Two suspended Nebraska football players were arrested Tuesday and are facing felony charges in connection with a report of a sexual assault, less than a week after a university investigation determined they violated sexual misconduct policies.
Redshirt freshman Katerian LeGrone was booked on a charge of first-degree sexual assault, and fellow redshirt freshman Andre Hunt was booked on a charge of first-degree aiding and abetting sexual assault, Lincoln Police Capt. Duane Winkler told Outside the Lines Tuesday.
Outside the Lines reported last week that a university investigation found that the “greater weight of the evidence” supported that the two men “engaged in sexual assault and sexual harassment, in violation of university sexual misconduct policies” on Aug. 25 at their off-campus apartment. They were suspended indefinitely from the football team on Aug. 26, and face a two-and-a-half year suspension from the university.
Both men’s attorneys say they have already appealed the school’s determination and said their clients did nothing wrong.
LeGrone’s attorney, Kaz Long, said the timing of the charges, coming shortly after media coverage of the university investigation, was “suspect” considering the initial report was made more than three months ago.
“The fact the police and county attorney have waited this long to act on a rape allegation is quite frankly disturbing,” he said. “If they believe it’s true, then why did they wait so long? If they didn’t believe it to be true, why are they waiting to charge it now?”
Attorney Carlos A. Monzon, who represents Hunt, said it was his “guess” that university officials put pressure on the county attorney’s office to pursue charges after they “found themselves in a position where they could be sued, and in a position where they know they have violated this young man’s civil rights.”
A spokeswoman for the university declined to comment.
A female student reported an incident to the Lincoln Police Department the night the alleged incident happened, according to Nebraska’s findings and a police report obtained by Outside the Lines last week. The police report notes only that a rape was reported at an off-campus apartment on the evening of Aug. 25.
In reaction to the news of the arrests, the woman said in a statement to Outside the Lines, “The last thing I was expecting when I got the call was good news because this has been a roller coaster from the start. I was expecting the worse possible thing to happen and I was just in complete shock and started crying.” She added that she is just hoping for justice.
The university investigation’s findings included that the evidence supported that Hunt touched and digitally penetrated the woman and made her have oral sex without her consent, and that both men had sex with her without her consent, according to the report. The report states that the woman provided text messages with others, sent “immediately” following the actions, in which she alleged she had been raped.
Findings of sexual misconduct at Nebraska, and at many universities, are based on a preponderance of evidence, which means the weight of the evidence favors one side over the other. It is a lower burden of proof than the beyond a reasonable doubt needed to convict someone in a criminal case.