No charges against Roethlisberger; DA says he should 'grow up'
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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. -- Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will not be prosecuted on sexual assault allegations after the local district attorney today said a month-long investigation into the matter failed to prove that a crime was committed.
Ocmulgee Judicial Court District Attorney Fredric D. Bright, speaking at an afternoon news conference, announced the decision.
He said there was not enough evidence to prove the quarterback raped the woman in a Milledgeville bar bathroom. He said the woman was examined at a hospital after the alleged March 5 attack. A doctor could not say whether a superficial laceration, bruising and slight bleeding in the genital area were evidence of an assault or sexual activity.
A "minute" amount of male DNA was present, but not enough to develop a profile, so Mr. Bright said it would have been "futile" to ask Mr. Roethlisberger for a DNA sample.
Mr. Bright also said the woman had sent a letter to prosecutors asking that no charges be filed.
He said the woman, 20, was highly intoxicated during the night of bar hopping with her sorority sisters from the Georgia College & State University. After the woman emerged from the nightclub bathroom, her sisters took her to a police officer. He initially asked her if she had been raped, and she said no. But she later wrote statements saying there had been sex.
She alleged that Mr. Roethlisberger followed her into the bathroom and they had sex despite her saying it wasn't OK.
Mr. Roethlisberger initially told an officer that he remembered the woman, that he told her she was too drunk to be in the VIP area of the club, and that the woman fell and injured her head, Mr. Bright said. He added doctors at the hospital found no head injuries.
Investigators were not able to interview the quarterback since the night of the incident.
Mr. Bright said he was not condoning Mr. Roethlisberger's conduct. But he said his office doesn't prosecute morals, just crimes.
He noted, however, that the quarterback shouldn't be putting himself in such a position -- inviting only women to a private part of a club and buying shots for them.
He said he would advise Mr. Roethlisberger to "grow up."
Mr. Roethlisberger's Atlanta-based attorney, Edward Garland, has consistently maintained that his client committed no crime.
The Milledgeville Police Department and several agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation collected evidence, reviewed videotapes and interviewed numerous witnesses before turning their findings over to Mr. Bright last week.
First Published April 12, 2010 2:03 pm
