GREAT NEWS. Jurors Acquit Two Former UT Football Players. ‘Regret is not Rape’
“Ladies and gentlemen, regret isn’t rape.” – A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for less than an hour and a half last Friday before finding A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams not guilty on all counts of rape. (Johnson and Williams were indicted on February 2015 after a female said both men raped her during a party at Johnson’s apartment in the early morning hours of Nov. 16, 2014. Johnson and Williams were suspended from the UT football team less than 48 hours after the party and never played for Tennessee again.) “We prayed, trusted in God,” Johnson said afterward. “I just knew God was going to take care of it.” Johnson, 26, embraced friends and relatives as soon as the jury departed. The 25-year-old Williams gave a big hug to his lawyer, David Eldridge. “I am so grateful to the jury for their work and their service to our community, and I’m grateful for their seeing the truth, (that) Michael Williams is not guilty and has never been guilty of this crime,” Eldridge said. “He’s looking forward to moving on with his life.”
