You have to keep in mind that the defense attorney's job is to help these kids get away with it if he can. Bruce McDougal "claimed three other serious sexual harassment incidents had occurred this year" but there was no further documentation of that in the article. Chances are it was a smokescreen.

However, the existence of attorneys like McDougal goes a long way toward explaining the apparent hesitance of school administrators and police. It might be more like circumspection on their part, to make sure the McDougals of the world can't come up with a plausible lie for their sleazy client's behavior.

The America criminal justice system is based on the concept of the plausible lie. That's why people are emboldened to commit criminal acts. First of, the police are too busy, so chances are they won't get caught. If the do get caught, they seem to fantasize having some smart lawyer get them off on a technicality. The rest of the fantasy involves suing the police for wrongful prosecution.

When you go after a criminal, you have to have all your ducks in a row.