LSU report sheds new light on 10 soccer players accused of rape and domestic violence | LSU

Husch Blackwell investigated cases involving 10 different LSU football players accused of sexual misconduct in recent years, as part of the law firm’s investigation into how the university handled allegations of rape and dating violence.

Scott Schneider, the Husch Blackwell lawyer who led the investigation, said that the types of mistakes LSU made in cases involving athletes have undermined cases involving non-athletes. But he noted that athletes are “beneficiaries of being very powerful on campus”, which can make victims even less likely to perform.

The cases examined included four allegations of sexual misconduct involving Derrius Guice, two allegations of rape involving Tae Provens and an allegation of dating violence by Ray Parker. Four of the 10 players were arrested, while six others faced charges only internally at LSU.

“We have to get it right in the future,” said LSU athletic director Scott Woodward at a news conference on Friday. “As a former student and sports director, I am ashamed of what has happened in the past.”

In many cases, Husch Blackwell questioned LSU’s decision-making when confronted with complaints from students who accused football players of rape and other crimes.

Husch Blackwell reviewed the case of “a highly recruited football player and enrolled at LSU in June 2017”, whom the report called Defendant D. The circumstances described in the report make it clear that he is Jacob Phillips, now a Cleveland linebacker Browns.

A woman claimed he raped her in 2017.

“During this meeting, Respondent D received a call from another student, he answered and said, ‘I’m f —- ing’ when asked what he was doing,” says the Husch Blackwell report. “The phone fell to the floor and it was on speaker.”

The Baton Rouge Police Department investigated the case and refused to arrest him, alleging “various inconsistencies” in the victim’s narrative. But during the LSU Title IX separate investigation, Husch Blackwell identified a handful of errors: LSU never documented efforts to obtain copies of important evidence, such as text messages, nor did LSU show that it had attempted to obtain the results of a kit. forensic rape.

The file did not contain information on whether LSU tried to contact the caller when the alleged rape was taking place, said Husch Blackwell.

LSU eventually found out that Phillips, who said that sex was consensual, had not broken any rules. A Phillips attorney did not return a message left with a family member on Saturday.

“No explanation is provided as to how the investigators assessed the parties’ relative credibility,” discovered Husch Blackwell.

Likewise, Husch Blackwell questioned how the LSU Title IX office assessed the facts in a rape case involving Provens, a running back. Provens, who is referred to in the report as Respondent G, was arrested in 2019 on charges of rape in the third degree. Criminal proceedings against him are still pending. His lawyer did not return the message on Saturday.

LSU received two reports of rape involving Provens. In the first instance, the one that resulted in his arrest, LSU found him innocent for violating university policy based on the credibility of the respondents. Husch Blackwell found again that “it is not clear how he came to his determination of credibility”.

And Husch Blackwell found that LSU determined that Provens was no longer enrolled at the time employees received the second claim, but the case file “does not explain why the matter was not pursued by the Title IX Office and who made that determination. “

When LSU found football players responsible for misconduct, the punishments seemed mild. LSU discovered in 2017 that a “highly recruited football player” was responsible for sexual harassment. One student reported that he had oral sex and masturbation gestures towards a student and made obscene comments.

LSU responded with a modest sanction called “parole”. It prohibited him from studying abroad, but still allowed him to play all seasons of 2017 and 2018. Even so, Husch Blackwell found that the player repeatedly failed to meet the requirements of his discipline, which included classes on decision making and referral to the student health center.

Unlike many of his teammates, Guice, who owns at least one racing disc at LSU, never went through the Title IX process. Two women accused him of rape and another of video voyeurism, and a fourth charge against him was raised in the Husch Blackwell report: that a 70-year-old Superdome security guard accused him of sexual harassment in 2017.

The grandmother told LSU that Guice grabbed herself in front of her, said “older women are my thing”. There was no record, however, that LSU’s Title IX office ever investigated.

“Despite at least four reports of sexual misconduct during his short stay at the university, he was never subjected to the university’s disciplinary process,” said Husch Blackwell of Guice. “There is also no record that he has been notified of these reports or that the University has intervened to provide him with some targeted training.”

A lawyer for Guice denied any wrongdoing of his time at LSU, although he is facing criminal charges in a domestic violence case in Virginia.

In the most recent case involving a football player that Husch Blackwell analyzed, LSU received the highest score.

Parker, a defensive side who is referred to in the report as Respondent I, was arrested last September on charges of assaulting a dating partner and simple criminal damage to property. A student accused him of entering his room, destroying her belongings and pushing her to a dresser.

Title IX investigators took action, the victim had access to a litany of resources and expressed his own satisfaction with the process, saying “I am happy to know that the victims have a voice at LSU”.

After an investigation and a hearing in which Parker did not participate, LSU found him responsible for the charges and expelled him, according to Husch Blackwell.

The police issued another arrest warrant against Parker, which is from Ruston, in January, alleging that he repeatedly kicked a dog named Kash, breaking the dog’s leg and demanding an amputation. Parker’s lawyer declined to comment on Saturday.

Editors Brooks Kubena and Lea Skene contributed to this report.