Bradley Acquitted in Rape Trial : Jurisprudence: Jury finds former Moorpark College football standout innocent of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Former Moorpark College All-American running back Freddie Bradley was acquitted Tuesday of charges that he and a former University of Arkansas teammate raped a 13-year-old girl.

A jury heard Bradley and Derrick Martin, both 22, deny they had sex with a teen-age girl who said she consented to the acts.

The girl was 13 at the time of the incident last April, and Arkansas law defines sex with a partner under the age of 14 as rape even if the partner is willing.

Martin also was acquitted of an additional charge of sexual abuse, stemming from allegations he forcibly fondled a 14-year-old friend of the younger girl.

Bradley of Oxnard and Martin, a defensive back from Fayetteville, were dismissed from the team last spring after charges were filed.

The prosecution presented no physical evidence in the two-day trial.

“We were telling the truth and the jury saw it that way. It’s real simple,” Martin’s lawyer, Jim Rose III, said. “Freddie Bradley and Derrick Martin were perceived to be honest people. They told the truth all the way through and they’ve been vindicated.”

Rose said the race of the defendants, both African-American, and their accusers, both white, probably made his job more difficult.

“It was (also) a difficult matter because they happen to be Razorback athletes,” Rose said. “I guess the most rewarding thing about the whole trial is that they are black and they came to a court of law and got the same justice.”

Prosecutor Terry Jones said his case was seriously hurt by the lack of physical evidence--the victim was never examined by a doctor to determine if any sexual contact occurred--as well as the uncertain testimony of the two young witnesses.

“I think there was a legitimate dispute here about whether anything did or did not happen and, had there been more scientific evidence, it would have been a little easier for us to present a more persuasive case,” Jones said.

In addition, the younger girl opposed the prosecution of the two men and admitted lying to investigators to protect Bradley.

But “this was a case that needed to be tried,” Jones said. “Win, lose or draw, the families of the victims needed to have it tried and it’s our job to do it.”

Bradley and Martin were arrested last April after the 13-year-old girl told police the two players had raped her in Martin’s room in the school’s athletic dormitory.

Bradley, because he is married, was allowed to live off-campus. Both players were immediately dismissed from the football team by Arkansas Coach Jack Crowe and left school.

Since his return to California, Bradley has been seeking a college to which to transfer, according to one of his former coaches. He apparently told friends that he left Arkansas because he was frustrated over a lack of playing time during the past season.

Sidelined much of the 1991 season with a foot injury, Bradley played sparingly for the Razorbacks, rushing for 197 yards in 49 carries.

Bradley, 6 feet 1 and 205 pounds, broke O.J. Simpson’s national junior college records for scoring, touchdowns and all-purpose running during the 1989 and 1990 seasons. He holds Moorpark records for all-purpose yards in a season (2,428) and career (4,123).

Despite a brilliant high school career at Hueneme High, Bradley received no Division I scholarship offers because of his low grades after graduating in 1989. He said he planned on using Moorpark as a steppingstone to a Division I school and then an NFL career.