The Glen Ridge Rape Trial: 1992-93

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The Glen Ridge Rape Trial: 1992-93

Defendants: Christopher Archer, Bryant Grober, Kevin Scherzer, Kyle Scherzer
Crime Charged: Rape
Chief Defense Lawyers: Kyle Scherzer: Louis Esposito; Christopher Archer: Thomas Ford, Jr.; Kevin Scherzer: Michael Querques; Bryant Grober: Alan Zegas
Chief Prosecutors: Glenn Goldberg, Robert Laurino, Elizabeth Miller-Hall
Judge: R. Benjamin Cohen
Place: Newark, New Jersey
Dates of Trial: October 15, 1992-March 16, 1993
Verdicts: Archer: guilty on two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and guilty of second-degree conspiracy; Grober: acquitted of aggravated sexual assault but guilty of third-degree conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual assault and aggravated sexual contact; Kevin Scherzer: guilty of two first-degree counts of aggravated sexual assault and guilty of second-degree conspiracy; Kyle Scherzer: guilty of one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, guilty of second-degree attempted aggravated sexual assault, and guilty of second-degree conspiracy.
Sentences: Grober: three years' probation and 200 hours of community service; Kyle Scherzer: seven years imprisonment; Archer and Kevin Scherzer: 15 years each.

SIGNIFICANCE: Many consider this case a symptom of the ailments of late twentieth-century American society. It sent to prison three of the stereotypical heroes of a public high school in a stereotypical middle-class suburban community. As it exposed the thoughtless, sordid, and vicious crimes of the defendants, it was almost a textbook case of group abnormal psychology. [NOTE: To protect the victim, her name in news accounts and books has been changed. Here it is Susan Fisher; other names reported are factual.]

In prosperous Glen Ridge, New Jersey, high-school students Christopher Archer, twins Kevin and Kyle Scherzer, and Susan Fisher had been schoolmates since kindergarten. For 12 years, the boys had amused themselves by making things difficult for Fisher, who was, as everybody knew, developmentally challenged.

By March 1, 1989, Fisher was 17. Her IQ was 64. Her mind was considered that of an eight-year-old. That afternoon, Christopher Archer found Fisher on a playground near the Scherzer brothers' home. He urged her to join him and several friends at the Scherzers'. Reluctant at first, she yielded to Archer's promises of a prize and a date later with his brother Paul.

Teens in the "rec room"

In the Scherzers' well-furnished basement, Fisher found a small crowd of Glen Ridge's acclaimed high-school athletes, including Paul Archer, football team co-captains Kevin and Kyle Scherzer, Bryant Grober, Peter Quigley, and another half-dozen teen boys. Within minutes, told to take off her clothes, Fisher was undressed and performing fellatio with Grober as the others cheered. Next, several of the young men used a broomstick, a baseball bat, and a dowel stick to rape Fisher. Finally, Fisher masturbated each of them in turn.

Told she could leave, Fisher was admonished not to tell anyone about the event. But within three days, she confided in her high-school swimming coach that something had happened but that she did not want to betray the boys, who were her friends. Within a week, a social worker told Fisher's mother what the swim teacher knew.

Meantime, the rapists bragged. They planned a second session with Fisher—this one to be videotaped. Gossip elaborated. On March 22, Glen Ridge High School principal Michael Buonomo notified the police. The board of education investigated. But two months passed before the six leaders in the rape were indicted. Peter Quigley and Paul Archer reduced their charges by agreeing to testify and to perform 60 hours of community service. As the trial of the four others began on October 15, 1992, Essex County assistant prosecutor Glenn Goldberg described the victim's childhood, her neurological impairment, intellectual limitations, low IQ, and second or third-grade achievement in sixth grade. At almost 18, he said, "Her ability to assess social situations, to know what is appropriate, was that of an eight-year-old."

Goldberg told the jurors that a recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling had found that an act of sexual penetration was punishable if the participant could not understand the right to refuse the act or could not exercise the right. Then he outlined Fisher's personality. "If somebody was nice to her," he said, "that person became a good, maybe even her best, friend."

… the People that Teenagers Admired …"

The boys Fisher encountered on March 1, 1989, said Goldberg, "were the football players, the wrestlers, the baseball players, the people that teenagers admired for their physical prowess. They were her heroes—the stars."

Defense attorneys Thomas Ford, Michael Querques, Alan Zegas, and Louis Esposito each opened with comments on Fisher's previous sexual experience, theorizing that she knew what was happening and could have said, "Stop."

Prosecution witness Dr. Susan Esquilin, a psychologist expert on sexabuse victims who had diagnosed Fisher as a mental eight-year-old, testified that "sexuality for her has to do with what somebody asks her to do." Crossexamined, she said, "I don't think she has any capacity to say no."

Also for the prosecution, Dr. Gerald Meyerhoff, former chief of psychiatry at Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus, New Jersey, testified that "her search for friends is an important piece of her life." Next, psychiatric nurse and University of Pennsylvania professor Ann Burgess used drawings depicting rape, made by Fisher some months after the attack, to explain the victim's long wait to report the crime and to prove that she was distressed by it. This testimony about rape trauma syndrome was the first ever permitted by a New Jersey judge as trial evidence.

Called as a prosecution witness, Fisher's mother testified on her daughter's learning difficulties and inability to travel alone or handle finances. She described how school officials had told her a group of boys had had some kind of sexual encounter with her daughter.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Thomas Ford established that Fisher's mother had earlier realized that Fisher was sexually active and had obtained birth control pills for her. Bryan Grober's lawyer, Alan Zegas, insisted that Fisher had been removed from her high school "because of her inappropriate conduct." Fisher's mother replied, "The situation was that she was a potential rape victim."

Zegas persisted. "Your reason for getting birth control pills for your daughter was not because she, of her own accord, was having sexual relations with other men?"

"I have never heard that before," came the reply.

"I Still Care about Them"

Susan Fisher was called to the stand. Prosecutor Robert Laurino took her through the events of March 1, including specific details of the rape and of the sex acts she performed on the high-school athletes. "Are those boys still your friends?" asked Laurino.

"Sort of."

"What do you mean, sort of?"

"I mean I still care about them," said Fisher.

Cross-examined by attorney Ford, Fisher admitted that she had made no attempt to leave the Scherzer basement, that no one told her not to leave, and that she would not have performed sexual acts in front of her parents or other adults. Grober lawyer Zegas asked her extensively about her experience with and enjoyment of sex. Scherzer lawyer Querques reminded Fisher of her examination by psychologist Esquilin and concluded, "You are proving right now, because you can answer questions, that you are not retarded?"

"Right. If I was retarded, I wouldn't know what I was talking about."

"Perfect, Susan," said Querques.

The prosecution rested.

The Defense Argues Consent

Defense attorney Michael Querques, representing Kevin Scherzer, argued that Fisher provoked the rape and enjoyed it. "There are some girls," he said, "who are Lolitas." He urged the jury to view defendant Scherzer not as the 21-year-old in the courtroom but as a teenager. To prove that Fisher was obsessed with sex, Querques reviewed doctor's records showing that her mother had had him prescribe birth control pills for her because she was sexually active. And, for two hours, the lawyer lectured the jury on the sexual revolution and the sex lives of today's teenagers.

As its chief witness, the defense introduced defendant Christopher Archer's brother Paul, an eyewitness. He said he saw Fisher "voluntarily doing everything" and added, "She made all the advances. It was all her idea."

The next day, Archer changed his testimony. Now he said Kevin Scherzer actively manipulated the broomstick during the rape of Fisher. During his third day as a witness, Paul Archer admitted lying to investigators in order to protect his pals.

Summing up, prosecutor Glenn Goldberg spent 14 hours and 15 minutes over six days. "This mentally defective girl," he concluded, "can be taunted, teased, abused, poked, and prodded with sticks, but she matters and her life matters, too."

The jury deliberated for 12 days. On March 16, 1993, it found all four young men guilty, to various degrees, of conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual assault and aggravated sexual contact.

On April 23, 1993, Judge R. Benjamin Cohen sentenced Grober to probation. The other three defendants received indeterminate sentences, not to exceed 15 years, in "youthful offenders" prison. The judge then permitted the three to go free on $2,500 bail each while their lawyers filed appeals.

After the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court reduced Kyle Scherzer's sentence to seven years, letting Archer's and Kevin Scherzer's sentences stand at 15 years, all three entered prison. The New Jersey Supreme Court refused to review the case. Kyle Scherzer was paroled in 2000. His twin and Archer remained in prison in 2001.

—Bernard Ryan, Jr.