The message was simple: alcohol and sex don’t mix.

The case pertained to Todd’s rape of Amy after a campus booze-fuelled party. The jury at St. Mary’s College was split, 35 percent said the man was not guilty and 65 percent said he was guilty.

Attorney Brett Sokolow, president of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, Ltd.,
delivered his animated, interactive talk “Drunk Sex or Date Rape: Can you Tell the Difference?”
at St. Mary’s College’s Schaefer Hall, Tuesday evening.

College president Dr. Maggie O’Brien and 100 plus students, counselors, and campus public safety officials listened with rapt attention to the presentation, which was sponsored by the college’s Student Government Alliance and the SARP.

According to the details of the case provided by Sokolow, it all began on a night when Amy, a 19 year old virgin, and her friends entered a house party on a university campus that had a lot of single males and drinks aplenty. Amy, who Sokolow described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and 125 pounds, gulped down five beers in the space of one hour.

 
 Sokolow – The Bay Net Photo by Ahmar Mustikhan

An hour later Todd, a 21 year old student, arrived at the party and began talking to Amy. He consumed three beers and then stopped drinking. He gave Amy five Jell-O shots containing a 190-proof or 95 percent alcohol named Everclear. Sokolow described the dangerous drink as “Jell-O shots for hell.” Sokolow pointed out “Everclear” is prohibited in 27 states, but allowed in Maryland.

After the Jell-O shots, Todd chaperoned Amy to her apartment. However, as Todd was leaving, she stopped him and took him to her room, where a passionate kissing session ensued.

Amy had thrown up once already during the night and now rushed to the toilet where she threw up again. She returned after brushing her teeth but as the kissing resumed, she asked Todd to stop. Full of alcohol, Amy passed out for 20 minutes as Todd watched television.

According to Todd’s statement in court, after Amy woke up, the two engaged in “highly participatory intercourse.”

Amy woke up next morning to find a note from Todd about the wonderful night. But she was clueless as to what happened during the blackout, had no idea who Todd was, and was appalled to learn she had lost her virginity. A court rape case ensued and finally Todd was sentenced to two years in a medium security prison.

Dropping out of university after a failed suicide, Amy is now a journalist, Sokolow told the audience. Todd, himself once an outstanding math student, was thrown out of the university and denied admission to all other universities, despite his 1600 score in SAT. Todd finally got an associates degree from a community college.

Todd had to register as a “Tier Three” sexual predator, which Sokolow explains as a low-risk sex offender. Todd could not find a job, and Sokolow himself helped him find employment at a state highway program for convicted felons.

Although 65 percent at the discussion agreed with the guilty verdict, like the majority of male students attending the interactive talk, student Mike Goldsmith did not thin