If you have never heard the name Eric Frimpong (pictured in blue), then chances are you aren't familiar with his story. It is a sad story of a soccer player who seemingly had the world at his feet before a series of events changed his life forever.
ESPN the Magazine's Sam Alipour has written about Frimpong's story, and it is a must-read.
Tom P:
Exactly! Everything here is just conjecture and we’re all arguing about it like we have the facts or know what happened based on this one biased article. I wasn’t siding with anyone. I was just trying to pick up the other side since the article and nearly everyone here wanted to view things from the point of view of a definite injustice to Frimpong. If people will look at what Nick has pointed out they will see that this article has some serious problems.
GY:
High and mighty? What are you talking about? I wish people would at least try and make sense when they respond.
I didn’t assume the girlfriend had to be white or black, and even if I had, to say that that is somehow an affront to other races is ridiculous. No one up until you has indicated that the girlfriend’s race was anything other than white. This seems to be another odd omission from this story. I’ll tell you what. Every time I refer to someone whose race I’m not sure of, from now on I’ll just list every single race that there is. This is a good example of people trying to make something out of nothing when it comes to race. The girlfriend being latina, as you call her, does not effect the race argument too much now does it? Unless you are now trying to say that people prefer latinas over blacks when they are being racist.
truly sad story… hopefully someone important reads this article and pulls some strings so that the kid can go free. there is absolutely no way he should have been convicted.
Jay,
An article I read says that the alleged victim is “probably asian”.
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/nov/29/small-possible-time-discrepancy-emerges-frimpong-t/
From what I read, they tested for the ex’s DNA, and didn’t find any on her either.
I sat on a rape case jury once. 7 out of 8 of the ladies were screaming for a conviction the moment we started deliberations. Didn’t want to hear anything to the contrary. If it’s a he said she said thing, the dude is in big trouble.
GY, good post. I never knew Frimpong personally, and have only heard positive things about his character. Of course, character alone doesn’t exonerate him, but credibility of witnesses always comes into play in a he said/she said scenario. The alleged victim? She doesn’t even recall the events of that night clearly–unless of course the prosecution team fills in the blanks for her.
Motive? What about her alleged “boyfriend”? How does he even not get investigated? What about his DNA? He certainly got the presumption of innocence. Yet, Frimpong doesn’t?
aristotle’s accusations of straw man arguments are laughable given he has the facts completely wrong.
And he doesn’t see an all-white jury as potentially prejudicial when it comes to a (foreign) black male as the accused. aristotle = sloooooooooow learner.
another stoopid aristotle comment:
“At least two people here have stated that the girl was white.”
So if two people are wrong, it’s ok for you to be wrong also? lol! Complete retard.
“Since the author mysteriously neglects to point out what color she is, what color would I expect her to be? Even if you are right on that one point, and you may not be, given the poor credibility you have based on your post, it makes the implied claims of racism by the author and a lot of people posting here, even more absurd. How can there be racism if they’re both black?”
Hey retard, try doing some homework before speaking out of your ass again. That’s my whole point. You’re an idiot. Hint: she wasn’t black either.
You’ve been owned again.
aristotle,
You’re a numbnut. Admit you’re wrong, and quit trying to rationalize. You don’t know jackshit about the case if you call the racism card while getting the race of Jane Doe wrong.
you commented on this:
“People really are like sheep. This story is absurdly slanted toward Eric Frimpong and yet hardly anyone comments on that fact. The author is trying to make you think Eric Frimpong is a saint, and this is a tragedy because Frimpong is innocent. Since the author is clearly biased, why would you go ahead and draw conclusions based on what he says and wants you to believe? ”
Is there a typo in there? Is he guilty or is he innocent? Or are you a flip flopper? So you’re saying Eric isn’t a saint, and this is a tragedy because he is innocent? Yet, you say the article is slanted in favor of Eric? You don’t see the conflicting thoughts you made in one sentence/paragraph? If not, you really are a dimwit.
This story, to me, speaks more about how messed up our justice system is, than whether or not he is guilty. The jury heard no testimony from Eric. They only heard the accuser’s side of the story. One juror speaks of regret over her decision? Absolutely embarrassing as an American to hear of this.
This deserves another case, no doubt. It sounds like “innocent until proven guilty” was omitted by the police when reading Eric his rights.
And from a devout Christian’s perspective, true justice comes after death, but I’m proud of Eric’s ability to stay positive through all of this and hopefully lead other inmate’s towards Christ.
The comments section here gives a more balanced view of what happened:
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jan/24/story-eric-frimpong/
There are a lot of points left out of Seefeld’s story. It should also be noted that she didn’t attend the trial. Some omissions/inaccuracies of the article are-
Apparently Frimpong had a high-profile lawyer (the same one Michael Jackson used), so his socioeconomic status didn’t hold back his right to a fair trial.
There was also DNA found on his junk from the girl’s vaginal secretions. So it seems that at the very least that they had sex.
And what’s with complaining about the jury’s demographics? The defense attorney has as much say as the prosecutor in choosing the jury.
Posted by: Nick | July 03, 2009 at 05:54 PM
Now that’s a good post-no conjecture just some good information.
How in the hell our any of us supossed to know anything about his guilt or innocence since we aren’t there, not on the jury and only have one opinion piece to go off of?
I salute you Nick.
The DNA evidence clearly puts doubt in my mind.
Boyfriend semen and DNA every where.
Frimpong DNA nowhere on the victim.
The wrong dude is walking around free, but I’m sure he’s having a laugh. Probably bragging how some sucker is doing time because of him.
Ives, thank you for posting this story. Please keep us updated.
I really didn’t want to say anything b/c of my position, but Aristotle you are being too high and mighty for me not to. You are trying to make others seem ignorant to support your post, while you yourself seem ignorant by assuming the only other race the “victim” could be is black if not white. I forgot about the melting pot we live in where Asians, Latinos, etc live. Just in case you were interested, Eric’s gf was Latina. Also, there WASN’T any DNA from Eric on the victim. They say there was DNA under Eric’s fingernails. That could happen man different ways. If you want to forget the whole race argument then do it. Look at the evidence as if it was two people of the same race. She had no DNA from Eric on her. Yes he had some of her DNA on his balls from her forcing herself on him and putting her hand down his pants. No he didn’t sit there and make-out with her and then decide it wasn’t for him. He stopped her when she started all of this. Yes, he didn’t like her smell from the cigs and he had a gf he was planning to go see. And there are people that know this young man and know he would never do that. Those people are normally considered character witnesses. I’m talking about teammates and loved ones from here in the states that no he wouldn’t do anything of the sort.
Now I’m not saying something bad didn’t happen to this girl, b/c something did. I despise rapists and they have affected people close to me. The problem with her is that she was at the point to where she doesn’t remember what happened and people helped “remind” her what did. There was so much evidence pointing towards the ex-bf that it is hard to believe the DA didn’t go after him and instead went after a small black male with an “island” accent. I love how Africa is now an island.
http://ericfrimpong.wordpress.com/
http://theoriginalwinger.com/2009-07-03-a-look-at-the-eric-frimpong-case-through-a-former-teammates-eyes
Wow- everybody loses and the truth is still unknown. Sad, tragic story.
Greg,
I’m not sure what it is you find incoherent about my post, but it seems pretty funny that your response is in good part incoherent, certainly far more than mine. Are you projecting? Do you call a lot of people incoherent while being incoherent yourself? Accept for the part about the girl not being white, your whole post is ignorant nonsense.
You don’t back up any of your absurd statements. At least two people here have stated that the girl was white. Since the author mysteriously neglects to point out what color she is, what color would I expect her to be? Even if you are right on that one point, and you may not be, given the poor credibility you have based on your post, it makes the implied claims of racism by the author and a lot of people posting here, even more absurd. How can there be racism if they’re both black? If color was an issue, why not convict the girl? I can just see how this might have gone if the verdict had been not guilty. Then we would of been hearing about how star athletes can get away with just about anything because they are liked by fans and the public.
It is interesting though that the author never chooses to specifically identify her as white, even though he is injecting color into the story at nearly every opportunity. Could it be that even he realizes that claims of racism involving two black people are pretty absurd?
I hate to take the time to address your lies and nonsense, but I guess I better or I’ll be like you. DNA evidence is not physical evidence? Really? How exactly is his genitalia and finger nail DNA being found on her not physical evidence of some kind of sexual contact?
This sentence by you is real coherent:
“Secondly, Frimpong was convicted on circumstantial evidence alone–not physical evidence. Quite the contrary, physical evidence suggested Frimpong’s innocence, and implicated others”
I think I know what you are trying to say, but, your calling me incoherent? Then your second paragraph is just another ignorant straw man argument. I never said or implied any such thing, jacka*s. Obviously at the very least reverse racism is alive and well. You call me delusional for not automatically assuming that a jury is prejudiced? How disgustingly prejudiced is that? I guess an all black male jury of soccer fans would have been the fairest? Dufus.
also, in our justice the defendant must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Let’s face it, theres a reasonable doubt, because of lack of physical evidence.
For those saying Jane Doe wasn’t white… what race was she?
And regardless if the article is biased or not, the victim has questionable character. A person who was convicted of juvenile DUI is still blackout drunk at age 19? Sounds like someone is an alcoholic and no lesson was learned. The character of the accuser should have been something brought up in the trial, if his defense attorney didn’t do that, I wonder how the hell he ever became a high priced lawyer.
Chase,
Do you know how to read? How is your reading comprehension? Please show me where I have indicated that I have everything figured out. I state more than once that I don’t know what happened, and that it’s certainly not going to be clear what happened based on a biased report from one person such as this. Since I had it all figured out, what was my verdict? Surely a person who has it all figured out would at least have a verdict. You’re either pretty stupid or just another dishonest person playing the tired old game of using a straw man argument. If all of that isn’t bad enough, you make this statement that is in basic agreement with me!
You: “For me, it seems incredibly difficult to say anything definitively on whether Frimpong was guilty or innocent ”
What you said in that statement and the fact that the report was obviously biased was almost my whole point.
Wow, once again the justice system gives the break to the women because she is a women. This reminds me a lot of the Duke Lacrosse case. I don’t know how a District Attorney could be so corrupt. It was probably a women who is a woman’s rights activist. Just horrible news for Eric and he really got cheated.
“I don’t know what happened in this case, and neither does anyone else. All we know is what the author thinks, and what he has presented as the “facts”.” -Aristotle
Really? After reading your lengthy diatribe before this ironic quote, it sounds like you have things perfectly figured out.
For me, it seems incredibly difficult to say anything definitively on whether Frimpong was guilty or innocent and find it very hard to believe that with what has been presented as evidence that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt…
Also, sounds like the high priced attorney he had, dropped the ball with his defense strategy…
Supsam, you’ve touched on the toughest part of this. Guilty or not, his conviction seems highly circumspect. There is certainly a good bit of evidence cited in this article to suggest he is not the perpetrator of this crime, however we read only a very small and what seems to be carefully selected selection of quotes from the 32 witnesses called. What did the rest say? Without reading the complete case, I dont think any can definitively say guilty or not to this situation. Regarding the second accuser, all we’re told is he was found not guilty – for what reason? Was it lack of evidence? Was the accuser a publicity hound? Did she have a solid alibi? Or was it on a technicality? A friend of mine lived next to the Green River Killer, and described him as a nice, gentle guy and was completely surprised by his arrest and guilty plea. Lets not forget nice guys can be the guilty party as well.
Either way, lets hope the lawyer for the appeal does a better job than this one. Regardless of whether Sanger represented Jackson or not, I’ve never heard of a lawyer who hasn’t bribed the jury and/or judge take such a defense (obviously this wasn’t the case this time). I’m not a lawyer, but cant the argument for lawyer incompetence be a cause for mistrial as well?
There were also scratch marks on her legs from being forced open, and DNA under his fingernails.
When detectives showed him a picture of the girl when they first brought him in at the beach he said he’d never seen her before. Why?
And the whole story just doesn’t add up. He meets a really drunk girl on the street, brings her back to his apartment for beer pong, goes to take a walk on the beach, starts making out with her and suddenly is repulsed by cigarette smoke and a tongue ring and leaves?
There’s just a bunch of evidence adding up against him.
Also he had the best defense attorney that money could buy, so people should stop bringing up his economic status.
Read some of the comments on that site I posted, and you’ll get information and viewpoints from people who actually attended the trial.
That sucks…Beer pong sucks too. Boys and girls, dont full around with someone from the opposite sex playing beer pong alone. Thats dumb too. But being dumb doesnt mean you are guilty.
What a gross failure of our justice system.
@nick… she had sex with her ex a few hours before DNA stays on your hands for days, she grabbed his junk transfering her secretions, thats pretty obvious… this case is tragic but it has a gret chance at an appeal.
racism all over the way, i dont get it, it is obvious that Eric is innocent, look at the evidence, money always wins and that is very sad…
hmmm there is no hard evidence at all to say he is guilty (hella wasted, vague memory, lack of conclusive DNA evidence)
i dont care how biased the article was, the lack of concrete evidence is a fact. One is declared guilt when there is no shred of doubt that he raped. However all this seems to put a whole cloud of doubt over what really happened.
Innocent till proven guilty. Somehow he was “proven” guilty. Hope this gets appealed
The comments section here gives a more balanced view of what happened:
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jan/24/story-eric-frimpong/
There are a lot of points left out of Seefeld’s story. It should also be noted that she didn’t attend the trial. Some omissions/inaccuracies of the article are-
Apparently Frimpong had a high-profile lawyer (the same one Michael Jackson used), so his socioeconomic status didn’t hold back his right to a fair trial.
There was also DNA found on his junk from the girl’s vaginal secretions. So it seems that at the very least that they had sex.
And what’s with complaining about the jury’s demographics? The defense attorney has as much say as the prosecutor in choosing the jury.
Wow what a story. The system fails again. I hope Eric gets another shot at achieving his goals. Things like this absolute disgust me and question how certain people can live with themselves.
Aristotle, besides being incoherent, you are an idiot. First of all, Jane Doe wasn’t white. Ooops. Secondly, Frimpong was convicted on circumstantial evidence alone–not physical evidence. Quite the contrary, physical evidence suggested Frimpong’s innocence, and implicated others, namely her drunken stupor and her jealous sex buddy. But no, their testimony has to be 100% credible, right?
And for you or others to suggest racism doesn’t exist in America, or in Santa Barbara specifically, just look at the racial make up of the jury. And do you really think that didn’t affect the outcome? Talk about delusional…
The defense attorney committed malpractice, and this case was a miscarriage of justice. I love the Santa Barbara community, one of the most beautiful in the world, filled with beautiful people, but this does not shine a good light on the justice system.
Luke, get your head out of the ground. Everytime a case like this happens, I’m sick of hearing it sounds like something from “the Deep South”.
If this did happen in the South, we would heard of it long befoe now, because journalists and the public at large love to assauge their white guilt with the false notion that all the racists are concentrated in the South. They aren’t, but the South IS home to the greatest concentrations of African-American wealth and political power in the country, which is why blacks have been streaming back to the region for 15 years.
This case sounds like something that would happen in a community that prides itself on voting for the right candidate and “good” diversity, as long as the dark skinned people stay on their side of town (or the Bay). In other words, any of a hundred communities in California or any other state in the country.
in California or any other state in this nation.
I don’t know that I’d go so far as to immediately claim racism. To think that a black man is convicted because he’s accused by a white woman is racist. You’re basing your opinion on the races of the parties involved, not the evidence. However, based on the evidence presented in the article, I’d say Eric got a raw deal. I think that the police only looked at Eric as a suspect because the “victim” named him. The evidence certainly seems to vindicate him, it’s circumstantial at best and does seem to present a “shadow of a doubt”. It’s not the knee-jerk claim of racism that concerns me, but the fact the the jury was predominantly female. Only three men on the jury, that’s concerning. Combine that with the ineptitude of his attorney, I hope that he gets a fair trial in his appeal. I hope that our justice system doesn’t let him down.
People really are like sheep. This story is absurdly slanted toward Eric Frimpong and yet hardly anyone comments on that fact. The author is trying to make you think Eric Frimpong is a saint, and this is a tragedy because Frimpong is innocent. Since the author is clearly biased, why would you go ahead and draw conclusions based on what he says and wants you to believe? No wonder we have so many screwed up politicians serving us if we make decisions like this.
This story seems suspicious from both points of view. I won’t bother with the evidence that seems to be suspicious in convicting Frimpong. The article and everyone here have done that over and over.
I get it. She’s a white girl and he’s a black guy, and we all know that white girls are always accusing innocent black guys of rape. It’s just what white women do. Never mind the fact that in a recent case where we do have all of the facts, and there is no doubt as to what happened, it was a black person trying to destroy white men just for the hell of it, or was it racism? Is there such a thing as racism against whites? Even that case is being mocked here by some. I hope those people never find themselves in the same situation as the men in the Duke case. Apparently there was no way for them to win even after being found innocent. They were dragged through the mud and humiliated and almost sentenced to jail for a rape they didn’t commit, but, apparently, the real tragedy is that they got off because they had money and they were white. No justice.
I couldn’t possibly make a judgment in this case based on what is presented here, and no one should. It would be like being a jury and hearing the defense without the prosecution side, and then adjourning to decide the verdict. I will say this though, since no one wants to even consider the girl’s side of the story. If Eric Frimpong is such a saint, as he is seemingly portrayed in this story, why is he seemingly cheating on his girlfriend? Why is he bringing girls just barely of legal age back to his house to get them drunk? No one finds it odd that he would hook up with this young girl, get her drunk out of her mind, seem to have her all set up for the score, and then at the last minute says, “You know what? Your cigarette smoke offends me. I have decided to not have sex with you even though you are clearly begging me. Be gone.” Sure. It happens like that all of the time. He doesn’t mind that she’s barely of age, and that he’s going to cheat on his girlfriend, and that she is so drunk that her blood level of alcohol is nearly toxic, her cigarettes, which he obviously knew about, were an affront to him. This is highly suspicious, but let’s not talk about that. The white girl got what she deserved and he should go free and be anointed Saint Eric. Perhaps the jury should be brought up on charges to for good measure.
I don’t know what happened in this case, and neither does anyone else. All we know is what the author thinks, and what he has presented as the “facts”.
An absolute travesity of Justice here to Firmpong. If the evidence doesn’t match the accuser, then why is he still in Jail.
The Jury messed up, the lawyer for Firmpong serverly messed up & the Judge is an idiot for not allowing evidence to set him free. This Judge had a motive to make this kid an example for no reason what so ever. The Governator should step in and pardon the kid.
Gosh!!! Dudes! STAY AWAY FROM WOMEN!!! If you have a girlfriend, stay with her, treat her good. BUT STAY AWAY FROM WOMEN!!! EVEN your GF’s friends! It’s not safe out there for any of us anymore.
Look at what happened to Freddy Montero, and not Nate Jaqua! STAY AWAY!!!
Just wanted to make it clear that Jane Doe isn’t white.
Is there a worse DA office than Santa Barbara? Michael Jackson?!
This was a huge story in Santa Barbara during the trial as the Gaucho soccer team is the biggest thing in SB.
There’s so much doubt in this case, I can’t believe he was convicted.
Wow! This is the kind of thing that happend in the 60’s in the DEEP South! But California??? In 2007-08??? I feel very sad for Eric Frimpong. Kudos to him for keeping his chin up throughtout this whole ordeal.
Hopefully he will win his appeal!
ummmm… The only thing that I wonder is why Obama hasn’t pardoned him yet. Seems like a story he could relate to. And if he hasn’t heard of it, then it is a worth a try to try and get him to hear it. This is just terrible, and a well-written interesting story kudos to the writer.
Reminded me a little bit of Genarlow Wilson. Just a sad story, hopefully one that comes with a happy ending. It certainly seems that justice wasn’t served here.
This is awful. Ives, can you get more information or direct those interested to the appropriate channels?
What a story! It always surprises me when DNA tests are not the final say…I don’t know why I’m surprised…I live in America, I know irrationality rules.
The media certainly didn’t give the Duke lacrosse team a “pass”. The media strives to create sensational stories. Very few media outlets are concerned with accurate representation of the facts.
The article’s author implies that the Duke lacrosse team were white and affluent and therefore able to use the justice system to their advantage, while Frimpong being an immigrant of poor background did not have those means.
This kid was made an example of, and that is the long and short of it. I hope karma doesn’t forget him.
Holy Moly. Granted, the article seems slanted in his favor. But if even half of those things are true (girl can’t actually remember, intoxicated, no DNA, teeth marks don’t match – but they match her ex-boyfriend- DNA from the EX on her underwear!)…then this is a complete travesty of justice.
And I’ll agree if that’s the case – Boo, America
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
That would seem to be a “random” sample of the other 98% in Santa Barbara. I bet they excluded the students from the jury pool, as well.
I read the whole article. Jane Doe had a questionable memory, insufficient DNA on her and was intoxicated. I just don’t see any explanation for the ruling except that the jury was racially-biased and that 7 women and 3 men is a little too sympathetic to the girl. Boo, America. There’s nothing like a story of a good person being marred by mistakes by justice. Justice isn’t blind, I guess.
This needs more exposure. The story certainly makes it seem like he was wrongly accused.
Not surprised at all he’s in prison, he’s black and the accuser is a white girl? Only OJ could pull that off. A white girl screams rape and the whole world has to screech to a halt.
Wow. This story definitely needs more exposure. It sounds like Frimpong’s lawyer totally screwed up. How do you only call one witness/expert when the prosecution calls 32?
I disagree with the author’s implication of racism in the media’s response to the Duke lacrosse team. Those guys were vilified by the media until it came out that there wasn’t much of a case. It’s not like the media gave them a pass.
Wow. The conviction seems suspect to say the least. I hope he gets an appeal where the case can be handled much better.