Roethlisberger Will Not Face Assault Charges

By JUDY BATTISTA

New York Times

Gail Burton/Associated PressPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will not face charges stemming from an incident in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student in the bathroom of a bar in Milledgeville, Ga.

“The sexual allegations against Mr. Roethlisberger cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt; therefore, there will be no arrest made nor criminal prosecution of Mr. Roethlisberger for his actions here,” Fred Bright, the district attorney for Ocmulgee County, said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Bright said he received a letter from the accuser, whose name has not been revealed, several weeks after the incident saying she did not want to proceed with prosecution.

But Bright also laid out a series of tawdry and troubling details gleaned from the investigation that cast Roethlisberger’s behavior in an unflattering light and which could factor into N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision whether to discipline him. Goodell is expected to meet with Roethlisberger this week and he has the latitude to suspend Roethlisberger for violating the N.F.L.’s personal-conduct policy.

Even if Goodell does not discipline Roethlisberger, the Steelers could.

Bright said Roethlisberger, after a night of bar-hopping with his friends, provided alcohol to the alleged victim and her sorority sisters. She and Roethlisberger had both been drinking, Bright said, and they had met at different bars during the course of the evening. Some of their conversations were of a sexual nature, Bright said.

Roethlisberger’s group ended up in the V.I.P. area of one club, and when the woman and her friends arrived, he invited them to the V.I.P. area and bought shots of alcohol.

“Everyone agrees that the victim was highly intoxicated,” Bright said. Later, Bright said, one of Roethlisberger’s bodyguards escorted the woman down a back hallway and Roethlisberger followed her into a small bathroom — Bright said it was less than five feet wide.

“Significant questions about what occurred persist,” Bright said.

The woman was eventually driven to the hospital by friends, and an emergency room doctor and two nurses examined her. Bright said they noted a superficial laceration, bruising and slight bleeding in her genital area, but that everything else was normal and that the doctor could not say definitively that the bruising was from any kind of trauma or sexual assault. The doctor and nurses collected a standard rape evidence kit. Initial testing found human male DNA present, although the emergency room doctor found no evidence of semen. Further testing was done, but Bright said that because the sample was so small, a DNA profile could not be obtained.

“Every case must be viewed in the context of its circumstances,” Bright said. “Here, the overall circumstances do not lead to a viable prosecution. We are not condoning Mr. Roethlisberger’s actions that night. We do not prosecute morals. We prosecute crimes.”

Roethlisberger could face a civil lawsuit from the woman involved in the Milledgeville case, similar to the civil case he is already facing from a women who has accused him of raping her in a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2008.

His immediate football future seems in some jeopardy as well. Goodell indicated during the N.F.L. meetings last month that he was concerned about questionable situations Roethlisberger continued to put himself in, and the details Bright revealed Monday seem to give Goodell a basis for discipline under the personal-conduct policy.

The Steelers could take action on their own, as well. The team just traded receiver Santonio Holmes to the Jets for a draft pick, having grown unhappy with his personal conduct. He was suspended on Monday for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. When Holmes was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession during the 2008 season, the Steelers deactivated him — essentially suspending him — for a game. A similar fate could await Roethlisberger, too. 

“The sexual allegations against Mr. Roethlisberger cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt; therefore, there will be no arrest made nor criminal prosecution of Mr. Roethlisberger for his actions here,” Fred Bright, the district attorney for Ocmulgee County, said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Bright said he received a letter from the accuser, whose name has not been revealed, several weeks after the incident saying she did not want to proceed with prosecution.

But Bright also laid out a series of tawdry and troubling details gleaned from the investigation that cast Roethlisberger’s behavior in an unflattering light and which could factor into N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision whether to discipline him. Goodell is expected to meet with Roethlisberger this week and he has the latitude to suspend Roethlisberger for violating the N.F.L.’s personal-conduct policy.
Even if Goodell does not discipline Roethlisberger, the Steelers could.

Bright said Roethlisberger, after a night of bar-hopping with his friends, provided alcohol to the alleged victim and her sorority sisters. She and Roethlisberger had both been drinking, Bright said, and they had met at different bars during the course of the evening. Some of their conversations were of a sexual nature, Bright said.

Roethlisberger’s group ended up in the V.I.P. area of one club, and when the woman and her friends arrived, he invited them to the V.I.P. area and bought shots of alcohol.
“Everyone agrees that the victim was highly intoxicated,” Bright said. Later, Bright said, one of Roethlisberger’s bodyguards escorted the woman down a back hallway and Roethlisberger followed her into a small bathroom — Bright said it was less than five feet wide.

“Significant questions about what occurred persist,” Bright said.
The woman was eventually driven to the hospital by friends, and an emergency room doctor and two nurses examined her. Bright said they noted a superficial laceration, bruising and slight bleeding in her genital area, but that everything else was normal and that the doctor could not say definitively that the bruising was from any kind of trauma or sexual assault. The doctor and nurses collected a standard rape evidence kit. Initial testing found human male DNA present, although the emergency room doctor found no evidence of semen. Further testing was done, but Bright said that because the sample was so small, a DNA profile could not be obtained.

“Every case must be viewed in the context of its circumstances,” Bright said. “Here, the overall circumstances do not lead to a viable prosecution. We are not condoning Mr. Roethlisberger’s actions that night. We do not prosecute morals. We prosecute crimes.”

Roethlisberger could face a civil lawsuit from the woman involved in the Milledgeville case, similar to the civil case he is already facing from a women who has accused him of raping her in a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2008.
His immediate football future seems in some jeopardy as well. Goodell indicated during the N.F.L. meetings last month that he was concerned about questionable situations Roethlisberger continued to put himself in, and the details Bright revealed Monday seem to give Goodell a basis for discipline under the personal-conduct policy.

The Steelers could take action on their own, as well. The team just traded receiver Santonio Holmes to the Jets for a draft pick, having grown unhappy with his personal conduct. He was suspended on Monday for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. When Holmes was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession during the 2008 season, the Steelers deactivated him — essentially suspending him — for a game. A similar fate could await Roethlisberger, too.