When the assistant coach of Georgia Tech's men’s tennis team was arrested and charged with rape in March, his attorney told the media his client was “absolutely not guilty.”
Last week, the Fulton County district attorney agreed and dropped the pending rape charges against him.
The assistant coach was charged with rape, as well as cocaine and marijuana possession, after an overnight guest alleged he had intercourse with her while she was asleep. He allegedly met two women at a bar in Buckhead and invited them back to his apartment. One of these women alleged that she woke up the next morning while he was having intercourse with her. She told him to stop, then both women left the apartment and called the police.
As we discussed in our previous post shortly after the arrest, there were problems with the State’s case from the very beginning. The man’s attorney claimed that the rape charge had no merit due to consent issues. Since the man stopped when the alleged victim asked him to, there was no issue of force or intercourse against her will.
It is also possible that the defense team explored the possibility that if the alleged victim had consumed alcohol or drugs that evening, it may have interfered with her ability to accurately recall whether she consented to sexual acts. Defense attorneys may also have located witnesses from the bar who observed how he and the alleged victim interacted before they left to go to his apartment.
Despite this recent positive turn of events, the former coach is still dealing with the fallout of being placed on administrative leave by Georgia Tech which led to his resignation. He also still faces the cocaine and marijuana possession charges for which a court date has not yet been set.
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