ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
State police on Wednesday gave the Montgomery County prosecutor the results of their investigation into former Virginia Tech student Christy Brzonkala's rape allegations against two football players.
Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said he expects to make a decision by early next week on whether there is a "prosecutable case." He said the only charges that could come out of the investigation would be rape charges; the statute of limitations has expired on lesser charges such as sexual battery.
The state police didn't draw any conclusions about the players' guilt or innocence, but simply gave him the facts, Keith said. It will be up to him to decide if there is enough evidence to support prosecution.
Because 18 months have elapsed since the incident and no physical evidence was ever collected, the case likely rests on the recollections and credibility of the participants and witnesses. State police also had access to transcripts from two judicial board hearings held by Tech to decide whether the players' conduct violated the student code. Those transcripts include each party's version of events, before there was the threat of civil or criminal action.
State police spent six weeks investigating Brzonkala's claim that James Crawford and Tony Morrison raped her in their dorm room in September 1994, at the beginning of her freshman year. Both players have maintained their innocence. Crawford said he did not have sex with her. Morrison has said that whatever happened between them was consensual, but will not say publicly whether they had sex.
Last week, police reinterviewed Brzonkala to check inconsistencies in the participants' stories, said her attorney, Eileen Wagner of Richmond. They asked her again where she sat when she came into the players' dorm room that night and how many times she said no to Morrison, Wagner said.
"I can't read a thing into it at all," Wagner said.
She conceded that with no physical evidence of rape, it would be a hard case to win in criminal court, where the burden of proof is higher than in a civil case.
"When you have multiple participants, you really do need physical evidence, and we don't have any," she said. "Prosecutors have to take cases they think they can win."
The belated rape investigation was initiated at the request of Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore after Brzonkala filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in December. Gilmore has made sexual assault, particularly on college campuses, a focus of his administration. Gilmore's request was a somewhat unusual move, however; he technically is Tech's attorney, because the school is a state institution.
Brzonkala did not report the alleged rape until the following semester, which precluded physical evidence being collected. Without evidence, she said, she believed her only recourse was to file her complaint with Tech's internal judicial system.
A judicial board found Morrison guilty of sexual misconduct. But it found insufficient evidence against Crawford, who had fellow player Cornell Brown testify as an alibi witness.
A second judicial board, empaneled after Morrison threatened to sue the school, found him guilty of the lesser charge of using abusive language. Brzonkala alleges in her civil suit that after the incident, Morrison told her, "You better not have any fdiseases."
Both judicial boards suspended Morrison for two semesters, but Tech's provost revoked the suspension and allowed him to stay in school. Brzonkala alleges the university discriminated against her and gave Morrison special treatment because he is a man and a football player.
She filed suit against Morrison, Crawford, Brown and Tech. All four defendants have filed motions to dismiss the suit.
Chief U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser is considering Tech's motion, but will wait until the end of April to consider the three players' motions. He has given outside parties interested in Brzonkala's use of the untested Violence Against Women Act until then to file briefs in support of the law, which the football players claim is unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of Justice and the National Organization for Women have said they will file briefs.
Brzonkala, who lives in Fairfax County, now attends George Mason University.
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