Former college basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. will be charged with rape after returning from suspension to play for Illinois in March Madness. Today we will discuss about Terrence Shannon Jr: Judge rules case moving onto trial,News.
Terrence Shannon Jr: Judge rules case moving onto trial,News
Former star guard Terrence Shannon Jr. has been ordered to stand trial on rape charges in Kansas, despite the University of Illinois dropping its investigation.
Shannon was suspended from the basketball team in December after he was charged over an alleged incident in September.
He was reinstated after missing six games in January after a federal judge granted his motion for a temporary restraining order against the school.
However, a Kansas judge ruled Friday that there was probable cause for a lawsuit.
“Our legal team is neither surprised nor disappointed by the outcome of this incident,” Mark Sutter, one of Shannon’s attorneys, said in a statement via ESPN.
“The preliminary hearing is a procedural process that only talks about the extent of the evidence and whether a question of fact may exist for the jury. It has nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Those issues are decided at trial. Will go, and we will continue to wait for our day in court.”
Prosecutors in Douglas County charged Shannon with an alternative count of rape or sexual abuse on December 5. The complaint states that the accuser was born in 2005.
The alleged victim told police that Shannon pulled her towards him, put his hand under her skirt and touched her sexually. The affidavit states that the bar was so crowded that she could not do anything.
Shannon pleaded innocent Friday and testified that he never touched the woman.
As a fifth-year student last season, Shannon led the Illini in scoring (23.0 points per game) and helped them reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual champion UConn.
Shannon transferred to Illinois from Texas Tech prior to the start of the 2021–22 season.
Shannon was projected to be selected in the first round before the legal case. Testing is scheduled to begin June 10, about two weeks before this year’s NBA Draft.
Judge rules case moving onto trial
A Kansas judge on Friday ordered University of Illinois basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr. to stand trial on rape charges following testimony from a woman who said she was “terrified” as she was being attacked.
Shannon, 23, of Champaign, Illinois, is accused of sexual assault on September 9 in Lawrence, Kansas. The Lawrence Journal-World reported that Shannon was in Lawrence that day to watch a football game between the Illini and the University of Kansas.
He has been charged with an alternative count of rape or sexual abuse. The allegation led to Shannon being suspended for six games, before a federal judge reinstated him, ruling that his civil rights had been violated.
A woman told police she was at a bar when a man, whom she later identified as Shannon, grabbed her buttocks and reached under her skirt and touched her sexually. The woman said that the bar was crowded, so she could not move.
Shannon testified Friday that he never touched the woman, the Journal-World reports.
Judge Sally Pokorny ordered Shannon to stand trial and allowed him to remain free on $50,000 bond.
As a fifth-year student last season, Shannon led the Illini in scoring and helped them reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual champion Connecticut.
News
University of Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. will face trial on charges of sexually assaulting a woman in Kansas last year.
A Kansas judge determined Friday that there was enough probable cause to hear the case against Shannon, CBS affiliate WCIA-TV reported. His trial date was tentatively set for June 10.
In January, Shannon filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension. Federal judge Colleen Lawless allowed Shannon to return to the team, finding that a suspension would cause irreparable harm to his name, image and likeness and future career earnings.
If he is selected as a first-round NBA draft pick on June 26, Shannon will earn between $2 million to $3.5 million per year.
Shannon is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while he was visiting Lawrence, Kansas, to attend a Kansas-Illinois football game in September 2023.
According to court documents in the case, Illini graduate assistant DaShawn Hobson fired Shannon and a teammate, Justin Harmon, from Champaign at the direction of Illinois assistant coaches. Hobson is also Shannon’s roommate.
According to court filings, Shannon, Hobson and Harmon met with members of the Kansas basketball team at the Jayhawk Café, where Shannon allegedly grabbed a woman’s buttocks and “digitally penetrated her vagina without her consent”. . Shannon went home hours later.
Before the victim reported the incident to police, investigators found that she had used her phone to search images of the Kansas basketball and football teams and the Illinois basketball team to identify Shannon as her attacker, as That’s what court records show.
In December, Shannon was accused of rape and sexual misconduct and suspended from the team. He has pleaded not guilty.
Shannon claimed there were no witnesses. Court documents indicate the crowded bar had surveillance cameras. Charging documents in the case list two witnesses, Corey A. Green and another who uses only his initials.
