OREGON CITY, Ore. — Former NBA participant Ben McLemore has been discovered responsible of raping a 21-year-old lady throughout a lake home occasion attended by a lot of his then-teammates from the Portland Path Blazers, a jury dominated Thursday.
The jury in Clackamas County, positioned instantly south of Portland, discovered McLemore, 32, responsible of rape, illegal sexual penetration and one depend of sexual abuse. He was discovered not responsible on one other depend of sexual abuse, Portland tv station KGW reported.
Sentencing was scheduled for Wednesday.
“We acknowledge there are those that worry people with movie star standing or a place of prominence can keep away from prosecution. Not in Clackamas County. This case demonstrates my workplace prosecutes legal acts whatever the offender’s group standing,” District Lawyer John Wentworth mentioned in an announcement.
The fees stemmed from a celebration Oct. 3, 2021, on the Lake Oswego dwelling owned by his Path Blazers teammate Robert Covington.
Prosecutors claimed in the course of the trial that the sexual encounter was rape, whereas McLemore’s legal professional countered it was consensual intercourse.
The girl mentioned she was incapacitated after an evening of heavy ingesting and was unable to offer consent. Prosecutors submitted photographs of the girl hovering over a bathroom after which handed out on a sofa, The Oregonian/Oregon Dwell earlier reported.
She mentioned she awakened at one level in the course of the rape and froze in terror.
“I don’t know who this individual is,” she testified. “It is a random individual that’s doing one thing like this to me.” The Related Press typically doesn’t determine victims of sexual assault.
At one level, she mentioned she let her physique slide to the ground in an effort to cease the assault. The girl testified McLemore pulled her again onto the sofa and continued.
Covington earlier testified he noticed the girl flirting with McLemore whereas they sat on a sofa.
McLemore testified he was additionally ingesting however claimed the intercourse was consensual. He additionally mentioned he and the girl didn’t have a dialog earlier than, throughout or after the act, after which he instantly left the house.
Considered one of his attorneys, Kris Winemiller, mentioned McLemore left after receiving an indignant message from his then-wife, who tracked him and wished to know why he wasn’t in their very own Lake Oswego dwelling.
Clackamas County prosecutor Scott Healy mentioned there was no confusion. “Once you have a look at all the encompassing circumstances and also you assess the proof on this case, I undergo you that the defendant is responsible,” he mentioned throughout closing arguments Tuesday.
One other protection legal professional, Lisa Maxfield, argued for McLemore’s acquittal.
“The one affordable verdict in a case the place two individuals get drunk and have intercourse and the person is drunker than the girl, the one affordable verdict in a case like that isn’t responsible,” she mentioned.
The girl mentioned she didn’t rent an legal professional to sue McLemore and didn’t search cash from him. As a substitute she pursued the legal case as a result of “you’ll be able to’t do this to any individual, not to mention any individual that you just don’t know.”
McLemore, who performed faculty at Kansas, was the seventh choose within the 2013 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. He additionally performed for Memphis, Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers earlier than his final NBA season with Portland in 2021-2022.
Since then, he has performed in Europe and China. Final August he signed with a staff in Turkey.
