Terence Shannon Jr.’s legal team may use video evidence

Former Illinois star Terence Shannon Jr.’s legal team can show video evidence at his felony rape trial next week to support his claim that mistaken identity led police to charge the wrong person, a judge ruled Friday.

At a hearing in Lawrence, Kansas, Shannon’s lawyers argued that video evidence they will present at trial will show another man standing next to the alleged victim at the same bar in Lawrence on the night of the alleged sexual assault, which Judge Amy Hanley said. “Relevant” to the case at the time of his ruling. That “third-party defendant,” according to Shannon’s legal team, was accused of sexually touching another woman two weeks ago at the bar where the woman in Shannon’s case told police in September that a man had sexually assaulted her. With his fingers crossed, he identified Shannon through a Google search.

“Furthermore, the defendant, the third-party defendant, to be very carefully specific, the third-party defendant is alleged to have been present at the scene of this case and this alleged crime,” Hanley said in his ruling Friday. “The court finds that the evidence is relevant and admissible and the defense will be permitted to present that evidence.”

Shannon was charged with gang rape and arrested in December. He later missed six games before joining the Illinois men’s basketball team and leading the program to the NCAA Tournament. He is ranked 31st among NBA prospects by ESPN

The woman in Shannon’s case told police the former Illinois star assaulted her while she was up against a wall at a bar with limited power. She said he never gave her any indication that it was consensual and said she had no contact with Shannon before that night. He said he thought Shannon did the act, which he said lasted about 30 seconds, “for power” and “just to prove he could do it.”

According to Shannon’s attorneys at Friday’s hearing, video evidence showed an unnamed third party standing in the “exact” place — next to a Kansas basketball player who will testify in Shannon’s defense — at the same time and within “arm’s length” of what the woman in the NBA prospect’s case said. That he was standing on the night of the alleged sexual assault.

In a separate incident, a third-party defendant was accused of sexually assaulting a woman prior to the charges against Shannon, but those charges were later dropped. Shannon’s legal team said the woman told police a third-party defendant had sexually touched her at the same bar two weeks before Shannon was charged with the same act with another woman at the same location, and another witness will also testify at Shannon’s trial. Next week. The woman, who has not been accused of sexually touching the unnamed third party, will testify

On Thursday, Shannon’s legal team filed a motion to allow video evidence to be admitted at his trial. Kansas prosecutors also filed a motion to block that request. A different judge initially called the third-party defendant’s video evidence “unintentional speculation” and blocked an earlier move by Shannon’s legal team to admit it.

In their motion Thursday, Shannon’s attorneys said: “No male DNA was found on the vagina or external genitalia taken from the alleged victim on the date of the alleged incident, and no male DNA was found on the alleged victim’s thighs, buttocks or any other male. The underwear could be matched to Mr. Shannon.”

Defense attorneys also alleged that Lawrence police knew of allegations against a third-party defendant but failed to properly investigate those allegations before charging and arresting Shannon.