TRIPLE Jeopardy in Michigan State Sex Assault Case Ends an Innocent Male’s NFL Career
This is a story of a rape accusation that would not die and a misshapen version of college justice. Let’s begin with two Michigan State students looking to hook up, mess around and perhaps have sex. Soon after, the woman accuses the man, Keith Mumphery, who would become a pro football receiver, of sexual assault. The police investigate. The accuser does not return calls. They decline to prosecute. Michigan State’s Title IX office, which investigates accusations of sexual assault and adheres to a significantly looser standard of evidence than in criminal cases, clears him. The woman appeals that finding. (Unlike in criminal cases, where acquitted defendants cannot be retried, in Title IX cases, accusers may appeal.) This time, Michigan State holds him responsible for relationship violence and sexual misconduct. Now we turn to the consequences. Mumphery, a receiver for the Houston Texans and a graduate student at Michigan State, was expelled by the university because of a sexual assault. Two days later, the Texans’ coach tells Keith, this case is a problem and we’re letting you go. Mumphery wonders what has become of his life. ..I can’t say what happened in that dorm room on that early evening in March 2015. I know only this. A prosecutor decided not to bring charges, and a university investigation found Mumphery was not responsible. The only investigation that found him guilty did so apparently without his knowledge and without his offering a defense.
That’s not a good definition of liberty.
nytimes.com By Michael Powell
