Attorney for WFU basketball players implicated in sexual assault allegations says players are devastated

Former Wake Forest University basketball players Gary Clark and Jeff Teague are reeling from the resurfacing of a 2009 sexual assault allegation that they thought was resolved when no criminal charges were filed, their attorney said Wednesday.

"It's just devastating to them, especially having gone through this two years ago and having been open and honest about it," said Mike Grace, a Winston-Salem attorney representing the two players. Clark says the sexual encounter was consensual.

Grace also said the student who accused Clark of forcing her to perform oral sex in a hotel bathroom had sex hours earlier in another hotel bathroom with a male cheerleader within earshot of other students, then talked about it afterward.

The student's attorney on Wednesday called Grace's statements a "gutter-level smear campaign" that is a typical defense strategy of blaming the victim in a sexual assault.

The student, who is appearing on NBC's "Today" show this morning, told police in Miami that Clark sexually assaulted her while Teague stood outside the hotel bathroom in the early morning of March 21, 2009, after the team lost during the NCAA Tournament there. The student says Wake Forest told her it would deal with the players but did not take any disciplinary action against them, according to an organization working to reduce violence involving athletes.

The Winston-Salem Journal does not publish the names of alleged victims of sexual assault unless they agree to be identified.

Grace said Wednesday that the student exercised poor judgment in her actions, including her sexual encounter with the male cheerleader three to four hours before the incident with Clark and Teague.

The student was a member of the pep band traveling with the basketball team.

"It doesn't mean she's promiscuous," Grace said. "It just means she made poor judgments."

The student's attorney, John Clune, said Grace is using a common legal tactic of attacking the victim. The student doesn't want to deal with the specifics of what happened to her and is more focused on the school's response to her allegation, Clune said.

"That kind of gutter-level victim smear campaign is one she will never engage in," Clune said of his client. "This story is about universities' poor handling of campus rape and how young women speaking out can bring change."

Clune also represented the 19-year-old Colorado woman who accused Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault in a resort near Vail in 2003. The woman agreed to dismissal of the charges and later settled a lawsuit against Bryant.

Grace said Clark and Teague thought the allegations were behind them after being cleared by the Miami Police Department and an internal Wake Forest judicial hearing.

Clark finished his senior season with the Wake Forest basketball team this spring and graduated with a degree in mathematics, Grace said. Teague now plays for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association.

"This publicity will eventually die down, but it will leave a stain," Grace said.

Nathan Hatch, the president of Wake Forest, and Ron Wellman, the athletics director, issued statements Tuesday saying they take allegations of sexual assault seriously but are prohibited by federal law from commenting on the student's case. Through a spokesman, they declined to comment further Wednesday.

The National Coalition Against Violent Athletes is helping the student. Kathy Redmond, the founder, said she wouldn't comment specifically on the student's case until after the "Today" show segment airs.

But Redmond has told WGHP/Fox 8 that the student delayed filing charges because she was told that Wake Forest officials would take care of it and discipline the players. When that didn't happen, the student filed a complaint in Miami, she said.

According to a police report, Miami prosecutor Laura Adams decided not to file criminal charges because there wasn't any physical evidence, the student didn't file a report until two months after the incident and there were no corroborating witnesses.

Grace said the student approached Clark and Teague in the hallway of the hotel where students were staying. They had a conversation about sex, and she went willingly with Clark to his hotel room when asked, Grace said.

They went into the bathroom, where the student performed oral sex on Clark, while his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend were in the hotel room, Grace said. Teague remained outside in the hallway, Grace said.

The student consumed several alcoholic drinks, though she told investigators she was not intoxicated, Grace said. She was 21 at the time, according to the Miami police report. Teague, who was 20, and Clark, who was 19, had not been drinking, Grace said.

Grace said the student made the decision to go to Clark's room.

"It's clear to me she wasn't forced," he said. "She walked two to three flights of stairs. Those are the kinds of things she should have exercised better judgment in, if that's what she didn't want to do."

mhewlett@wsjournal.com

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