Michigan AG asked to investigate rape claim against MSU basketball player
A woman who told police that she was sexually assaulted by a Michigan State basketball player asked the Michigan attorney general's office last week to investigate her case after local prosecutors declined to file charges.
Michigan State University police told prosecutors that they had probable cause that Spartans sophomore basketball player Brock Washington raped the woman on Jan. 19 while she was too intoxicated to consent, according to a police report and emails obtained by ESPN via a public records request to the Ingham County prosecutor's office. Police referred the case to county prosecutors, who declined to file charges this month.
A spokesman for Michigan State University police told ESPN Monday that the attorney general's office has requested the case file and that the department is cooperating.
Washington, who two years ago pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault stemming from a separate sex crime investigation, was suspended without explanation by Michigan State coach Tom Izzo in late January. During questioning by police in the most recent case, Washington changed his story about the night in question several times, acknowledged that the woman was so drunk that she was incapacitated and admitted to police that he had sexual contact with her, according to the police report.
ESPN made several attempts to reach Washington for comment and tried to contact his current attorney and a previous one, Peter Samouris. Samouris said he was not familiar with the current case, but he spoke with Washington and Washington's father Friday to relay questions from ESPN.
"It's my understanding he's not going to be charged, and he doesn't wish to speak," Samouris said. "He's maintained his innocence 100 percent of the time."
Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon issued a statement to ESPN saying that she declined to charge Washington because the case "does not meet the burden of proof that we must present to a jury."
The woman, who spoke to ESPN on the condition of anonymity, said that on March 11 she met with assistant prosecuting attorney Sarah Pulda and was told that she had been "too intoxicated to prove that it [sexual contact] was forced."
The statement shocked and angered the woman: "That was the whole point of the charge, that I was too drunk to consent to what happened," she said. "The prosecutor failed me completely. I have to take it into my own hands ... and hopefully get justice in the long run."
Michigan law states that someone can be charged and found guilty of criminal sexual conduct if the alleged perpetrator "engages in sexual penetration with another person" and "causes personal injury to the victim, and the actor knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless."
The statement shocked and angered the woman: "That was the whole point of the charge, that I was too drunk to consent to what happened," she said. "The prosecutor failed me completely. I have to take it into my own hands ... and hopefully get justice in the long run."
Michigan law states that someone can be charged and found guilty of criminal sexual conduct if the alleged perpetrator "engages in sexual penetration with another person" and "causes personal injury to the victim, and the actor knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless."
"[Pulda] recommended that I read my police report to help put my mind to ease," the woman wrote in a letter she sent Thursday to the AG's office, which she shared with ESPN. "After reading it, my mind is the complete opposite, and my trust in the justice system is completely diminished."
Although her letter does not explicitly ask state officials to reopen the investigation, she told ESPN that she corresponded with an assistant attorney general and requested that the office investigate her case.
Pulda did not respond to requests for an interview, and Siemon said she was too busy with coronavirus-related matters to respond to questions about the case. A spokeswoman for the attorney general said she could not confirm that a letter had been received.
Michigan State University police recommended charging Washington with first-degree criminal sexual conduct after interviewing him, the woman, her roommate who was with her the night of the alleged incident and an Uber driver who took her home, according to the police report. Police also recommended charging the woman's roommate with obstructing a criminal investigation after she changed her story the second time she was interviewed by police. The prosecutor has not filed charges against the roommate.
The woman who accused Washington said she has been in contact with Michigan State's office of institutional equity, and a Title IX investigation is ongoing. A spokeswoman for the university declined to comment on the investigation. The woman is not a student at Michigan State but attends a nearby college. Washington remains enrolled at Michigan State and remained suspended from the team for the duration of its season, the spokeswoman said.
Entire article:
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...-investigate-rape-claim-msu-basketball-player
