Alleged sexual assault victims' friend testifies in trial of OSU basketball player Darrell Williams
BY KELLY HINES World Sports Writer
Thursday, July 12, 2012
7/12/12 at 10:29 PM
STILLWATER — A woman testified Thursday that she saw Oklahoma State basketball player Darrell Williams grab a friend of hers and lead her into the yard outside an off-campus party in the early hours of Dec. 12, 2010, when he is accused of sexually assaulting that woman and another friend.
Williams, 22, is on trial on allegations that he pinned one woman against a fence and then a truck, twice putting his hand down her pants and sexually assaulting her.
The prosecution also alleges that Williams had assaulted the same woman in the basement of the home minutes earlier, despite her pleas to stop, and committed the same crime against her friend in the backyard.
Williams, who is charged with four felony counts of rape by instrumentation and one felony count of sexual battery, has pleaded not guilty. He has remained suspended from the team since charges were filed in Payne County District Court in February 2011.
During opening statements, defense attorney Cheryl Ramsey said the accusations against Williams are out of character for him and that the case “just doesn’t make any sense.”
“There’s not a shred of physical evidence to back up any claims,” she said.
Assistant District Attorney Jill Tontz said Williams committed the crimes after the women refused his advances.
“This case is about Darrell Williams getting what he wants at all costs,” Tontz said. “I expect the evidence to show you that Darrell Williams, because he was an athlete, simply didn’t understand that he couldn’t always get what he wanted.”
The friend of the alleged victims testified that at the party two men wearing matching university-issued sweats groped her in the basement of the house and that unidentified basketball players witnessed the act but laughed at her attempts to fight off the attack.
The names of the women are not being published in accordance with Tulsa World policy on the identification of possible victims of sexual assault.
Several former OSU basketball players are expected to take the stand after the trial resumes Monday morning.
