Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza points out at the Atlantic that celebrities are allowed to tamper with witnesses in order to avoid prosecution for sexual assault.

The aplomb with which Kelly was received recalled the Golden Globes’ celebration of Woody Allen two weeks before. Actress Diane Keaton accepted a lifetime achievement award on the director’s behalf, heedless of recent Vanity Fair articles adding further detail to long-standing allegations that Allen repeatedly molested his seven-year-old daughter with actress Mia Farrow.

Kelly and Allen have successfully relied on two different versions of the same celebrity strategy to escape the possibility of criminal consequences: legalized witness tampering. Our federal witness-tampering statute applies to anyone who “corruptly persuades” a witness to influence or deter communications and testimony.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)