ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603030018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
A former Virginia Tech student who says two football players raped her has added a third to a civil suit she filed against her alleged attackers and the university in December.
Christy Brzonkala filed an amended version of the suit Friday and named All-America defensive end Cornell Brown as a defendant, along with teammates Tony Morrison and James Crawford.
In her original suit, Brzonkala had said Morrison and Crawford raped her in their dormitory room in September 1994. In an interview, she said she first met the men shortly before the alleged assaults and did not remember seeing Brown that night.
Brown, who lived in the same suite with Morrison and Crawford, testified at a university judicial hearing in May 1995 that he was home the night Brzonkala and an acquaintance visited the players' room, according to Brzonkala's amended suit.
Crawford and Brown testified that Crawford went to Brown's room and left Brzonkala alone with Morrison for about 15 minutes, according to the suit. Crawford testified she was "really drunk," but Brzonkala, who attended an off-campus party earlier that evening, said in a newspaper interview that she was "sober, pretty much."
Crawford and Brown then returned to Crawford's and Morrison's room and found Brzonkala still there, according to testimony quoted in the suit.
The suit calls Brown a principal in the second degree and a co-conspirator. It accuses him of helping and encouraging Morrison and Crawford during the commission of a crime.
David Paxton, Morrison's attorney, says making Brown a defendant is "ludicrous" and obviously designed to get publicity.
Brzonkala's attorney disagrees.
"It's his testimony alone that implicates him," says Eileen Wagner, who represents Brzonkala. "It's not a publicity stunt. We need to get him into the action and find out what he knows."
If Brown changes his statement and says he wasn't in the suite that night, he would be dropped from the suit, she says.
Brown, a junior from Lynchburg, could not be reached for comment.
After Brown and Crawford testified, hearing officers "found insufficient evidence to take action against Crawford," according to the suit.
The same panel found Morrison guilty of sexual misconduct and suspended him for two semesters. He appealed and was found guilty at a second hearing of using abusive language. Morrison was again suspended for two semesters, but the provost reduced the suspension to probation.
Morrison has said through his attorney that whatever happened between Brzonkala and him was consensual.
That statement prompted Brzonkala to include defamation of her character as part of the suit. She asks for $10 million in damages from Morrison for the injury to her "good name." Consensual sex between two unmarried persons is considered "fornication" and is illegal in Virginia.
"In Virginia, your reputation is your property," Wagner says.
Paxton, Morrison's attorney, says he has come to expect the unexpected in this case.
"Nothing about this case surprises me anymore, but it surprises me that she included this claim" of defamation.
The new version of the suit doesn't ask for specific monetary damages, except in the defamation portion; that's a difference from the original suit, which sought $8.3 million from Tech and the two players.
Brzonkala renewed accusations that Tech football coach Frank Beamer and his staff influenced the university's decision to reduce Morrison's suspension and allow him back on the team.
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker says that is "pure fantasy. There was no contact between anyone in the athletic department and people who were conducting the hearings."
Brzonkala is also suing Tech for breach of contract and the three football players for assault and battery and false imprisonment.
Wagner says state police recently interviewed Brzonkala as part of the investigation ordered by Attorney General Jim Gilmore.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Brown colorby CNB