I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
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EAST LANSING — Documents obtained by Michigan Messenger show two high-profile Michigan State University basketball players have been accused of committing sexual assault on campus in August. Despite the allegations, prosecutors have declined to take up the case, and the victim disputes the reasons offered for not bringing charges.
The heavily redacted police report released by Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III alleges the two team members took turns assaulting an unidentified woman for nearly an hour in their Wonders Hall dormitory room late on Aug. 29 and into Aug. 30.
The police report indicates that one of the two players corroborated the victim’s story in his statement to police. Although the MSU Police Department forwarded the report to the prosecutor’s office with a recommendation that the men be charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct 1 — the most serious level of sexual assault under state law — Dunnings has declined to prosecute the case.
In a statement dated Sept. 14 and released on Friday, Dunnings says charging a criminal sexual conduct case “requires the element of force and/or coercion.” He said numerous prosecutors of both genders reviewed the case report and “none could find any of these necessary elements.” The police report and statements by the victim suggest otherwise.
Michigan Messenger is not naming the players because they have not been arrested or charged with a crime. The names have been confirmed by law enforcement and other sources, as well as Dunnings, who released the police report after Messenger filed a Freedom of Information Act request citing the names of the accused. Messenger does not report the names of sexual assault victims without their consent.
‘What felt like forever’
According to the five-page victim’s statement in the police report, the victim had attended a Wonders Hall orientation meeting and had noticed the basketball players there. She then went room to room with friends and had several drinks. At about 11 p.m. she ran into the accused in the lobby of the dorm and introduced herself to them.
She agreed to go back to the players’ room after a conversation with the two.
Once in the room, the three started playing basketball using a mini-hoop. When the victim missed a basket, one of the men told her she had to remove an article of clothing. The victim agreed and removed her t-shirt because she had a tank top on underneath.
At this point, the victim says, the players began to deliberately miss baskets until they were stripped “completely naked.” One of the men allegedly blocked the doorway to the room, while the other “cornered” the victim in the room.
“[The victim] explained to [detectives] that the body language of [the players] suggested she was not free to leave,” the report says. “[Redacted] was blocking any escape path to the exit of the dorm room. [The victim] stated that after [redacted] approached the door he turned the lights in the room off and the room went completely dark. At this point, the sexual assault began.”
The victim told police the players penetrated her in various positions. The victim told detectives the players allegedly asked her “how does that feel?” and “how do you want it?” The victim says she told the players she didn’t want it and gave “other indicators she was not a willing participant.”
The victim told police that the players pinned her down, but at one point she freed her arms momentarily and struck one of the players in the face. The player was on top of her and in response to her hitting him, he allegedly said, “Don’t. Just relax. C’mon,” as he continued to assault her, the report says.
Toward the end of the alleged assault, a suite mate attempted to enter the room through the adjoining bathroom. One of the players reportedly got up, went to the door and told the person who tried to enter, “It’s OK, man, get out of here.” The door was promptly closed.
MSU detectives interviewed the suite mate on Sept. 2. He said he heard a woman “moaning” and said it sounded like she was having sex “and was not in any trouble.”
Later one of the players reportedly entered the suite mate’s room and told him, “We got this girl,” “She’s from the dorm,” and “We both had sex with her.”
Judge issues search warrant
Detectives and officers from the MSU police department executed a search warrant signed by East Lansing District Court Judge Richard Ball at 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 31 in the players’ dorm room. Officials seized DNA and fiber evidence, clothing, and used condoms among other items, records show.
The affidavit and supporting information used by detectives to get the warrant was not released under the Freedom of Information Act request.
In the report, Detective Sgt. Maureen Kennedy and Detective Nicole Simi say that when they read the warrant to the players, one of them was “smirking.” The players were then separated and one of them was cooperative, telling detectives, “Yeah, I know why you’re here,” and “I’m gonna tell you what happened.”
The player also reportedly told detectives he knew he did not have to say anything, “but I want to give my side of the story.”
The other player declined to give a statement to police.
Player collaborates victim’s statements
During his interview with detectives, the one player who volunteered a statement corroborated much of the victim’s statement, the report shows. He told investigators that when it was clear from the victim’s statements that she did not want to have sex, he stopped. However, the other player continued “despite her reluctance and statements that she did not want to continue.” The victim confirms that player’s account.
The player told detectives he was concerned “over the girl’s reaction to the circumstances,” noting she was “timid” and “not aggressive.” The player then admitted to detectives that he understood how the woman believed she was not welcome to leave the room, in part because she kept referencing that the two were “bigger” than her.
The player then said a second time that he stopped when she said to, but the other player “coaxed” her into continuing the sexual activity.
The player told detectives that he and the other player should apologize because he felt the two had “disrespected” the woman.
The decision not to prosecute
Dunnings said the case was reviewed by at least two female prosecutors in his office. He said the case was reviewed by Debra Rousseau Bouck, who reviews all criminal sexual conduct cases for the county’ and either Lisa McCormick, chief assistant prosecutor in the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office; or Catherine Emerson, deputy chief assistant prosecutor. He said it was possible both Emerson and McCormick reviewed the case, but he was “unsure.”
Dunnings said the determination as to whether or not to prosecute was based in part on information not contained in the police reports — and that the alleged victim agreed that no charges should be filed.
“After reviewing everything with the young lady, this was a mutual decision,” Dunnings said in a phone interview Monday. “She [the victim] fully understood and agreed, is what Ms. Bouck [Ingham County Prosecutor assigned to review sex crimes] related to me.”
But the victim challenged the statements by Dunnings and Bouck.
The woman, who spoke exclusively to Messenger on the condition of her anonymity, said that she met with Bouck two days after the assault. The meeting occurred at Bouck’s downtown Lansing office. The victim says the two MSU detectives who investigated her case accompanied her to the meeting, but Bouck asked them not to come in the room for the discussion.
“It’s really hard to actually get a case to go through because there are twelve jurors and to get them all to see it from my point of view is hard,” the victim says Bouck told her. “Then she said she was going to take a defense approach, she started asking me all these questions.”
The victim says Bouck grilled her about whether or not it was possible the perpetrators thought the activity was consensual, why she didn’t yell and scream and why she didn’t run or try and fight her way out of the room. The victim was reduced to tears by the hypothetical interrogation.
“She just kept going, and I was crying,” the victim said. “I really don’t think she asked me if I wanted to (prosecute).”
Shari Murgittroyd, program director for Michigan State University’s Sexual Assault Program, said she is surprised that prosecutors did not issue arrest warrants in this case. She spoke to Messenger after reviewing the released police report.
“I’m in shock. After hearing what was in the police report, I am amazed charges were not issued,” Murgittroyd said.
Murgittroyd says in her 10-year career dealing with sexual assault, the typical reasons she has often heard to justify not prosecuting — such as the victim blacked out or there is no physical evidence — do not seem to apply in this case.
“You’ve got a great police report with all those statements,” Murgittroyd said. “It’s ideal to have the victim participate in prosecuting a criminal sexual conduct case, but it’s my understanding that it is not necessary.”
The victim says she is unsure about prosecution.
“I worry about what would happen if it didn’t go through and having to deal with all the publicity and everything that goes with pursuing charges,” she said. “But also I am angry. It’s just that everybody looks at them as heroes and they’re so excited for basketball season that [the players] get off without anybody caring. They haven’t even been punished.”
Asked what she would like to see, she tenses the muscles in her face, and chews nervously at her upper lip.
“Just some justice, because right now there’s none,” she says.
Update: You can read the full police report here.
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