July 22, 2007
<nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "> Charge Against a Player Raises Questions of Justice </nyt_headline>
<nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "> </nyt_byline>By THAYER EVANS
<nyt_text> </nyt_text> With the start of the college football season only six weeks away, optimism abounds at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys open the season Sept. 1 with a marquee road game at Georgia and are a trendy pick to win the Big 12 South.
And the sophomore linebacker Chris Collins, perhaps the Cowboys’ best defensive player, is expected to help, even though he has been under indictment for almost three years.
In May 2004, Collins and another man were arrested and charged with sexually assaulting an intoxicated 12-year-old girl at a hotel in Texarkana, Tex., during an after-prom party. Two other men were charged in December 2005. Collins pleaded not guilty in March, after being indicted by a grand jury in December 2004.
Bowie County District Attorney Bobby Lockhart said Friday that he planned to ask that Collins’s trial begin Aug. 20, the first day of classes at Oklahoma State. But on Aug. 2, Collins is scheduled to be on the football field as practice begins.
Collins, 20, is considered by some to be Oklahoma State’s top returning defensive player. As a freshman starter last season, he was the team’s second-leading tackler, with 31, before sustaining a season-ending knee injury in its sixth game. He had three and a half tackles for losses, a sack, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick.
Collins has recovered and has been participating in team activities.
Through a university spokesman, Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy declined to comment on Collins until the charge had been resolved.
The case has created controversy in Texarkana, a small city of 35,000 on the Arkansas border. Collins and the three other men are black and the girl is white; some black residents have questioned whether the case has racial overtones.
Collins, then 17, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a felony that carries a possible sentence of 5 years to 99 years or life in prison. He has been free on $40,000 bond.
Lockhart said that Collins confessed to the police that he had sex with the girl. Lockhart added that the girl said she did not consent.
“We’re pretty deep,” Lockhart said Wednesday of his commitment to the case in an interview at his Texarkana office. “We’re serious.”
Collins did not play his senior year at Texas High School because of the charge against him. He was given a scholarship at Oklahoma State after Texas rescinded its offer.
At last year’s Big 12 football media days in Kansas City, Mo., Gundy said that he had thoroughly researched Collins’s background before signing him. He also praised Collins for his work ethic and ability to mesh with the team.
A Texas Public Information Act request by The New York Times yielded some documents about Collins’s case. Other documents with greater detail about the incident were released mistakenly to The Texarkana Gazette, a Texarkana police department spokesman said, and were not made available to The Times.
According to The Texarkana Gazette, court records say that Collins and another man, Charles Johnson, drove the 12-year-old girl and her 15-year-old friend to a hotel for a party after the Texas High prom about 2 a.m. on May 23, 2004. At the hotel, the 12-year-old girl became drunk after being given vodka mixed with orange juice. Aaron Johnson, the brother of Charles Johnson, provided the hotel room and the alcohol.
The girls were later dropped off at 6:30 a.m., a block from the girl’s home. She had bruises on her neck and scratches on her arms and shoulder. A family member took her to a local emergency room.
The Texarkana Gazette reported that the police department received the results of DNA testing from the state crime lab in November 2005. And according to the court documents, as reported in The Gazette, the samples collected from the girl matched those of Collins, Jabari Jackson and the Johnson brothers.
The Johnson brothers and Jackson are also charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. They each pleaded not guilty in March. Charles Johnson, 21, did not return a message left for him. Jackson, 21, declined to comment.
The girl has moved with her family to northern Arkansas and will be a key part of the prosecution’s case, Lockhart said.
Paul Hoover, Collins’s lawyer, declined to grant a request to interview Collins. But in October 2004, Collins said he was innocent in an interview with InsideTexas.com, a Web site that covers Longhorns athletics and recruiting.
“I’m not guilty, that’s all I can say,” Collins said at the time. “I didn’t do nothing. I was just lied to and that’s pretty much what happened. I just need to be more careful. She accused me of rape, but I know I didn’t do that for sure.”
Even if she had consented to sex, Lockhart said, she could not have legally done so under Texas law until she was 14 or older.
Hoover declined to discuss the specifics of Collins’s case but described him as a good kid who does not get into trouble. “His future is laid out forever and a day,” Hoover said. “Probably a big-time N.F.L prospect.”
Benjamin Dennis, president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Texarkana — whose population is roughly 60 percent white and 37 percent black — said that some of the city’s black residents were concerned about the handling of the case, particularly the delay in trying the four men.
“If they were guilty, then the evidence should have been presented in a timely fashion,” he said. “They should have been tried, and if convicted, sentenced. Justice should have been administered at least.”
Lockhart, though, said that Collins’s case was one of his most pressing priorities.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, he’s an 8 ½ or a 9,” he said.
Lockhart acknowledged that Collins’s case had taken longer than usual to go to trial. It was delayed because of the prosecution’s concern for the girl’s well-being and while DNA testing was conducted, he said.
“We’re past where we’d like to be,” he said. “This is not a delay to let Collins get better playing football at Oklahoma State.”
Lockhart dismissed the notion that Collins’s case was being pursued because of race.
“I’m very aware of where I live,” he said. “I live in the South and northeast Texas. Will some people make that allegation against me? Absolutely. That’s fine. That’s not the motivation behind this.”
Texas High Coach Barry Norton said he remained shocked by the charge against his former player. He said Collins had a quiet demeanor and was never previously in trouble. He had a grade point average of 3.3 in high school, Norton said.
“It’s just a sad thing for everybody,” Norton said Wednesday. “It breaks my heart for him. For everybody involved in it, there’s been a lot of pain. You just hate to see young people’s lives affected in situations like this.”
On the football field, Collins’s talent is undisputed.
Houston Coach Art Briles, whose team played against the Cowboys last season, said Collins was a dynamic playmaker with explosive speed.
“He’s an off-the-screen guy,” Briles said in a telephone interview. “When you watch him, he jumps off the television screen.”
Despite that talent, Lockhart said that it would have no bearing on the way he prosecuted his case.
“In today’s society, there’s always been this point of view that high-profile athletes get away with lots of things,” Lockhart said. “It’s not my intention or our intention here at the D.A.’s office to prove they’re not going to here. It’s my intention to say, ‘Let 12 people make the call.’ ”
<nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_update_bottom>
<nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" "> Charge Against a Player Raises Questions of Justice </nyt_headline>
<nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "> </nyt_byline>By THAYER EVANS
<nyt_text> </nyt_text> With the start of the college football season only six weeks away, optimism abounds at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys open the season Sept. 1 with a marquee road game at Georgia and are a trendy pick to win the Big 12 South.
And the sophomore linebacker Chris Collins, perhaps the Cowboys’ best defensive player, is expected to help, even though he has been under indictment for almost three years.
In May 2004, Collins and another man were arrested and charged with sexually assaulting an intoxicated 12-year-old girl at a hotel in Texarkana, Tex., during an after-prom party. Two other men were charged in December 2005. Collins pleaded not guilty in March, after being indicted by a grand jury in December 2004.
Bowie County District Attorney Bobby Lockhart said Friday that he planned to ask that Collins’s trial begin Aug. 20, the first day of classes at Oklahoma State. But on Aug. 2, Collins is scheduled to be on the football field as practice begins.
Collins, 20, is considered by some to be Oklahoma State’s top returning defensive player. As a freshman starter last season, he was the team’s second-leading tackler, with 31, before sustaining a season-ending knee injury in its sixth game. He had three and a half tackles for losses, a sack, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick.
Collins has recovered and has been participating in team activities.
Through a university spokesman, Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy declined to comment on Collins until the charge had been resolved.
The case has created controversy in Texarkana, a small city of 35,000 on the Arkansas border. Collins and the three other men are black and the girl is white; some black residents have questioned whether the case has racial overtones.
Collins, then 17, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a felony that carries a possible sentence of 5 years to 99 years or life in prison. He has been free on $40,000 bond.
Lockhart said that Collins confessed to the police that he had sex with the girl. Lockhart added that the girl said she did not consent.
“We’re pretty deep,” Lockhart said Wednesday of his commitment to the case in an interview at his Texarkana office. “We’re serious.”
Collins did not play his senior year at Texas High School because of the charge against him. He was given a scholarship at Oklahoma State after Texas rescinded its offer.
At last year’s Big 12 football media days in Kansas City, Mo., Gundy said that he had thoroughly researched Collins’s background before signing him. He also praised Collins for his work ethic and ability to mesh with the team.
A Texas Public Information Act request by The New York Times yielded some documents about Collins’s case. Other documents with greater detail about the incident were released mistakenly to The Texarkana Gazette, a Texarkana police department spokesman said, and were not made available to The Times.
According to The Texarkana Gazette, court records say that Collins and another man, Charles Johnson, drove the 12-year-old girl and her 15-year-old friend to a hotel for a party after the Texas High prom about 2 a.m. on May 23, 2004. At the hotel, the 12-year-old girl became drunk after being given vodka mixed with orange juice. Aaron Johnson, the brother of Charles Johnson, provided the hotel room and the alcohol.
The girls were later dropped off at 6:30 a.m., a block from the girl’s home. She had bruises on her neck and scratches on her arms and shoulder. A family member took her to a local emergency room.
The Texarkana Gazette reported that the police department received the results of DNA testing from the state crime lab in November 2005. And according to the court documents, as reported in The Gazette, the samples collected from the girl matched those of Collins, Jabari Jackson and the Johnson brothers.
The Johnson brothers and Jackson are also charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. They each pleaded not guilty in March. Charles Johnson, 21, did not return a message left for him. Jackson, 21, declined to comment.
The girl has moved with her family to northern Arkansas and will be a key part of the prosecution’s case, Lockhart said.
Paul Hoover, Collins’s lawyer, declined to grant a request to interview Collins. But in October 2004, Collins said he was innocent in an interview with InsideTexas.com, a Web site that covers Longhorns athletics and recruiting.
“I’m not guilty, that’s all I can say,” Collins said at the time. “I didn’t do nothing. I was just lied to and that’s pretty much what happened. I just need to be more careful. She accused me of rape, but I know I didn’t do that for sure.”
Even if she had consented to sex, Lockhart said, she could not have legally done so under Texas law until she was 14 or older.
Hoover declined to discuss the specifics of Collins’s case but described him as a good kid who does not get into trouble. “His future is laid out forever and a day,” Hoover said. “Probably a big-time N.F.L prospect.”
Benjamin Dennis, president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Texarkana — whose population is roughly 60 percent white and 37 percent black — said that some of the city’s black residents were concerned about the handling of the case, particularly the delay in trying the four men.
“If they were guilty, then the evidence should have been presented in a timely fashion,” he said. “They should have been tried, and if convicted, sentenced. Justice should have been administered at least.”
Lockhart, though, said that Collins’s case was one of his most pressing priorities.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, he’s an 8 ½ or a 9,” he said.
Lockhart acknowledged that Collins’s case had taken longer than usual to go to trial. It was delayed because of the prosecution’s concern for the girl’s well-being and while DNA testing was conducted, he said.
“We’re past where we’d like to be,” he said. “This is not a delay to let Collins get better playing football at Oklahoma State.”
Lockhart dismissed the notion that Collins’s case was being pursued because of race.
“I’m very aware of where I live,” he said. “I live in the South and northeast Texas. Will some people make that allegation against me? Absolutely. That’s fine. That’s not the motivation behind this.”
Texas High Coach Barry Norton said he remained shocked by the charge against his former player. He said Collins had a quiet demeanor and was never previously in trouble. He had a grade point average of 3.3 in high school, Norton said.
“It’s just a sad thing for everybody,” Norton said Wednesday. “It breaks my heart for him. For everybody involved in it, there’s been a lot of pain. You just hate to see young people’s lives affected in situations like this.”
On the football field, Collins’s talent is undisputed.
Houston Coach Art Briles, whose team played against the Cowboys last season, said Collins was a dynamic playmaker with explosive speed.
“He’s an off-the-screen guy,” Briles said in a telephone interview. “When you watch him, he jumps off the television screen.”
Despite that talent, Lockhart said that it would have no bearing on the way he prosecuted his case.
“In today’s society, there’s always been this point of view that high-profile athletes get away with lots of things,” Lockhart said. “It’s not my intention or our intention here at the D.A.’s office to prove they’re not going to here. It’s my intention to say, ‘Let 12 people make the call.’ ”
<nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_update_bottom>
