No Assault Charges Filed in Colorado Recruit Case

Colorado’s attorney general decided against filing charges in nine alleged sexual assault cases involving Colorado football players and recruits.

Atty. Gen. Ken Salazar, who was appointed as a special prosecutor by Gov. Bill Owens in February, said in a statement Tuesday that the decision was based on concerns about evidence and the “expressed wishes of some victims not to be subjected to the criminal justice process.”

Salazar, who said the investigation into the nine cases would continue, declined to comment further.

A special university panel also continues to investigate whether sex and alcohol were used to entice football recruits. The panel must complete its investigation by Friday.

“It’s not surprising, but it’s always disappointing when charges aren’t brought forward,” said Cynthia Stone of the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Stone has been closely monitoring the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case in Eagle, Colo.

Stone said sexual assault cases are statistically among the hardest to prosecute for several reasons. Key among them:

“The alleged victim in a sexual assault case is always pivotal to the prosecution in these cases,” she said. “If these women feel justice may not be done for them, they may not want to go through with it. They don’t feel like they can win at that point.”

She acknowledged that in celebrity cases such as Bryant’s, a spotlight shines on everyone involved. But what’s not clear, she added, was whether “they look at these cases and say, ‘That’s what will happen to me,’ or say, ‘The person who did this to me is not a celebrity, so it won’t happen to me.’ ”

Stone said the alleged victims in the Colorado football case didn’t need to look beyond their own situation for an example of what the accuser of a well-known person or people might face. She said Lisa Simpson was quickly vilified on the Internet as soon as she filed a civil complaint.

Attorneys for Lisa Simpson told Associated Press on Tuesday that the attorney general had “never prosecuted a sexual assault case, so we never expected that sexual assault would be the focus of their prosecution.

“We are gratified that they’re pursuing potential criminal matters in the way the football program has been run at CU.”

There was no immediate word on the future of football Coach Gary Barnett, who was indefinitely suspended Feb. 18.

University President Elizabeth Hoffman told Associated Press she appreciated “the timely manner” in which Salazar had completed his investigation.

Nine women, including Simpson and former kicker Katie Hnida, have accused Colorado football players or recruits of rape since 1997. Hnida, now at New Mexico, said earlier this year that she was raped by a Colorado teammate while a walk-on in 2001.

Barnett was suspended after criticizing Hnida’s play. He said she was “not only a girl” but also a “terrible” player.

Three of the women sued the university in federal court, saying its failure to control its football players contributed to their rapes in 2001. Further, the women claimed the rapes constituted a hostile environment for women and violated federal laws that guarantee equal access to education.

The NCAA, in direct response to the Colorado scandal, has proposed tough new legislation governing recruiting that it hopes to have in place by the next recruiting season. A special task force formed Feb. 24 suggested that a crackdown on recruiting abuses such as lavish meals and accommodations would prevent scandals like the one at Colorado.

Others said the NCAA’s new proposals didn’t go far enough.

“These rules barely address those issues,” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), chairwoman of a House subcommittee that in March looked into the NCAA’s recruiting policies, told the Denver Post last month. “They have hyper-specific rules, but they’re not seeing the forest for the trees. They’re not seeing the huge abuse.”

*

Times wire services contributed to this report.