LITTLE ROCK — The attorney for a woman who said she was raped Aug. 27 by three Arkansas Razorbacks basketball players has requested a special prosecutor to hear the case.
In a petition filed Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court, attorney John D. Bass of Fayetteville argued that the investigation shouldn’t have been conducted wholly within the University of Arkansas, which had a financial interest in the outcome, and that the Washington County prosecutor may have a conflict of interest.
“A system that allows a giant governmental entity to investigate itself is fundamentally flawed,” Bass wrote.
Bass argues that Prosecuting Attorney John Threet may have been hesitant to file charges because of his family.
Former UA Athletic Director Frank Broyles is Threet’s stepfather-in-law. Threet’s sister-in-law is married to Kevin Trainor, the university’s associate athletic director for media relations and communications. In his filing with the court, Bass omitted the word “step” from his description of the family relationships.
In the petition, Bassstates that an examination of the victim and her clothes indicated the presence of semen, but that the UA Police Department and the prosecutor’s office didn’t take samples from the accused athletes. A match could prove the athletes lied to police, Bass wrote.
“If they lied about the sex, they may have lied about consent, too,” Bass said Tuesday.
Threet said his office had no question about whether there was sexual activity involving the 18-year-old UA student at a party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house.
“The issue for us was not about whether sexual activity occurred,” Threet said. “The hurdle for us was whether or not there was any evidence of force or she was unaware sexual activity was taking place or whether she was able to give her consent.”
Threet said his decision was based on evidence, and he can’t file charges without probable cause.
“At this point, to continue treating somebody as suspects of a crime when the evidence suggests they aren’t, I think that’s unethical,” Threet said. “I think that abuses the power and authority of this office.”
In the petition, Bass states that the sex was “nonconsensual.”
After Bass filed the petition, Circuit Judge Kim Smith recused himself from the case, writing that the other five circuit judges in Arkansas’ Fourth JudicialDistrict informed him that they would do the same because Threet and his deputies “regularly appear before them.”
Smith has requested that Chief Justice Jim Hannah of the Arkansas Supreme Court appoint a judge to decide whether a special prosecutor is warranted.
Arkansas Code Annotated 16-21-112 allows for special prosecutors to be brought in when county prosecutors can’t perform their duties.
Bass said Threet “enjoys a lot of discretion” in this case.
“I filed this because he refuses to investigate it further when it obviously needs to be investigated,” Bass said. “If this is fully investigated and charges aren’t brought, that’s another thing.”
Bass also said that none of the players were ever read their Miranda rights and that one was told he would not be arrested.
He complained that the UA Police Department was not thorough in its investigation because the university could suffer financially if the players were charged.
University spokesman Steve Voorhies declined to comment on Bass’ claims.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/28/2009