Kidnapping and sexual assault charges against five William Paterson University students have been dropped following a grand jury’s refusal to indict them.
The students have not been permitted back on campus since the allegations were made.
Defense attorneys blasted the school’s investigation, stating “it wasn’t thorough enough and did not include interviews with key witnesses.”
A grand jury declined to indict the students, all of whom are 18 years old, after hearing the case on Monday, according to court officials and a defense attorney. The five men, who had been accused of taking part in the sexual assault of a woman in the Overlook South residence hall on Nov. 25, have not been allowed back to the school since shortly after the alleged incident. The woman’s identity has never been made public and her role in the investigation is unknown.
Ron Ricci, an attorney for one of the students, Jahmel Latimer of Hoboken, said the grand jury made its decision after a one-day presentation. He said defense attorneys had presented evidence to prosecutors that cleared their clients and that the prosecution had then “presented the case honestly” to grand jurors.
Ricci declined to discuss details of that evidence but said: “The facts demonstrated that this was not a sexual assault, and the actions of those young men were not in violation of the law. It clearly wasn’t a crime.”
University President Kathleen Waldron said shortly after the incident that she was “angry and dismayed that this crime was committed on our campus and allegedly by students.” She went on to refer to the incident as a “criminal act”.
“It was outrageous that these young men had to go through the publicity they had to go through,” Ricci said.
And President Waldron still isn’t certain, despite the non-indictment, whether the students will be allowed to come back to school: “… school officials ‘respect the decision reached through this legal process’ but … the university ‘has its own student conduct process that is independent of the state’s legal proceedings.’”
“That process, she said, ‘will continue.’”
h/t to JLC.
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