Iacenda’s Assault Trial Is Canceled

A sexual assault charge against USC fullback Ted Iacenda was dismissed by a Clark County District Court judge Tuesday in Las Vegas, canceling a trial that was scheduled to begin Monday.

Judge Donald Mosley granted a defense motion to dismiss, agreeing that the grand jury that handed down the indictment should have been informed of the previous consensual sexual relationship between Iacenda and the 17-year-old girl who accused him.

Prosecutors have the option of returning to the grand jury to seek another indictment, although no decision has been made, Deputy Dist. Atty. Teresa M. Lowry said.

“The indictment was not dismissed on the evidence of the case,” Lowry said. “The court made a ruling that it believed certain evidence should have been presented to the grand jury. We can go back to the grand jury and do it again.”

Said Stan Hunterton, an attorney representing Iacenda: “They can. We have no idea if they will. Hopefully not.”

Iacenda was indicted on a felony count of sexual assault in November 1996 after being accused of having sex with the girl against her will in a Las Vegas hotel in July 1996. If convicted, Iacenda would have faced a minimum sentence of 10 years in Nevada state prison.

The motion filed by Iacenda’s attorneys cited testimony to the grand jury that Iacenda and the girl knew each other only “from high school.” But Iacenda’s attorneys said the grand jury should have heard evidence that Iacenda and the girl had a previous dating relationship, that she called him in California and invited him to travel to Las Vegas where she was spending the weekend and that she phoned him in his hotel room within five hours of the alleged incident.

Iacenda, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound fullback, started several games for USC last season as a redshirt freshman before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on both shoulders. He is expected to be ready for spring practice.