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UVA Student Speaks Out On Discredited Rolling Stone Rape Story For First Time

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The massive and terrifying magazine article "A Rape on Campus," which detailed an alleged group sexual assault, has since been retracted by Rolling Stone. A subsequent review by an Ivy League Institution found the actual write-up of the story to be journalistically and ethically flawed.

That same article has prompted the filing of multiple lawsuits, including one on behalf of a UVA administrator seeking $7.5 million. And a police investigation has found no evidence to support the claims of rape.

And still, the student at the center of it all is sticking by her story.

That student is only known to the public as "Jackie," as she was referred to in the much-publicized article published by Rolling Stone in November 2014. The article detailed a shocking story of gang rape on the campus of the University of Virginia but was later retracted by the magazine in April 2015.

Through a court deposition that was played for jurors on Monday, the public now knows what "Jackie" thinks of the discredited account she gave Rolling Stone two years ago.

The answer? In her view, she told the truth.

According to multiple reports, the woman testified,

I stand by the account I gave to Rolling Stone. I believed it to be true at the time.

The testimony was given for the legal proceedings of the $7.5 million suit, which was filed by former UVA administrator Nicole Eramo, who is suing Rolling Stone for defamation.

The magazine had based its article on Jackie's account, which alleged an incident of gang rape that involved seven men sexually assaulting her over a span of three hours while two other men watched.

But while Jackie stands by what she told Rolling Stone, she also provided a testimony that, ironically, casts doubt on her own credibility.

According to the Guardian, she said,

I was 20 years old and had no idea there was an off-the-record or an on-the-record. I was naive.

She later added,

I felt like I was getting a lot of pressure from a lot of people to do things I didn't want do.

Jackie's story prompted a huge amount of outrage once it was found that several key parts of her account were not fact-checked, including the alleged date of the assault at a party.

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Ultimately, Jackie's testimony doesn't appear likely to sway any critics.

As for Eramo's defamation suit against Rolling Stone, the case is expected to last about two weeks, The Guardian reports.

Citations: The Guardian, Rolling Stone