Girl, 15, Commits Suicide After Sexual Assault At Party: Family Settles With One Attacker After Apology

The family of Audri Pott, a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after being sexually assaulted at a party, dropped a wrongful death lawsuit against one of her attackers after he “told the truth” and apologized to the family. The teen’s family say that they will be taking the other two attackers to court as they still have not fully admitted their role in their daughter’s assault and death.

The Daily Mail reports that Audri Pott attended Saratoga High in Northern California. While attending a party at a friend’s house, Pott drank alcohol-laced Gatorade. After passing out in a room, three boys colored the teen’s face black with a marker and proceeded to write obscene sentences all over her body. The boys pulled down her bra and removed her shorts before digitally penetrating her and taking photos of the attack.

“Over the course of the next week, Audrie learned that cellphone photos had been taken of her during the assault, which involved digital penetration, and shared with students at the school she attended with the three attackers.”

A cell phone camera was used to take photos of Audri as she lay unconscious and exposed. After the attack, Audri initially did not know what had happened. She said she woke with her shorts off and suggestive comments written all over her body. After returning to school, Potts learned that images of the sexual assault had been circulating through the school. Just eight days after the assault, Audri would hang herself in her parent’s home, noting that she couldn’t take the humiliation any longer.

Mercury News reports that the three boys were tried as juveniles and received sentences that Audri’s family says were simply not enough. Two attackers received just 30 days in a juvenile detention center, which could be spent on weekends. Therefore, the boys had freedom during the week and simply had to report to the detention center for the weekend. The third attacker received 45 consecutive days in the center. The light sentences came even after court records show that “two of the boys — months after Audrie killed herself but before they were arrested in April, 2013 — were found with additional photos of naked girls on their phones. Both boys admitted to extra felonies of possessing or controlling sexual photos of girls under 18.”

Feeling the sentences were not enough to send a strong message, Audri’s parents decided to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the boy’s in civil court. However, one of the civil suits has been settled outside of court after the boy gave the family a heartfelt apology and told the truth about what happened to Audri that night. However, the family says they will still pursue civil suits against the other boys who still haven’t taken responsibility for their actions or shown remorse to the family.

“If they [the two other attackers] had simply knocked on the door of the Pott household, apologized, accepted responsibility and jumped headfirst into our quest to educate our youth by, for example, speaking at high schools about the mistakes they made and how this can be prevented, there would be no civil lawsuit.”

What do you think about the sentences of the three attackers? Do you think the Pott family should win their wrongful death civil suits against the two attackers who have still not taken responsibility for the actions that ultimately led to the death of Audri Pott?