Three Arkansas b-ball players being investigated for alleged rape

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Sounds like charges may be just around the corner........

Prosecutor: UA Athletes Under Investigation In Campus Rape - Local News Story - KHBS NW Arkansas (http://www.4029tv.com/news/20810845/detail.html)

[Izulde]

Just to update this, the prosecutor said there will be no charges filed.

The Associated Press: Prosecutor: No charges in alleged Ark. rape case (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hQhXZ_Ghmr8oeEt6xxH7LK2esQYgD9AK2TDG2)

[MJ4H]

The general feeling is that it was consensual and the girl tried to protect her reputation with the rape accusation after getting "caught." Eh, whatever. People around here have been flipping out about it anyway and using it as ammo to fire Pelphrey. Stupid imo.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

I love making claims that are impossible to substantiate.

Truth is, every weekend one million people make such claims.

[Logan]

I find the jump from post 1 to post 2 to be comical. That's all.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I'm shocked that a school believes the sports stars. I'm shocked. The truth is, at every single major college in the US, there's at least one date rape being committed by a player on scholarship pretty much every weekend.

Proof that Rainmaker University has issued its first Masters Degree in their new Overgeneralization program?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I find the jump from post 1 to post 2 to be comical. That's all.

Agreed. Sounds like Roscoe P. Coltrain is running the local Sheriff's office. Should have just kept it under wraps if they weren't filing charges, especially given the tone of the initial article.

[MacroGuru]

The general feeling is that it was consensual and the girl tried to protect her reputation with the rape accusation after getting "caught." Eh, whatever. People around here have been flipping out about it anyway and using it as ammo to fire Pelphrey. Stupid imo.

This happened at BYU during the Crowton years....granted it was a bit different with the Honor Code involved hence her immediate scream of rape being caught.

The players fought everything even after leaving the school and it came out in the end although hush hush to most, that it was consensual, they were at a party and had been drinking and she decided to take on a few of the players at the same time, her friend walked in screamed and then she flipped realizing she had been caught and it went to rape.

[MJ4H]

I'm shocked that a school believes the sports stars. I'm shocked. The truth is, at every single major college in the US, there's at least one date rape being committed by a player on scholarship pretty much every weekend.

Well there are witnesses to this one. She was caught by at least one person walking in on it. What was walked in on apparently appeared quite consensual. It's not as if people are just choosing to believe them. There is in fact more evidence for that than the other side.

[Izulde]

The general feeling is that it was consensual and the girl tried to protect her reputation with the rape accusation after getting "caught." Eh, whatever. People around here have been flipping out about it anyway and using it as ammo to fire Pelphrey. Stupid imo.

This.

[molson]

Well there are witnesses to this one. She was caught by at least one person walking in on it. What was walked in on apparently appeared quite consensual. It's not as if people are just choosing to believe them. There is in fact more evidence for that than the other side.

Is there a link to this or is this just speculation based on what's been printed?

(IMO, if it's the "word on the street", its not credible)

[MJ4H]

No there is not a link to a testimony by witnesses that were there. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I could post a link to some of the descriptions by people in the know, but it would require a lot more digging through 200+ page message board threads than I'm willing to do. People have obtained stuff via FOI on this already.

[MJ4H]

Ok so it was easier to find than I thought:

UA athletes won’t face rape charges (http://www.nwanews.com/news/2009/sep/10/ua-athletes-wont-face-rape-charges-20090910/)

UA athletes won’t face rape charges
Deputy prosecutor says evidence against basketball players is insufficient

By Scott F Davis

Thursday, September 10, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE — An 18-year-old University of Arkansas student’s accusation of rape against three Razorback basketball players is not supported by witness statements or evidence, Washington County prosecutors said Wednesday.

The prosecuting attorney’s office said Wednesday that it will not pursue criminal charges as a result of an Aug. 27 sexual encounter at a Fayetteville campus fraternity house.

Deputy Prosecutor Dustin Roberts said Wednesday that after reviewing the UA Police Department’s 11-pageinvestigative report this week, he has decided that there is insufficient evidence to support charges.

No evidence, Roberts said, shows that the men used force or that the accuser lacked the capacity to give consent.

The accuser told police she drank large quantities of alcohol served to her at a party at the UA’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and later ended up in a fraternity member’s private room with several people. The players involved, in interviews with police, acknowledged a sexual encounter. The accuser, however, told police shewas forced to engage in oral sex with two men’s basketball players while another member of the team pulled down her pants and raped her.

The incident happened sometime around 2 a.m. Aug. 27. She made her accusations to UAPD just before 6 p.m. Aug. 28.

She said that the players locked the door and that she was unable to defend herself because she was intoxicated during the incident. She identified one suspect by name and said she was unsure of the others.

Junior guard Marcus Britt told UA police that teammates Marshawn Powell, Glen Bryant andNick Mason were at the party, according to the police report. One police officer described Powell in the report as a witness, not among the accused.

Britt, Bryant and Mason acknowledge sexual acts being performed with the accuser but said that the acts were consensual.

Witnesses interviewed by the police said that the accuser was dancing suggestively and kissing one of the players before she initiated oral sex and that the sexual activity appeared consensual.

The incident happened in the room of a fraternity member who was not present at the time. He told police that he returned to his room, found the accuser performing oral sex on one player and using her hand to perform a sex act on another, while a third,fully clothed, rubbed against her buttocks, which were still covered by her panties, according to the incident report.

The fraternity member told everyone to leave. Witnesses told police the woman did not appear upset at the time.

One female acquaintance told police that the accuser called her and said that she had sex with two men and did not remember it. The girl said that the accuser “did not slur her words or give her any reason to indicate that she was under the influence,” according to the report.

None of the players has been disciplined by Arkansas basketball coach John Pelphrey, officials said. UA athletic director Jeff Long issued a statement about the investigation.

“We have been advisedthat the appropriate authorities have reviewed the information and concluded the facts of the investigation did not warrant charges being filed against any students. As stated previously, the athletic department and our student-athletes cooperated with the investigation. These were very serious allegations and we treated them as such.”

Long’s statement went on to state, “Now that the criminal legal process has been completed, we will review the available information to determine if any athletic department rules or policies have been violated. Following that review, we will take appropriate action.”

The accuser’s attorney said that his client and her family are considering their options.


edit to add: a lot of people aren't happy with the "investigation" and think there is and will be a lot more to this. I'm just telling you what the current thinking is. I guess we will see.

[Radii]

Proof that Rainmaker University has issued its first Masters Degree in their new Overgeneralization program?

As much as I, and everyone else, rag on MBBF, I have to go out of my way to give him credit for this gem. Nicely done :D

[molson]

I'm shocked that a school believes the sports stars. I'm shocked. The truth is, at every single major college in the US, there's at least one date rape being committed by a player on scholarship pretty much every weekend.

Yup. And I think in our society, there's still an acceptance of the "get the girl drunk enough so she can't possibly resist" sexual strategy. And I think a lot of the scholarship athletes are SO used to women not resisting, that they don't really look for active consent anymore, and overlook subtle resisting.

No idea what happened in this case (or really any case), but it's amazingly brave for a legitimate date rape victim to come out and say something.

I know this is college, but these guys have a lot of options - maybe they should stay away from sex the heavily intoxicated women. Is that really too much to ask? Despite our proud American tradition to the contrary, if a girl only wants to get with you when she's completely trashed - maybe its just not a great idea, for all kinds of reasons.

[Logan]

http://www.photochopz.com/gallery/data/505/jump.jpg

[BrianD]

I know this is college, but these guys have a lot of options - maybe they should stay away from sex the heavily intoxicated women. Is that really too much to ask? Despite our proud American tradition to the contrary, if a girl only wants to get with you when she's completely trashed - maybe its just not a great idea, for all kinds of reasons.

You are assuming that the guys aren't heavily intoxicated as well. It kind of works the same way with men and women...people do things drunk that they wouldn't do sober. In the harsh light of day, this whole situation probably looks pretty stupid to all involved. It is harder to come to that conclusion in the drunken moment.

[Izulde]

I have to wonder what FIJI's nationals' report is going to turn up, as I'm sure they'll be conducting their own investigation.

Would suck to see a lost chapter.

[BishopMVP]

I know this is college, but these guys have a lot of options - maybe they should stay away from sex the heavily intoxicated women. Is that really too much to ask?I'm not disagreeing with the rest of your post, but seriously, have you been on a college campus in the last 10 years? Or more specifically, the type of party that athletes are at? I went to parties at the football house at UMass, I went to bars with basketball/hockey/lacrosse players and the attitude of some (mostly football) players was legitimately terrifying to the point I'm straddling a line between distracting/nudging a player away from basically molesting a girl without directly confronting the 250 pound behemoth - but there literally aren't sober girls there and the athletes are getting approached nonstop by cute and/or drunk girls.

[molson]

I'm not disagreeing with the rest of your post, but seriously, have you been on a college campus in the last 10 years? Or more specifically, the type of party that athletes are at? I went to parties at the football house at UMass, I went to bars with basketball/hockey/lacrosse players and the attitude of some (mostly football) players was legitimately terrifying to the point I'm straddling a line between distracting/nudging a player away from basically molesting a girl without directly confronting the 250 pound behemoth - but there literally aren't sober girls there and the athletes are getting approached nonstop by cute and/or drunk girls.

Absolutely - that was my point. Than in our college culture today, this is totally acceptable, and I was just imaging, for a brief second, a world where there's more respect for women (and where women have more respect for themselves).

[Logan]

I'm glad I live in a world where some people think of sex as sex and nothing more.

[molson]

I'm glad I live in a world where some people think of sex as sex and nothing more.

The sex itself isn't the problem, I'm not morally objecting to being promiscuous, I'm just saying that in the U.S. college culture, "free drunken love" means exploitation, disrespect, and abuse of women.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm just saying that in the U.S. college culture, "free drunken love" means exploitation, disrespect, and abuse of women.

Hard to respect what doesn't seem to respect itself.
And it's kind of hard to figure out who is doing the exploiting.

[molson]

Hard to respect what doesn't seem to respect itself.


Not really, though that's definitely a date rapist's mentality.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Not really, though that's definitely a date rapist's mentality.

Eh, I'm not sure what self-respect you're finding in drunks making their availability abundantly clear to whatever happens to be around to notice. And I'm not talking about clothing or even what might innocently be referred to as "flirting" or even less innocently as "teasing", I'm talking about point blank approaches.

The behavior of a large number of young women (HS & College) today resembles nothing quite so much as the way guys of the same age (and older) have acted for years. And the high schoolers I've known in the past decade or so have universally agreed that more sex is being initiated by females than by males, to the extent that the guys occasionally complain about the one track minds !

If you sleep better in denial of that trend, cool by me.

[BishopMVP]

Agreed. That ship has sailed, and based off what I've seen working at a HS, the female culture is only getting worse. The downside to "empowerment" - when it's wielded by those with no self-esteem.

[molson]

Lot of hatred for women in this thread.

It's totally acceptable in the U.S.

I don't even know what points are being made here anymore.

[BishopMVP]

If you're really interpreting what I wrote as hatred towards women as a whole, you couldn't be further from the truth.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Holy moly. From Parrish blog over at CBS Sportline site..........

And the Inappropriate Tweet of the Day goes to ..

A Twitter account that seems to belong to an Arkansas basketball player has added to the controversy coming from rape allegations levied against three student-athletes.

The Arkansas Times reported it found the Tweet via tweleted.com.

Deadspin.com attributed the Tweet to Cfortson4 .

That account appears to belong to Arkansas sophomore Courtney Fortson.

The Tweet was filed Monday, two days before the rape allegations went public.

It has since been deleted.

But here is what it said: "Im gettin it at workouts like a dude who doesnt understand the word no from a drunk girl lol"

LOL, indeed.

Wow.

[MJ4H]

A lot of people were baffled by that tweet. As in, not even knowing what he meant by it. My guess is he was saying that Pelphrey (or whoever was in charge of his workout) was taking out his anger over the incident on everyone (Courtney was not one of the players involved in the incident).

Obviously inappropriate, but I don't think it meant what a lot of people thought it meant.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

A lot of people were baffled by that tweet. As in, not even knowing what he meant by it. My guess is he was saying that Pelphrey (or whoever was in charge of his workout) was taking out his anger over the incident on everyone (Courtney was not one of the players involved in the incident).

Obviously inappropriate, but I don't think it meant what a lot of people thought it meant.

No, I don't think it did either. I think he's just a dumb kid who REALLY needs to think twice next time before making a 'joke' like that. I don't think college kids have any idea just how much information can be learned from their posts on social sites. They just don't think.

[Samdari]

....college kids.... just don't think.

I miss college.

[BrianD]

Lot of hatred for women in this thread.

It's totally acceptable in the U.S.

I don't even know what points are being made here anymore.

Your third sentence is pretty clear based on your first.

Let's break this down real simple-like. If a girl says 'no' and the guy doesn't listen, he is being disrespectful and criminal. If a girl says 'yes' and the guy does listen, he is not being disrespectful.

Women have the same possibility as men when it comes to being drunk and stupid. Neither gender should be obligated to try to figure out when the other gender "should" be saying no.

[molson]

Your third sentence is pretty clear based on your first.

Let's break this down real simple-like. If a girl says 'no' and the guy doesn't listen, he is being disrespectful and criminal. If a girl says 'yes' and the guy does listen, he is not being disrespectful.

Women have the same possibility as men when it comes to being drunk and stupid. Neither gender should be obligated to try to figure out when the other gender "should" be saying no.

Most of the time, you're not dealing with "yes" or "no". And when it's not that clear cut, yes, the man has more responsibility than the woman. Simply because the man, biogically speaking, has a more active role in the act, and the woman doesn't even have to be conscious.

But aside from that, I disagree that sex is always morally OK for a man if the woman even verbally consents. (And I'm not talking about religion-morality, i'm talking about treating people with respect morality). There's times when saying no is the right call.

[BrianD]

Most of the time, you're not dealing with "yes" or "no". And when it's not that clear cut, yes, the man has more responsibility than the woman. Simply because the man, biogically speaking, has a more active role in the act, and the woman doesn't even have to be conscious.

If the woman isn't conscious, I'm pretty sure she won't be able to say 'yes'. And really, you are dealing with 'yes' or 'no'. The only way you get something in-between is if you keep asking after the first few 'no' responses until you get a 'yes'. But that isn't an in-between, because no means no.

But aside from that, I disagree that sex is always morally OK for a man if the woman even verbally consents. (And I'm not talking about religion-morality, i'm talking about treating people with respect morality). There's times when saying no is the right call.

I won't disagree that there are times when saying no would be a better call. Here's the kicker, though. Most times when there is a social situation that has women getting drunk...men are getting drunk too. When both genders are of diminished capacity, you can't really expect either to be thinking clearly enough to know how the other person should be answering the question.

I'm sure you could come up with plenty of situations where the guy is staying sober hoping to get the girl drunk enough to agree to sleep with him, but you'd be talking about a big minority of the situations. In those situations, the guys' actions would be wrong. In other situations, personal responsibility comes in.

[MJ4H]

Case closed:

Judge William Storey tells KNWA charges will not be filed in a rape investigation involving University of Arkansas basketball players.
The following is part of a letter sent to Judge Storey from Special Prosecutor H.G. Foster:
"I have completed my review of the matter referred for my determination as to the filing of criminal charges. Based upon the investigation of the University of Arkansas Police Department , test and reports of the Arkansas State Crime Lab, and other information developed in the case, it is my finding that there is not sufficient evidence to warrant the filing of a criminal charge."
Press Release
Of
Marcus Britt, Glenn Bryant and Nick Mason

Date: February 05, 2010

We are happy that the special prosecutor has decided not to file criminal charges against us. We were confident that the special prosecutor would reach this conclusion because we knew all along that we did not commit any crimes. We believe that we have been unfairly portrayed and placed in a false light by this process and feel it is necessary to rectify this situation by making certain facts known to the public. We were guilty of conduct unbecoming of a Razorback student/athlete and have accepted the punishment that came with those actions. However, we did not commit the widely reported acts of which we have been accused.
Unfortunately and unfairly, we have been punished for actions we did not commit by suffering through unfounded suspicion in a public manner. The truth is that we voluntarily took and passed a polygraph examination in December, 2009 (Nick Mason did not participate) which showed that we did not engage in the conduct of which we were accused. We all voluntarily submitted DNA samples which, through scientific testing methods and procedures conducted by the Arkansas Sates Crime Lab, conclusively proves beyond a reasonable doubt that we did not commit the acts of which we were accused as the DNA taken from the accuser was not contributed by any of us.
As a result of these baseless but inflammatory allegations against us, we have suffered greatly, the Razorback Basketball Program has been cast in a bad light, our basketball careers have been interrupted, and we have been held to public suspicion. We genuinely believe that we are due an apology from the accuser though we harbor no great expectations of that happening. At the minimum, perhaps the Razorback nation can now accept the truth of this matter and judge us for what we did and not for what we did not do.