Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Interview With Charlie Brennan

Aired February 20, 2004 - 09:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Charlie Brennan has been reporting on the CU rape allegations for "The Rocky Mountain News," and he joins us from Denver this morning. Nice to see you, Mr. Brennan, thanks for being with us.
CHARLIE BRENNAN, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: In your report this morning in "The Rocky Mountain News," you talk a lot about this sixth woman who claims that she was raped in August of 2002. Give us the latest on these allegations. It seems that there's a first DNA test that actually clears the man that she originally fingered, now a second DNA test is being done. Is that right?

BRENNAN: That's right, and because the woman believes that she may have been drugged, she has a very poor recollection of the events, and she herself was not even sure that these were players. It's only subsequent investigation by police that narrowed suspects down to a couple of players, and in fact one has been cleared through DNA, and DNA tests on the second player are still pending.

O'BRIEN: If she's aggressively pursuing the tests, does that mean she will also pursue some kind of prosecution if it turns out the DNA test matches, regardless if it's a player or not, a CU student?

BRENNAN: Yes, there is every indication that she wants a prosecution to go forward, and that the police want a prosecution to go forward, and depending on the results of this DNA, prosecution may go forward. And it does bear to be noted that out of these six rape allegations, so far we have zero pending prosecutions.

O'BRIEN: That is a good thing to note. I'm curious to know if the community has been cooperative in these investigations.

BRENNAN: The community?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I know, for example, the police have certainly gone to bars to try to track down more information about some of these allegations, and it seems in some cases some people are not that forthcoming with information.

BRENNAN: Well, right. In this most recent case, there is in the police report the notation that one bartender who helped provide or was contacted to provide IDs on these suspected assailants said, "hey, these guys are on scholarships. I don't want to do anything to hurt them." That's a rather remarkable response for somebody -- for a witness in this kind of case. On the other hand, the Boulder district attorney, Mary Keenan, comes from a strong background in advocacy for sexual assault victims, and she's a prosecutor who would very much like to be able to take cases like this forward if evidence is adequate to do so.

O'BRIEN: Why do you think no, then, criminal charges have been filed? Is it because these cases are notoriously difficult to prove?

BRENNAN: Well, in some cases, you have victims or alleged victims who simply have said that they don't want to go forward, and then in some of the other cases, perhaps the most notable cases coming out of a now notorious December 2001 party, the prosecutor, Mary Keenan, made a decision that she could not go forward, in part -- and this is sort of an unusual finding -- she felt that the men who were alleged to have assaulted these women, the young recruits, actually, had been essentially given a promise of sex at this party, that they had been led into the event with a belief that they would be getting sex, and she termed that a third party consent situation, very unusual, but she felt that that would create problems in a prosecution.

O'BRIEN: Does it surprise you at all that more and more cases are coming forward, being known?

BRENNAN: Well, sure. I mean, it's, you know, a few days ago, when one case came up, we said, well, the other shoe has dropped. And then yesterday the other shoe dropped again. Shoes keep dropping.

It does, you know, pay to take note that the most recent case we have now still goes back to August of 2002. In other words, none of these allegations are more recent than a year and a half back. There have been no rapes reported out of the CU program for 18 months now. I guess, you know, it's a fairly sad state of affairs when you'd want to sort of take pride in that, but there is -- these all date back to at least 18 months back or older.

O'BRIEN: Charlie Brennan, reports for "The Rocky Mountain News," thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

BRENNAN: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 20, 2004 - 09:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Charlie Brennan has been reporting on the CU rape allegations for "The Rocky Mountain News," and he joins us from Denver this morning. Nice to see you, Mr. Brennan, thanks for being with us.
CHARLIE BRENNAN, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: In your report this morning in "The Rocky Mountain News," you talk a lot about this sixth woman who claims that she was raped in August of 2002. Give us the latest on these allegations. It seems that there's a first DNA test that actually clears the man that she originally fingered, now a second DNA test is being done. Is that right?

BRENNAN: That's right, and because the woman believes that she may have been drugged, she has a very poor recollection of the events, and she herself was not even sure that these were players. It's only subsequent investigation by police that narrowed suspects down to a couple of players, and in fact one has been cleared through DNA, and DNA tests on the second player are still pending.

O'BRIEN: If she's aggressively pursuing the tests, does that mean she will also pursue some kind of prosecution if it turns out the DNA test matches, regardless if it's a player or not, a CU student?

BRENNAN: Yes, there is every indication that she wants a prosecution to go forward, and that the police want a prosecution to go forward, and depending on the results of this DNA, prosecution may go forward. And it does bear to be noted that out of these six rape allegations, so far we have zero pending prosecutions.

O'BRIEN: That is a good thing to note. I'm curious to know if the community has been cooperative in these investigations.

BRENNAN: The community?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I know, for example, the police have certainly gone to bars to try to track down more information about some of these allegations, and it seems in some cases some people are not that forthcoming with information.

BRENNAN: Well, right. In this most recent case, there is in the police report the notation that one bartender who helped provide or was contacted to provide IDs on these suspected assailants said, "hey, these guys are on scholarships. I don't want to do anything to hurt them." That's a rather remarkable response for somebody -- for a witness in this kind of case. On the other hand, the Boulder district attorney, Mary Keenan, comes from a strong background in advocacy for sexual assault victims, and she's a prosecutor who would very much like to be able to take cases like this forward if evidence is adequate to do so.

O'BRIEN: Why do you think no, then, criminal charges have been filed? Is it because these cases are notoriously difficult to prove?

BRENNAN: Well, in some cases, you have victims or alleged victims who simply have said that they don't want to go forward, and then in some of the other cases, perhaps the most notable cases coming out of a now notorious December 2001 party, the prosecutor, Mary Keenan, made a decision that she could not go forward, in part -- and this is sort of an unusual finding -- she felt that the men who were alleged to have assaulted these women, the young recruits, actually, had been essentially given a promise of sex at this party, that they had been led into the event with a belief that they would be getting sex, and she termed that a third party consent situation, very unusual, but she felt that that would create problems in a prosecution.

O'BRIEN: Does it surprise you at all that more and more cases are coming forward, being known?

BRENNAN: Well, sure. I mean, it's, you know, a few days ago, when one case came up, we said, well, the other shoe has dropped. And then yesterday the other shoe dropped again. Shoes keep dropping.

It does, you know, pay to take note that the most recent case we have now still goes back to August of 2002. In other words, none of these allegations are more recent than a year and a half back. There have been no rapes reported out of the CU program for 18 months now. I guess, you know, it's a fairly sad state of affairs when you'd want to sort of take pride in that, but there is -- these all date back to at least 18 months back or older.

O'BRIEN: Charlie Brennan, reports for "The Rocky Mountain News," thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

BRENNAN: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com