Charges Dropped Against 5 Teen Rape Suspects

The charges against five teenage boys accused of a gang rape in January have been dropped and the case was formally dismissed Thursday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Three of the boys walked into the courtroom with their heads bowed, followed by a crowd of supporters, who filled the last two rows and watched in silence as they made their way to the front.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, “after a full, fair, and thorough investigation” of the alleged rape at gunpoint that was said to have occurred in Osborn Playground in Brownsville, where it turns out the teen girl was having sex with her biological father.

The investigation turned up no proof of a gun and the plaintiff and her father gave inconsistent recounts of the incident, leading to the charges being dropped.

“This case was beyond peculiar from the beginning, the stories were becoming more bizarre by the day, and this is troubling on all levels,” said Spencer Leeds, a defense attorney for one of the accused, arguing that this was a false arrest and false reporting “shaming these boys for nothing.”

He also declared it unfair that the father of the plaintiff remains anonymous and was not being prosecuted for incest, or both not being prosecuted for making false accusations.

Prosecutors have said that it would be difficult to make an incest charge stick without the cooperation of the daughter.

“The right decision was made, it’s not rocket science,” said Ken Montgomery, another attorney for one of the boys, “in the very beginning it was clear there was something wrong with the case.” He stated that the district attorney’s office “did the right thing in not rushing judgment on the boys like the people at City Hall did.”