The case prompted national debate on victim-silencing gag orders and lenient sentencing in juvenile sexual assault cases.
Key Facts
- Victim
- Savannah Dietrich, female high-school student
- Perpetrators
- Will Frey and Austin Zehnder, both age 16
- School of perpetrators
- Trinity High School, Louisville, Kentucky
- Charges pleaded guilty
- Sexual abuse (felony) and voyeurism (misdemeanor)
- Record expungement
- Provision removed by judge due to seriousness of crime
- Contempt motion
- Filed after Dietrich named attackers publicly; later dropped
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In August 2011, Savannah Dietrich was sexually assaulted by two 16-year-old lacrosse players, Will Frey and Austin Zehnder, from Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky. The attackers photographed the assault, and images along with commentary circulated widely on the internet.
Frey and Zehnder pleaded guilty via plea bargain to first-degree sexual abuse and voyeurism. The presiding judge instructed Dietrich not to discuss the case publicly, but she released her attackers' names online, arguing their punishment was inadequate. Their attorneys sought to hold her in contempt of court.
The contempt motion against Dietrich was ultimately dropped, and her public outcry drew international attention. The judge, citing the crime's seriousness, revised the sentencing by removing a record-expungement provision and requiring community service at a women's issues charity, resulting in a harsher outcome than originally requested by prosecutors.