AG office upholds decision in rape case

By Archie Ingersoll Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald

The North Dakota attorney general's office has upheld a local decision not to press charges in the case of a Mayville, N.D, woman who reported she was raped by three men.
"I conclude that your decision not to prosecute falls within the broad discretion afforded state's attorneys," read a letter from Chief Deputy Attorney General Thomas Trenbeath, who reviewed the file along with an assistant attorney general.
Traill Couty State's Attorney Stuart Larson has said the main reasons for not filling charges was a lack of physical evidence, the burden of proving the sex was not consensual, and contradictions between the alleged victim;s statements and thos of the reported suspects.
The alleged victim wasn't surprised by the state sttorney general's opinion.
"It's pretty much my word and against theirs," she said
The woman and her husband, who requested their names be withheld for the sake of privacy, have talked about a civil suit, but Wednesday the woman wasn't certain.
On July 27, the woman told police she'd met a man at a bar the night before and went home with him. She was having consensual sex with him when another man showed up. The two men then raped her. Later, two more men entered the apartment. One of those men sexually assaulted her along with the initial pair, she told police.