A jury in Kansas discovered former Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. not responsible of felony rape and aggravated sexual assault Thursday following a weeklong trial.
Shannon was arrested in December for an alleged incident in September at a bar in Lawrence, Kansas, after a girl alleged that he pulled her towards him and penetrated her vagina together with his fingers shortly after they met.
Shannon persistently denied the allegations, and witnesses for his protection through the trial stated they by no means noticed Shannon method a girl within the method described by police. Following the alleged incident, the lady discovered Shannon’s image in a roster of the workforce on-line after which went to police.
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“We’re proud of the result,” stated Mark Sutter, certainly one of Shannon’s attorneys. “Terrence Shannon Jr. lastly bought his day in court docket. We denied the allegations again in September and on that date, we pledged that at some point quickly, we’d have our day in court docket and we did. And we’re proud of the result. And, on the finish of the day, I believe the general public at-large owes Shannon Jr. an apology.”
After his arrest, Shannon was suspended by Illinois, which launched its personal investigation. He missed six video games earlier than he retained a short lived restraining order and returned to the court docket. He then led the workforce to the NCAA event. The varsity subsequently dropped its investigation, citing a scarcity of proof.
“I’m thrilled for Terrence with the information of at this time’s verdict,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood stated. “Below six months of intense scrutiny, Terrence has proven great composure, maturity, and focus. He can now put this behind him and transfer ahead together with his life. I, together with everybody in our Illinois Basketball program, will proceed to supply Terrence our full assist as he seems to be to satisfy his NBA goals.”
Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman echoed that sentiment, saying the decision was “an amazing sigh of aid” for him and others near Shannon.
“This has been a really severe and unlucky state of affairs for all events concerned, and I’m comfortable for Terrence that it has been resolved and his title has been cleared,” Whitman stated. “We stay up for cheering for him as he begins his NBA journey.”
Previous to his arrest, Shannon was a projected top-25 choose within the upcoming NBA draft. He’ll attend a number of exercises with professional groups starting Friday, in accordance with his legal professional, as he continues preparation for the draft.
Final week, his attorneys filed a movement to make use of video proof to assist the opportunity of a mistaken identification case. However Shannon relied on character witnesses and others who had been on the bar that night time, together with Kansas gamers Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr. He additionally testified in his personal protection when he took the stand Thursday.
Of their closing statements, his attorneys acknowledged that Shannon’s DNA proof was not discovered on the lady’s physique after she was examined at a neighborhood hospital that night time, and so they additionally criticized the investigation that pointed to him because the suspect within the case.
“He is a very good child and we had a whole lot of actually good character witnesses along with the investigation and the problem of all of the proof, or lack thereof,” Sutter stated. “It was a pleasant turnout for him.”
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello contributed to this report.
