Allegations of Rape at Fraternity Party : Police Submit New Evidence in Case at SDSU

San Diego State University police have provided new evidence to the San Diego County district attorney in an apparent attempt to persuade him to reopen an investigation into an 18-year-old sorority pledge’s claim that she was raped at a fraternity party in November.

A spokeswoman for Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller said a brief review of the four new statements did not appear to provide information that would lead to a change in his Dec. 5 decision not to file criminal charges in connection with the incident at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house.

But spokeswoman Linda Miller said the new testimony will be thoroughly examined today by William Collins, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case, and will be reviewed by the district attorney himself before a final decision is made.

“On the surface, it would look like (the new evidence) is not going to change anything,” Linda Miller said. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”

The new evidence, given to the district attorney Monday, includes a statement from a physician who examined the woman at Grossmont Hospital Nov. 15 and three accounts from witnesses at the “exchange party” between Pi Kappa Alpha and Delta Gamma sorority the night of Nov. 14.

The doctor’s statement was taken by police Saturday, Linda Miller said. The witnesses were interviewed by campus police in December, but their statements had not been forwarded to the district attorney, she said, adding that she could not explain why the doctor’s testimony or the witnesses’ accounts had not been provided to the district attorney before Monday. She would not disclose the information contained in the four statements.

Campus Police Chief John Carpenter was not available for comment, and three other university police officials refused to answer questions.

The student told police that she was raped in a bedroom at the fraternity house between 2 and 4 a.m. Nov. 15 after drinking what she believed was a non-alcoholic punch. Carpenter has said that, based on the campus police investigation, three men sexually assaulted the woman while others watched through a window and from places in the room. Carpenter has maintained throughout the controversy that there is sufficient evidence to charge three fraternity members.

On Dec. 5, the district attorney decided against filing criminal charges in the case, saying that prosecutors could not “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a rape occurred.”

On Thursday, however, SDSU expelled the fraternity from campus for at least five years after a panel in a closed-door hearing concluded that the pledge “became intoxicated and was thereafter physically abused and taken advantage of sexually by members of the fraternity.” On Friday, the university charged 30 fraternity members with various violations of school regulations stemming from the incident.

The fraternity has said it will appeal the expulsion. Its members maintain that the sexual activity was consensual and that public pressure contributed to the severity of the punishment.

James Collins, attorney for the sorority pledge and her family, said that he hopes “the D.A. will evaluate this (new evidence) and do what I think is the right and just thing, which is either bring charges or have the grand jury conduct an investigation.” The woman’s family in late January asked the county grand jury to open an investigation into the incident.

But V. Frank Asaro, attorney for the fraternity, said that “there was no rape, and there is no necessity to waste the public money any further on this thing.” Both attorneys said they had no information on the contents of the statements.

Linda Miller said police did not make a formal request that the district attorney reopen the investigation or file criminal charges. Asked why the new information had been forwarded to the district attorney, Miller said she did not know.

Miller also said that Carpenter told William Collins last week that the university’s closed-door hearings Jan. 21 through 23 had produced no new evidence to bring forward. She said she could not explain why the police then gave new information to the district attorney Monday.