LOCAL

3 former Michigan State football players sentenced to probation in sexual assault case

Lansing State Journal

From left. Former MSU football players Demetric Vance and Donnie Corley appear for sentencing in Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's courtroom Wednesday, June 6, 2018, with their attorneys Mary Chartier and John Shea, right. They were accused of sexually assaulting a female student during a party at a campus apartment in January 2017. All three pleaded guilty to lesser charges of seduction as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

LANSING - Three former Michigan State University football players who accepted plea deals to a charge of seduction in a sexual assault case were sentenced Wednesday to 36 months probation and ordered to undergo sex offender treatment.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina also ordered Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance to complete 100 hours of community service and stay off dating apps and websites such as Tinder. And she issued a 365-day suspended jail sentence, which the three men won’t serve unless they violate probation.

The seduction charge, which involves seducing an unmarried woman for sexual acts, carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. It does not require sex offender registration.

Tuesday's sentencing came exactly one year after the trio were charged with numerous counts of sex assault stemming from an incident during a party at a campus apartment in January 2017.

Michigan State University Police previously said the victim reported that King invited her to "speak somewhere quiet," then "pulled" her into a bathroom and forced her to perform oral and vaginal sex. Corley and Vance were each accused of later forcing her to perform oral sex.

Police also alleged that King recorded himself having sex with the woman.

Attorney Karen Truszkowski read a statement on behalf of the victim during Tuesday's hearing:

Attorney Karen Truszkowski reads a victim-impact statement Wednesday, June 6, 2018, in Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's courtroom on behalf of the student who was assaulted by three former MSU football players during a party at a campus apartment in January 2017. All three pleaded guilty to lesser charges of seduction as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

"I accepted the plea deal for the sake of my own mental health, and to be able to move on from this criminal case," the woman wrote in the statement. "I want to be able to put my life back together again.

"It's my hope that my case would serve as a message of deterrence, to prevent anyone else from thinking they have any chance of just moving on after crushing an innocent person."

The victim, acknowledged, however, that she has "zero confidence a significant level of deterrence will come out of this."

The State Journal is not identifying the woman due to the nature of the crimes.

Sober, conscious decisions

Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Steve Kwasnik told Aquilina the plea deal did not reflect "any sort of disbelief of the victim."

Corley and King, 20, and Vance, 21, "exhibited a lack of candor" during the investigation, Kwasnik said. "They each made sober, conscious decisions to mislead and lie to the police."

"It is our job to seek the most just outcome that is obtainable," he said, in apparent reference to the deal.

For their part, attorneys representing the trio pushed back on assertions that their clients are rapists.

"Because the complainant has accused, and continues to accuse Mr. Vance of rape, I want to clearly and unequivocally state that Mr. Vance did not rape the complainant," Mary Chartier, Vance's attorney, told the judge.

Attorney Mary Chartier, second from left, speaks on behalf of her client, former MSU football player Demetric Vance in Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's courtroom Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Also pictured are Donnie Corley, John Shea, Shannon Smith and Josh King.

"He wanted to be vindicated at trial, but the plea offer that was negotiated provided him with an outcome that resulted in him pleading to what occurred — which is that he had sex with an unmarried woman," she said. "Simply because a claim is made, does not mean that it is true, and does not mean that it is an accurate account of what occurred."

"It would appear that he's done nothing, he shouldn't have pled, and we ought to go to trial," Aquilina responded. "Are you asking to withdraw his plea?"

"While I recognize the complainant has had the opportunity to state her version in this courtroom, I want to make sure that Mr. Vance, through me, has had the opportunity to state his version," Chartier responded.

Aquilina then addressed Vance directly: "Do you think you did anything wrong?"

"No your honor," he responded.

"Why are we here?" the judged asked, before Chartier interjected — "Your honor, Mr. Vance does believe that the activities of that night meet the elements of seduction. He had sex with an unmarried woman. While that is an old offense, or an old statute that is on the books, the activities that night do rise to the elements of seduction."

Aquilina asked Corley and King similar questions. They, too, expressed contrition, but denied raping the victim.

"You need to make it your life's mission to speak on behalf of those who can't, and to do right in the world," Aquilina eventually told the trio. "And put this behind you — you all need to put this behind you, and not let it define you, and I'm hoping that the victim can do the same. Every action in the world has a reaction. This is the reaction to what you have done, collectively."

Aquilina then moved forward with sentencing against all three.

Former MSU football player Donnie Corley, left, addresses Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina during a sentencing hearing Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Also pictured, from left to right, are his attorney John Shea, former teammate Josh King and attorney Shannon Smith.

A bygone era

In a statement released after the plea deal was announced in April, Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney Carol Siemon said the seduction charge provides an incentive in a plea agreement because conviction on that charge does not require that the defendant register as a sex offender.

"The use of 'seducing and debauching an unmarried female' as a plea is one that prosecutors have used consistently, but infrequently in the State of Michigan," she wrote. "The law itself is archaic and while the statute itself is valid, it certainly was originally enacted in a bygone era."

There were four convictions on a seduction charge last year in Michigan, according to records from State Court Administrative Office. Since 1999, the state has averaged fewer than eight convictions annually.

Karen Truszkowski, the attorney representing the victim, said after the hearing that her client didn't want to see King, Corley and Vance go to prison. "She wants to see them take care of their lives just like she needs to take care of hers."

"I don't know if these young men at this point have absorbed what's really happened," she added.

Vance said after the hearing he thought the sentence was "pretty fair."

Corley's attorney, John Shea, also described the sentence as "fair." King declined comment

King, of Darien, Illinois, originally faced the most serious charges: one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and capturing an image of an unclothed person. He faced up to life in prison.

In addition to the seduction charge, King pleaded guilty to surveilling an unclothed person. Aquilina did not order an additional sentence on the second charge.

Corley and Vance, both of Detroit, had been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. They each faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

King, Corley and Vance's court records will be sealed because Aquilina sentenced them under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, a law that allows judges to close the records of young offenders as long as they meet the terms of their agreement and do not commit any future offenses. If any of the three violate the terms of their probation, Aquilina could revoke HYTA status and order them to jail.

The former players, who were suspended from the team during the police investigation, were dismissed from the football team after they were charged in June 2017. They also were dismissed from MSU following university Title IX investigations.

They later enrolled at Coahoma Community College in Mississippi and are expected to play football this fall.

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. State Journal Reporter Eric Lacy contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.