Former football players found not guilty of rape and kidnapping

AUBREY WRIGHT Managing Editor of Content wright.2257@osu.edu

This story was originally published Feb. 9, 2023 and updated for the commencement edition.

Two former Ohio State football players were acquitted Thursday of charges of rape and kidnapping a 19-year-old woman in February 2020.

Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint, both 24, were found not guilty of all charges. Both have been on trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, charged with two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping for an incident Feb. 4, 2020. When the verdict was reached, the two men broke into tears and embraced each other.

Riep and Wint’s family present at the trial declined to comment. The prosecution could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. The woman was not present for the verdict.

Dan Sabol, Riep’s attorney, said he felt relief and gratitude for the jury. He said Riep was “incredibly strong” throughout the three-year process, and his family has had his back the entire time.

“The bottom line is Amir and Jahsen told the truth, and that was evident from the testimony,” Sabol said.

Sabol declined to comment on Riep and Wint’s next steps after the trial.

Both Riep and Wint did not finish their degrees at Ohio State and entered the transfer portal between November 2021 and February 2022 after they were dismissed from the Ohio State football program in February 2020.

The verdict follows two days of trial. On Feb. 7, jurors heard testimony from the woman, her roommate and the nurse who performed the sexual assault forensic examination Feb. 6, 2020.

The woman described the events of the night, stating Riep and Wint forcibly raped her at Wint’s apartment. After the attack, she said both forced her to record a video, which was played in court, agreeing the sex was consensual. The woman said she said she consented in the recording because she believed she would then be able to go home.

Both attorneys questioned the consistency of the statement the woman made to Columbus Division of Police Detective Joshua Martin the night of the incident when compared to the testimony made in court Tuesday.

Both Riep and Wint testified, claiming the sexual relations were consensual Feb.8.

Samuel Shamansky, Wint’s attorney, said Wint was playing video games with teammates while wearing headphones when Riep brought the woman back to their apartment. Wint’s teammates said to get Riep to join them in the game, and once Wint entered the room, Riep asked if Wint wanted to join in sex.

Shamansky said although the sex was consensual, Wint felt ashamed afterward and complied with the police because he had nothing to hide.

Riep testified that he turned on his phone video and asked the woman to answer into the camera if the sex had been consensual.

Additional defense testimony Feb. 8 came from former Ohio State football player Lloyd McFarquhar, who said the team had meetings about “changing the narrative” and “respecting women.”

McFarquhar testified players are told to get women on the record consenting to sexual relations to prevent false accusations. Riep testified he had previously recorded videos of women with whom he had sexual relations to confirm the sex was consensual.

Page 8

Thursday, April 20, 2023