Former Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr.'s legal team can show video evidence at his felony rape trial next week to support its claim that mistaken identity might have prompted police to charge the wrong man, a judge ruled Friday.
At a hearing in Lawrence, Kansas, Shannon's lawyers argued that the video evidence they will present during the trial will show another man standing next to the alleged victim the night of the alleged sexual assault at the same bar in Lawrence, which Judge Amy Hanley called "relevant" to the case during her ruling. That "third-party defendant," according to Shannon's legal team, had been accused of sexually touching another woman in a nonconsensual manner two weeks earlier at the bar where the woman in Shannon's case had told police in September that a man had sexually penetrated her with his fingers. She later identified Shannon via Google search.
"Additionally, the defendant, the third-party defendant, to be very carefully precise, the third-party defendant is alleged to have been present at the scene of this case and this alleged crime," Hanley said in her ruling Friday. "The court finds that that evidence is relevant and admissible and the defense will be allowed to present that evidence."
Shannon was charged with felony rape and arrested in December. He missed six games before he later rejoined the Illinois men's basketball team and led the program to the NCAA tournament. He is ranked 31st among NBA prospects by ESPN.
The woman in Shannon's case told police that the former Illinois star assaulted her while she was up against a wall at the bar with limited ability to move. She said she never gave him any indication that it was consensual and said she had not had any interactions with Shannon before that night. She said she thought Shannon committed the act, which she said lasted for about 30 seconds, "for power" and "just to prove he could do it."
Per Shannon's attorneys at Friday's hearing, video evidence shows an unnamed third party standing in "exactly" the same spot -- next to a Kansas basketball player who will testify in Shannon's defense -- at the same time and within "arm's length" of where the woman in the NBA prospect's case said he was standing the night of the alleged sexual assault.
In a separate incident, the third-party defendant was charged with the sexual assault of a woman before the accusations against Shannon, but those charges were later dropped. Shannon's legal team said the woman who had told police the third-party defendant had sexually touched her at the same bar two weeks before Shannon was accused of a similar act with a different woman in that location, plus another eyewitness, will testify at Shannon's trial next week. The unnamed third party has not been charged for allegedly sexually touching the woman who will testify.
On Thursday, Shannon's legal team filed a motion to allow the video evidence to be admitted at his trial. Prosecutors in Kansas also filed a motion to prevent that request. A different judge had initially called the video evidence of the third-party defendant "unfettered speculation" and blocked an earlier motion by Shannon's legal team to admit it.
In their motion Thursday, Shannon's attorneys said: "No male DNA was found in the vaginal or external genital swabs taken from the alleged victim on the date of the alleged incident and that no other male DNA found on the alleged victim's thighs, buttocks, or underwear could be matched to Mr. Shannon."
The defense team lawyers also allege that Lawrence police knew about the accusations against the third-party defendant but failed to properly investigate those allegations before they charged and arrested Shannon.