LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – A former MSU football player, Auston Robertson, was in court Tuesday for a pretrial conference in relation to a sexual assault charge.

He is accused of raping a girl after a party on April 8, 2017. He is charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The pre-trial date was set for May 2 at 10:30am.

In June of 2017, MSU trustee Mitch Lyons reveled that Auston Robertson was the player who alerted Coach Mark Dantonio to the sexual assault allegation that led to three other players being charged. Lyons shares this information during an interview on sports radio show The Huge Show:

“When Auston Robertson came into his office for a regular weekly meeting you know Coach D asked the regular questions he typically asked him and then he became a little emotional and didn’t even go into details, he just alluded to the fact that something happened and Coach D had a sense that it involved some sort of sexual allegation and he immediately said, ‘Hey, don’t say anything more.’ He called the OIE office, got the appropriate person involved.”

Lyons later apologized for naming Robertson.

The three other players, were charged after a criminal investigation by the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office; they are Joshua J. King, Demetric D. Vance and Donnie L. Corley Junior.
This is involving a different sexual assault incident that occurred January 16 on campus.

Robertson faces up to 15-years in prison if convicted.

The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

N.C. State sophomore guard Markell Johnson’s pretrial hearing on his felony assault charges has been continued until Jan. 16 at 9 a.m.

Johnson, Demarious Green, Michael Melton and Johnnie Pullum were indicted on Dec. 5. The four are charged with assaulting Michael Blackwell, 37, in Cleveland in early October.

Defense attorneys, including Johnson’s attorney John Paris, expressed concern that Johnson would be unable to play basketball or receive his scholarship while the case was pending. Paris indicated additional witness statements would demonstrate that there were errors in the initial police report.

According to the Oct. 8 Cleveland police report, Blackwell said he got into a verbal altercation with Johnson. Blackwell said Johnson struck him in the face “about 10 times” before he fought back. In the police report, Blackwell also says that Green, Melton and Pullum threw punches and grabbed his neck before Blackwell bit one of his attackers.

Blackwell later that night sought medical attention and later told police his eye socket was fractured and he suffered a concussion. Blackwell also received stitches, according to the police report.

In 2015, Johnson told recruiting and high school sports website The Left Bench that Melton and Blackwell were mentors to him: “Living in the townhouses where I grew up, my next door neighbor Mike Blackwell taught me a lot about the game. He didn’t just tell me, he showed me and helped me.”

The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office is expected this week to send its own investigators to interview Johnson’s mother, Sabrina Johnson, and other witnesses.

Under N.C. State’s student-athlete code of conduct, Johnson is suspended from the basketball team until the felony charge is resolved.

Under Ohio law, felony assault is a second-degree felony punishable by two to eight years in prison if convicted. If charges are reduced to a misdemeanor due to a plea offer, it’s punishable by no more that six months in county jail. If Johnson accepts such a plea bargain, he could be eligible to return to N.C. State’s team. It will, however, be up to N.C. State coaches and administrators as to whether or not he’s allowed to return. An N.C. State basketball spokesman declined to comment.

Johnson, who was N.C. State’s starting point guard for the season’s first 10 games prior to his Dec. 14 suspension, has missed the team’s last six games, including the Wolfpack’s 96-85 win over Duke on Saturday. N.C. State has gone 3-3 in those games, including 1-2 in ACC play.

He’ll miss the Wolfpack’s (11-5, 1-2 ACC) two games this week; the first against No. 25 Clemson at home on Thursday, and the second on Sunday at No. 8 Virginia.

N.C. State sophomore guard Markell Johnson’s pretrial hearing on his felony assault charges has been continued until Jan. 16 at 9 a.m.

Johnson, Demarious Green, Michael Melton and Johnnie Pullum were indicted on Dec. 5. The four are charged with assaulting Michael Blackwell, 37, in Cleveland in early October.

Under N.C. State’s student-athlete code of conduct, Johnson is suspended from the basketball team until the felony charge is resolved.

Johnson, who was N.C. State’s starting point guard for the season’s first 10 games prior to his Dec. 14 suspension, has missed the team’s last six games, including the Wolfpack’s 96-85 win over Duke on Saturday. N.C. State has gone 3-3 in those games, including 1-2 in ACC play.

He’ll miss the Wolfpack’s (11-5, 1-2 ACC) two games this week; the first against No. 25 Clemson at home on Thursday, and the second on Sunday at No. 8 Virginia.

N.C. State sophomore guard Markell Johnson’s pretrial hearing on his felony assault charges has been continued until Jan. 16 at 9 a.m.

Johnson, Demarious Green, Michael Melton and Johnnie Pullum were indicted on Dec. 5. The four are charged with assaulting Michael Blackwell, 37, in Cleveland in early October.

Under N.C. State’s student-athlete code of conduct, Johnson is suspended from the basketball team until the felony charge is resolved.

Johnson, who was N.C. State’s starting point guard for the season’s first 10 games prior to his Dec. 14 suspension, has missed the team’s last six games, including the Wolfpack’s 96-85 win over Duke on Saturday. N.C. State has gone 3-3 in those games, including 1-2 in ACC play.

He’ll miss the Wolfpack’s (11-5, 1-2 ACC) two games this week; the first against No. 25 Clemson at home on Thursday, and the second on Sunday at No. 8 Virginia.

A pretrial conference for N.C. State sophomore guard Markell Johnson and three co-defendants facing felony assault charges is scheduled for Monday morning at the Cuyahoga (Ohio) County Justice Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Johnson, Demarious Green, Michael Melton and Johnnie Pullum were all indicted in Cuyahoga County on Dec. 5.

The four are charged with assaulting Michael Blackwell, 37, in Cleveland in early October.

In 2015, Johnson told recruiting and high school sports website The Left Bench that Melton and Blackwell were mentors to him: “Living in the townhouses where I grew up, my next door neighbor Mike Blackwell taught me a lot about the game. He didn’t just tell me, he showed me and helped me.”

Under N.C. State’s student-athlete code of conduct, Johnson is suspended from the basketball team until the felony charge is resolved.

Johnson, who was N.C. State’s starting point guard for the season’s first 10 games prior to his Dec. 14 suspension, has missed the team’s last six games, including the Wolfpack’s 96-85 win over Duke on Saturday. N.C. State has gone 3-3 in those games, including 1-2 in ACC play.

The Wolfpack (11-5, 1-2 ACC) has two games later this week; the first against No. 25 Clemson at home on Thursday, and the second on Sunday at No. 8 Virginia.