Philadelphia Daily News
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004

Schieber civil case going to jury

$4M sought for rape, killing of Penn student

By JIM SMITH
smithjm@phillynews.com

Shannon Schieber's life was filled with so much promise and cut short in so much pain.

In the aftermath of the University of Pennsylvania grad student's tragic rape and strangulation in 1998, difficult questions linger.

Did the police Sex Crimes Unit's alleged practice of not fully investigating some rapes contribute to her death? Or does blame lie solely with admitted killer and serial rapist Troy Graves, now serving a life sentence?

A 12-member civil jury - six men and six women - yesterday began grappling with these questions in federal court after lawyers' closing arguments and instructions from U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro.

Schieber's parents, Sylvester and Vicki, of Chevy Chase, Md., are seeking nearly $4 million in damages from the city. The city has denied any responsibility for Shannon's murder in her Center City apartment.

Chief Deputy City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith told the jury the cops tried to catch the rapist, that most rapes were "thoroughly investigated," and that only Graves is to blame for the murder.

The Schiebers' lawyer, David Rudovsky, insisted that "the brutal and senseless murder" wouldn't have happened if cops in the city's Sex Crimes Unit had done its job.

The cops, Rudovsky said, citing testimony, engaged in a "pervasive and widespread practice" of "downgrading" about 25 percent of sexual assaults to the point where many rapes weren't properly investigated.

As a result, he said, police on the beat and their commanders were unaware that a serial rapist who choked or gagged his victims to keep them quiet was on the loose in Schieber's neighborhood.

Graves had raped at least three Center City women and attempted a fourth rape in 1997. Two of the rapes were downgraded and no alert was issued for a serial rapist fitting his description until after Schieber's murder in May 1998.

Graves joined the Air Force and moved to Colorado, where he continued to rape before he was arrested.

Rudovsky quoted former Police Commissioner John Timoney, who took command of the department after the Schieber murder and later described the Sex Crimes Unit's downgrading practice as "a system failure."

Timoney had stated, Rudovsky noted, that by downgrading rapes "the police department has treated women rape victims improperly, unprofessionally and in a God-awful manner."

The sex-crimes cops had referred to the downgrading of rapes as "going down with crime."

Timoney's predecessor, Richard Neal, had to know of the practice, Rudovsky argued.

"Every high [police] official knew it," Rudovsky said.

The cops allegedly downgraded rapes "to make the city of Philadelphia appear safer" but the practice had "deadly consequences" for Schieber, he argued.

One beat cop had stopped Graves several months before the murder while investigating a report of a prowler, but let him go because at the time he didn't know of the rapist's criminal pattern or description.

Two other beat cops went to Schieber's apartment house the night of the murder to investigate someone screaming but failed to kick in her door because they, too, were unaware of the series of rapes in the neighborhood, Rudovsky said.

Rudovsky claims the downgrading practice either intentionally discriminated against women or was so "irrational" that it violated Schieber's right to equal protection of the law.

The practice also violated Schieber's right to due process of law because it "increased the danger that if she was attacked she'd be killed."