Street justice fails to fix rape tragedy
So nobody wants to condone street justice, but you have to wonder whether a little karma came down hard on Paul M. Sweitzer. He was stabbed June 28 in the backyard of his Fairview Heights home by the boyfriend of a woman who said Sweitzer raped her a year ago.
It was far from the first time Sweitzer faced a rape accusation.
Jason Seibel, of Swansea, is charged with attempted murder for the stabbing. On July 2, 2015, Seibel, his girlfriend and Sweitzer went to Seibel’s home after a late night at a bar. Seibel fell asleep in the car and his girlfriend went to bed.
She thought Seibel got into bed with her and they started having sex. After 10 minutes she realized it wasn’t Seibel. She screamed, hit the man and ran outside. Sweitzer apologized and said he thought he was home and having sex with his significant other.
Sweitzer wasn’t prosecuted for the rape.
Terra Johnson in 2008 said she was followed home by Sweitzer. He told police he entered her home where her four children were sleeping, choked her until she was unconscious, beat and raped her. She gave police a license plate number that came back to Sweitzer.
Sweitzer wasn’t prosecuted for the rape.
An undocumented immigrant in Collinsville told police Sweitzer beat and raped her in 2009, but she couldn’t speak English and there were testimony problems. Prosecutors dropped the rape charge to aggravated battery in exchange for Sweitzer’s guilty plea.
Sweitzer spent weekends in jail for 18 months.
There are 31 sex offenders living in Fairview Heights listed on the Illinois state registry, which records offenses ranging from those who urinated in public to serial child molestors. Sweitzer’s not one of them because he’s never been convicted of a sex crime.
Sweitzer was a prime example in the News-Democrat’s Violation of Trust series about how law enforcement fails seven out of 10 rape victims brave enough to report their attacks to police. If the ratio holds, maybe his fourth rape victim will see some justice.
Justice by the hand of some other poor soul or a victim just increases the damage wrought by a twisted deviate.
This story was originally published July 9, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Street justice fails to fix rape tragedy."