A jury has found former Ohio State football players named Amir I. Riep and Jahsen L. Wint not guilty of raping a female student in 2020 at a Northwest Side apartment. The two former players could control their emotions as the verdict was read in the courtroom.
Dispatch got the details;
A Franklin County jury on Thursday found two former Ohio State University football players not guilty of raping a female student in 2020 at a Northwest Side apartment. Amir I. Riep and Jahsen L. Wint, both 24, were defensive players for the football team when a then-19-year-old woman in her freshman year at Ohio State accused them of raping her on Feb. 4, 2020.
The jury found them not guilty on all charges: two counts each of rape and one count each of kidnapping.
Riep and Wint broke down crying and embraced after the jury verdict was read.
Defense attorneys Dan Sabol and Sam Shamansky, who represented Riep and Wint, respectively, argued during the trial that the woman had consensual sex with both men but regretted it afterward, and accused the victim’s father of pushing his daughter and authorities to pursue criminal charges.
Afterward, Riep and Wint told The Dispatch they are relieved and grateful to the jury for giving them their lives back.
“I’m going to get my life back on track, get my degree and keep on being a law-abiding citizen,” Wint said.
Wint completed his degree in human development at Ohio State in 2020 but the university withheld his degree pending the outcome of this trial. Riep is majoring in sports management and has two semesters left at Ohio State before he graduates.
“I’m grateful,” Riep said of the verdict. “And you grow through what you go through.”
Shamansky said Wint and Riep have had their lives upended by a false accusation.
“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 of Wint.
Sabol said Riep’s account has never changed.
“The jury did a fantastic job discerning the truth and contrasting what Amir said and what his accuser said,” Sabol said. “It took a long time, but the system worked.”
A key piece of evidence in the case was a cellphone video Riep took of the alleged victim which was played in court. The short video is visually dark, but captured the sound of the woman saying she’s crying and then agreeing after Riep asks if the sex was consensual.
Riep and a witness, Lloyd McFarquhar, another former Ohio State football player who played defensive back and on special teams, testified Wednesday during the trial that players were told to get evidence that their sexual partners consented to protect themselves from any possible future issues.
It is sad that you have to record to make sure you don’t get falsely accused but that video saved these young men for potentially spending the rest of their life in jail.
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