The ninth step of the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program calls on members to make amends with those they have harmed — unless doing so would cause further injury.William Beebe's decision to confess to the woman he'd sexually assaulted more than two decades earlier finally brought her justice, but it also landed him in prison.
On Thursday, a judge sentenced Beebe to 18 months in prison for attacking Liz Seccuro in 1984 at a fraternity party at the University of Virginia.
"To me, this was never about step nine," Seccuro said. "Alcohol doesn't rape people. People rape people."
The case was revived in 2005 when Seccuro received Beebe's letter of apology for the college attack, and began exchanging e-mails with him. In one e-mail, Beebe wrote: "I want to make clear that I'm not intentionally minimizing the fact of having raped you. I did."
Read More
