Law and Order: SVU Hoops Edition

[goodchristian]

DBR, can you elaborate on your front page story , in which you mention a recruit raped a child? That seems pretty crazy!

[Duvall]

That's a fairly inflammatory way to refer to someone who was charged with statutory rape and pled to a lesser offense. What happened to "[w]e have no idea what happened"?

[Edouble]

Yeah, I thought that was really inappropriate. It's possible he was 17 and had sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend. I'm glad to see someone else was bothered by this. Just because he's a Maryland kid now, doesn't mean we have to embellish things that he did two years ago.

[Icarus09]

I agree with the above postings that we are being a bit judgmental. The charge was later dismissed so I'm guessing that the evidence simply was not there. I do think, however, that he probably has less than stellar off-the-court behavior just given that after his offer from K-State was rescinded he also was dismissed from his team at Butler County Community College. You can read more here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/c...,2579316.story

[Edouble]

I agree with the above postings that we are being a bit judgmental. The charge was later dismissed so I'm guessing that the evidence simply was not there. I do think, however, that he probably has less than stellar off-the-court behavior just given that after his offer from K-State was rescinded he also was dismissed from his team at Butler County Community College. You can read more here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/c...,2579316.story

Exactly! Shelden Williams' sexual assault charges were dismissed and he was left off ofthe McDonald's team. How would we feel if a Maryland Basketball fan site posted something like what was on DBR this morning?

By the way, his offer from Cincinnatti was rescinded, but not K State. K State was one of the schools he was considering but he chose Maryland, since Huggins was no longer at K State.

His coach at MSCC says he's a good person, so maybe he hit a rough patch (as many adolescents do) and he's gotten his act together.

[moonpie23]

DBR, can you elaborate on your front page story , in which you mention a recruit raped a child? That seems pretty crazy!

what's your motivation for this post?

[IStillHateJimBain]

Tyree Evans had some issues when he was at George Wythe High School in Richmond too. Maryland is buying trouble.

[shadowfax336]

I didn't think the main page article was innapropriate, its true that the guy has had a very troubled past, but this thread is just not a good idea. Can a mod please remove it or at least change the title?

[Acymetric]

I agree with Shadow...

Can I just say that I'd be hugely in favor of changing the thread title to something...less edgy. I'm already pretty tired of reading the line "Rape of a Child" every time i go to the topic list...and since that really isn't what happened I don't think its remotely appropriate to keep it there.

[shadowfax336]

In any case this was a 17 year old and a 15 year old (that wasn't a fun fact checking trip, but can we please change the title???)
Not exactly what the thread title is indicating.

[shadowfax336]

There we go, thank you!

[pfrduke]

What DBR said was "statutory rape of a child over 14," not just "rape of a child" (unless it's already been changed since earlier this morning). That's a perfectly accurate way to characterize what the charge was, and doesn't strike me as inflammatory at all.

[Duvall]

In any case this was a 17 year old and a 15 year old (that wasn't a fun fact checking trip, but can we please change the title???)
Not exactly what the thread title is indicating.

To be fair, the thread title was a direct quote from DBR's Tyree Evans column from the front page.

[Acymetric]

In any case this was a 17 year old and a 15 year old (that wasn't a fun fact checking trip, but can we please change the title???)
Not exactly what the thread title is indicating.

This may or may not belong here, but honestly theres such a huge difference between rape and statutory rape that I think the term for statutory rape should be changed entirely.

[Duvall]

What DBR said was "statutory rape of a child over 14," not just "rape of a child" (unless it's already been changed since earlier this morning). That's a perfectly accurate way to characterize what the charge was, and doesn't strike me as inflammatory at all.

That's not what it said originally - the initial front page article referred to rape of a child, with no clarification or context.

[rockymtn devil]

What DBR said was "statutory rape of a child over 14," not just "rape of a child" (unless it's already been changed since earlier this morning). That's a perfectly accurate way to characterize what the charge was, and doesn't strike me as inflammatory at all.

It's been changed since this morning. It originally said what the original title of this thread was, and I too was questioning the choice of words by the DBR. Glad to see they changed it.

[roywhite]

Seems like a few things are clear about the Terps' latest recruit:

1. He sounds like a very good athlete and potentially very good player
2. He is physically mature, being 4 years past his HS graduating class
3. He's got a ton of baggage

Who knows...he may become a very good player for the Terps, stay out of trouble, and graduate...but it seems indicative that Gary is taking risks to get his program back to upper level status.

[allenmurray]

A charge of statuatory rape can be applied even when the sex was consensual between two minors if there is enough age difference between them based on the laws of the state (with the assumption being that a 15 year old can not really give consent). If that were the case it might make sense that the lesser charge that he pled to would have been sexual assault, or taking liberties with a minor. or contributing to the delinquincy of a minor.

However, the lesser charges he pled guilty to were assault and battery. Sio while he was never found guilty of rape (either forcible or statuatory) he did plead guilty to assaulting a 15 year old girl.

I am now even more embarassed to be a graduate of the University of Maryland.

[hondoheel]

That may not even be the worst of it:

http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=295008

[Acymetric]

A charge of statuatory rape can be applied even when the sex was consensual between two minors if there is enough age difference between them based on the laws of the state (with the assumption being that a 15 year old can not really give consent). If that were the case it might make sense that the lesser charge that he pled to would have been sexual assault, or taking liberties with a minor. or contributing to the delinquincy of a minor.

However, the lesser charges he pled guilty to were assault and battery. Sio while he was never found guilty of rape (either forcible or statuatory) he did plead guilty to assaulting a 15 year old girl.

I am now even more embarassed to be a graduate of the University of Maryland.

Would the other crimes he could have plead down to have required him to register as a sex offender at all? Possibly he was offered the assault and battery to receive punishment while not being permanently labeled as a sex offender for something that may have been legal 3 years later (this would assume it was consensual). I don't know enough about law to know of that kind of offer would be made, or what sex crimes require registration (I do know it varies state to state) so anyone that knows more about this, chime in.