges

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Michigan

A few months ago I filed rape charges against my ex boyfriend. The case was thrown out due to lack of physical evidence.
Mainly this case would be considered a "he said vs she said" type of thing, but, a couple of days ago I found an email conversation between us in which we were talking about the rape.
In this conversation he (and I) make many references to the rape and VERY specific things that had happened on that night. In one part he outwardly confesses to raping me.

the exact wording of that confession being; "I've apoligized a lot. i'm sorry that i made you feel unsafe, taken an advantage of and continued while you didn't want it."

I've given the new evidence to the police, and was told it will be given to the original prosecuting attorney. What should I expect? Could he now, finally, be faced with rape charges? Or am I just getting my hopes up for nothing yet again?

That is too subjective and situational to prove rape. He could have been apologizing for misinterpreting a desire you did not express verbally.

I would expect the DA to refuse to prosecute at least if you are basing everything on what you posted he sent to you.

What he typed is not a confession of raping you. It is an acknowledgment that you, at some time either during or after the sexual contact, that you did not want to have sex.

as for the confession part of the evidence; there's also parts where he talks about very specific details of that night.

~admiting to grabing my arm and draging me to his basement
~repeatedly hearing me say "NO!" and "STOP!" yet continuing with intercourse
~his motive. which was; to make sure he hurt me enough to make me no longer want our relationship.

i'm not too sure about what to expect anymore. but i just hope this might go somewhere. i'm not trying to be vindictive or 'get back at my ex'. he committed a serious crime.

I am not going to keep coming back, each time you show another card, to try and substantiate your contention. I suggest you take all the evidence you have to DA and show it to him. I don't recommend playing games like you are here.

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Quoting alyricalliar

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as for the confession part of the evidence; there's also parts where he talks about very specific details of that night.

~admiting to grabing my arm and draging me to his basement
~repeatedly hearing me say "NO!" and "STOP!" yet continuing with intercourse
~his motive. which was; to make sure he hurt me enough to make me no longer want our relationship.

i'm not too sure about what to expect anymore. but i just hope this might go somewhere. i'm not trying to be vindictive or 'get back at my ex'. he committed a serious crime.

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so, you are going to add more information that somehow was not important enough to include the first time hoping to find something that works?

grabbing your arm and dragging you to your basement is not rape. It may have been the actions prior to rape but it is not rape/ There are a lot of women than have been dragged somewhere and not raped.

to you saying NO and STOP; strange you did not say anything about that before when you were stating why you think you have another shot at getting the police to arrest him.

his motive: It may be a motive but a motive is not proof of anything. It is simply an argument that the perpetrator had reason to do whatever.

I would think you already told the cops everything you posted in this newest round so that plus your text equal the same thing as before. if they did not believe it was a winnable case then, they are not going to now.

It might get the prosecutor to pursue the matter ... it might not. He might deny sending those emails, and he might even spin some other interpretation to what was written. He may just say that he was telling you what you wanted to hear so you'd get off his back.

But, it might be enough.

Not knowing any details about the original investigation, we cannot say what might happen.

But, to determine for sure that the email came from his account they will likely have to eventually subpoena his ISP's email records as well as yours. The fact that you have it on your computer and the "sender" line indicates his email address does not automatically mean that HE sent it. If he denies sending it, the state will have to prove that up.

The other issue is this ... You say it was "thrown out" ... what do you mean by that? Very, very, VERY few cases are "thrown out." Most the time when a case is not pursued it is because of a lack of evidence, or, a judge might rule that there is insufficient probable cause to bring the matter to trial. In this case, what was it? If the matter was dismissed WITH prejudice, the state may not be permitted to refile it. The emails may not be sufficient to overcome whatever caused the case to be dismissed in the first place. Now, if it was an issue of DA discretion as they felt they had too little evidence this MIGHT give them a reason to re-interview him, and investigate further to consider the possibility of re-filing.

You may simply have to wait and keep in touch with the police and the prosecutor's office.

Quote:

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Quoting alyricalliar

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What should I expect? Could he now, finally, be faced with rape charges? Or am I just getting my hopes up for nothing yet again?

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I would not expect anything .... it will only cause more grief. Continue to forward information to the DA that's appropriate.

to jk: everything mentioned in that post was said to the police when i originally filed. i didn't know that i still had the emails until i was cleaning out files. how many people regularly check facebook and gmail messages from 4-6 months prior? exactly.

to cdwjava; my ex tends to use public spots for wifi and at times connects via his neighbor's unprotected router. would that make it harder to trace and/or prove?
the case wasn't exactly thrown out. perhaps that was the wrong terminology to use. it got to the city prosecutor's office, but they did not feel like there was enough evidence at the time.
hopefully these emails will help.

If this information has been turned over to the prosecutor, the prosecutor will review it and make a decision. We cannot tell you what that decision will be. You can see if the prosecutor will talk to you, or you can wait and see what happens.