So sad:Ohio State Buckeyes star player guilty of rape..
Two former Ohio State football players are found not guilty of rape by a jury.
Two former Ohio State University football players were found not guilty on Thursday by a Franklin County jury of raping a female student at a Northwest Side apartment in 2020. When a 19-year-old woman in her freshman year at Ohio State accused Amir I. Riep and Jahsen L. Wint, both 24 years old, of raping her, it was on February 4, 2020.
The jury acquitted them of all counts, including one count of kidnapping and two counts of rape.
After the jury verdict was read, Riep and Wint sobbed and hugged each other.
Riep and Wint were represented by defense lawyers Dan Sabol and Sam Shamansky, who contended throughout the trial that the victim had consenting relationships with both men but later regretted it. They also accused the victim’s father of pressuring his daughter and the police to file criminal charges.
Following their release, Riep and Wint expressed their gratitude to The Dispatch for their lives being restored and their relief.
“I’m going to get my life back on track, get my degree and keep on being a law-abiding citizen,” Wint stated.
Ohio State awarded Wint a human development degree in 2020, but the school withheld it while it awaited the verdict in this lawsuit. Riep still has two semesters left at Ohio State to complete his sports management major.
Riep remarked, “I’m grateful,” regarding the decision. “And you grow through what you go through.”
Following the verdict, Daniel Meyer, the assistant prosecutor for Franklin County, declined to comment to The Dispatch.
Meyer testified during the trial that although the woman had gone to the men’s shared apartment with the intention of simply hanging out with Riep, she was simultaneously and violently raped by both of them.
Without the accused victims’ permission, The Dispatch does not release their names.
According to Shamansky, a false accusation has completely turned Wint and Riep’s lives upside down.
“He’s had his life turned on end by a false accusation with evidence that was so lacking in credibility that charges should never been brought,” Shamansky said about Wint.
“The jury did a fantastic job discerning the truth and contrasting what Amir said and what his accuser said,” Sabol stated. “It took a long time, but the system worked.”
A cellphone video that Riep recorded of the purported victim and played in court was a crucial piece of evidence in the case. The brief film has a dark aesthetic, but it does show the sound of the woman sobbing and then agreeing when Riep inquires as to whether the sex was consenting.
In testimony given on Wednesday during the trial, Riep and Lloyd McFarquhar, a former Ohio State football player who played defensive back and special teams, both stated that players were instructed to obtain proof of their sexual partners’ consent in order to shield themselves from potential future problems.
Neither Riep nor McFarquhar, who recently completed his fifth season with the team, testified as to who on the Ohio State coaching staff advised them or other players to take this action.
Jerry Emig, the spokesman for the Ohio State football team, first refused to comment to The Dispatch on Wednesday regarding whether or not university employees have ever advised athletes to obtain a video record or other proof of consent from their sexual partners.
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