Lucky Threat

Jeffrey Olsen, 26, had busted out of a minimum security federal prison in Minnesota, but when he was caught and put on trial for unlawfully leaving prison, his lawyer explained that he was not legally guilty. Olsen had acted under duress, said Duluth Attorney Robert Kaner, because he feared that he would be homosexually raped. The Government conceded that homosexuality certainly existed in the prison, and Olsen's bunkmate, who was admittedly gay, testified to having brawled with another homosexual just before Olsen fled.

There was, however, no evidence of a direct threat to Olsen. Federal District Judge Miles Lord instructed the jurors that they could consider Olsen's fear of rape "a legal excuse" if they thought it "a well-founded fear of impending ... serious bodily injury" and if he had no other reasonable course of action. With that in mind, the jury decided in three hours that Olsen's fear was justified and that he was not guilty. Thus Olsen was spared an additional sentence. Nonetheless, back he went behind bars to finish his original ten-year term for receiving stolen property--but this time in a "medium security" slammer. Officials seem to have moved him not so much to ease the rape threat as to make sure he does not try to escape again.

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