Courtesy of the Cache County Jail

LOGAN — The rape case for a former Utah State football player is going to trial next month. The three-day jury trial for Jamaal A. Evans will be start March 4, more than a year-and-a-half after he was originally arrested.

A final pre-trial conference was held for Evan’s case Tuesday morning. Evans, who was not present for the hearing, has been charged with rape and forcible sodomy, both first-degree felonies.

Public defender Shannon Demler told the court they had not worked out a resolution and were ready to proceed to trial. He explained that they were locating their final witness, who is believed to be attending school in Texas.

Evans was arrested after a female student reported being raped to school officials.

On June 17, 2018, the alleged victim one of her friends picked up the defendant. They went to a small party at a residence in Logan. She stated that she knew who he was, but had never really hung out with him.

The woman told investigators while at the party they consumed some alcohol. Afterwards, Evans raped her.

In August 2018, Judge Brian Cannell ruled during a preliminary hearing that even though the victim was not able to recall the night of the assault, she could not have been able to consent to sex. He bound the defendant over on both charges.

The case was delayed last year partly because of the month long jury trial in January for Torrey Green, another former USU football player convicted of sexually assaulting six women.

Evans was signed by USU in 2016. He was suspended after his arrest and never played for the team again. He is originally from Las Vegas where he was a first team, all-state quarterback.

Evans is currently out of jail after posting $25,000 bail. He could face up to life in prison if convicted.

will@cvradio.com

Jamaal Evans, a Utah State University player who was charged with two first-degree sex-crime felonies Thursday, has a prior conviction for possessing marijuana in February and was on probation, according to court records.

He was charged for possession of a controlled substance, a class B misdemeanor, in the 1st District Court, and plead guilty in March. He has a plea in abeyance agreement for the charge and the tracking review date for the agreement is March 7, 2019, according to court documents. 

Evans was charged with first-degree rape and first-degree forcible sodomy, both felonies, after a woman said she was raped at at an off-campus party the night of June 17 and the early morning of June 18.

That same day, the Logan Police Department responded to a call from the Cache Valley Hospital after a patient receiving a sexual-assault exam asked the hospital to call police.

The woman was interviewed by police on June 18 and said she began drinking vodka with a friend at the party, according to the affidavit of probable cause police report.

The report stated the next thing the woman remembered was waking up in the shower when she struck her head on a metal rack hanging over the shower head, and she said she remembered hearing Evans ask her if she “was good.” The report states that her last memory is waking up in her friend’s bed the next morning at their residence.

The next day, an interview with the woman’s friend was conducted, in which she gave her account of the night’s events.

The report states that the friend said she became concerned when Evans and the woman did not return to the basement after the woman had left with Evans to go upstairs to the kitchen. Three other party guests helped the friend search for the woman and Evans. The report said the group searched outside the house but didn’t search the bedrooms because they thought residents of the house were sleeping in them. The report continues, saying the friend then sent text messages to the woman that were left unanswered and after she found the woman’s phone unattended in the basement, she began texting Evans.

According to the report, Evans didn’t respond to the friends text message initially but then sent a text back saying “hold up” and “we good.”

The report continues saying the friend then heard a shower turn on upstairs and went upstairs to discover one of the bedroom doors now open with a light on. The friend observed vomit all over the bed, the floor and Evans shirt. The friend then attempted to enter the bathroom nearby but the door was locked, and the report states Evans was telling the friend through the door that “she did not need to be there and that they were okay.”

The friend, in an attempt to trick Evans into opening the door, told him she would be going back downstairs, but she then waited by the door. Evans opened the door and “peeked his head out the door as if to see if she was still there,” the report states, and the friend said she then forced her way into the bathroom.

“(The friend) stated she found (the woman) sitting on the toilet completely nude,” the report stated, and “(the friend) described (the woman) as being completely hunched over and as ‘completely incoherent.’”

The friend “began questioning (the woman) about what had occurred between she and Evans,” the report continued, and “the friend stated that (the woman) began tearing up and and telling her she did not know what was happening.”

The friend said she then went to question Evans about what had happened between the woman and him and the friend stated “Evans further described what occurred as ‘when you’re in the moment and you want what you want, you just got to do it sometimes.’” The friend continued saying Evans told her that “(the woman was sober and that ‘he gave that girl what she wanted.’”  

In a later recorded phone call conversation with Evans and the woman, the woman “accuses him of rape to which he responds that she needs to trust him because he is the only person who was there and knows what happened,” the affidavit stated.

In the police affidavit, the officer interviewed several of the party goers and they all said the woman was “obviously” too intoxicated to give consent.

Evans’ bond was originally set at a $40,000 bond, but during his initial court appearance prosecutors agreed to a reduce the bail to a $25,000 bond. As of Thursday afternoon, the Cache County Jail did not have a listed inmate under Evans’ date of birth.

Court documents indicate that Evans is on pretrial supervision with Professional Probation Services, Inc. The probation includes no alcohol or illegal drugs, no contact with the alleged victim and he must report to PPSI immediately upon release from custody.

Evans’ next court appearance, for the two felony charges, is scheduled July 10 before Judge Brian Cannell. Evans noted he does not have money to hire his own attorney and will be appointed a public defender, according to court records.

Evans signed with Utah State’s football team Feb. 1, 2017.

laurenmarie.bennett@aggiemail.usu.edu

@laurmarben

Jamaal Evans, a Utah State University player who was charged with two first-degree sex-crime felonies Thursday, has a prior conviction for possessing marijuana in February and was on probation, according to court records.

He was charged for possession of a controlled substance, a class B misdemeanor, in the 1st District Court, and plead guilty in March. He has a plea in abeyance agreement for the charge and the tracking review date for the agreement is March 7, 2019, according to court documents. 

Evans was charged with first-degree rape and first-degree forcible sodomy, both felonies, after a woman said she was raped at at an off-campus party the night of June 17 and the early morning of June 18.

That same day, the Logan Police Department responded to a call from the Cache Valley Hospital after a patient receiving a sexual-assault exam asked the hospital to call police.

The woman was interviewed by police on June 18 and said she began drinking vodka with a friend at the party, according to the affidavit of probable cause police report.

The report stated the next thing the woman remembered was waking up in the shower when she struck her head on a metal rack hanging over the shower head, and she said she remembered hearing Evans ask her if she “was good.” The report states that her last memory is waking up in her friend’s bed the next morning at their residence.

The next day, an interview with the woman’s friend was conducted, in which she gave her account of the night’s events.

The report states that the friend said she became concerned when Evans and the woman did not return to the basement after the woman had left with Evans to go upstairs to the kitchen. Three other party guests helped the friend search for the woman and Evans. The report said the group searched outside the house but didn’t search the bedrooms because they thought residents of the house were sleeping in them. The report continues, saying the friend then sent text messages to the woman that were left unanswered and after she found the woman’s phone unattended in the basement, she began texting Evans.

According to the report, Evans didn’t respond to the friends text message initially but then sent a text back saying “hold up” and “we good.”

The report continues saying the friend then heard a shower turn on upstairs and went upstairs to discover one of the bedroom doors now open with a light on. The friend observed vomit all over the bed, the floor and Evans shirt. The friend then attempted to enter the bathroom nearby but the door was locked, and the report states Evans was telling the friend through the door that “she did not need to be there and that they were okay.”

The friend, in an attempt to trick Evans into opening the door, told him she would be going back downstairs, but she then waited by the door. Evans opened the door and “peeked his head out the door as if to see if she was still there,” the report states, and the friend said she then forced her way into the bathroom.

“(The friend) stated she found (the woman) sitting on the toilet completely nude,” the report stated, and “(the friend) described (the woman) as being completely hunched over and as ‘completely incoherent.’”

The friend “began questioning (the woman) about what had occurred between she and Evans,” the report continued, and “the friend stated that (the woman) began tearing up and and telling her she did not know what was happening.”

The friend said she then went to question Evans about what had happened between the woman and him and the friend stated “Evans further described what occurred as ‘when you’re in the moment and you want what you want, you just got to do it sometimes.’” The friend continued saying Evans told her that “(the woman was sober and that ‘he gave that girl what she wanted.’”  

In a later recorded phone call conversation with Evans and the woman, the woman “accuses him of rape to which he responds that she needs to trust him because he is the only person who was there and knows what happened,” the affidavit stated.

In the police affidavit, the officer interviewed several of the party goers and they all said the woman was “obviously” too intoxicated to give consent.

Evans’ bond was originally set at a $40,000 bond, but during his initial court appearance prosecutors agreed to a reduce the bail to a $25,000 bond. As of Thursday afternoon, the Cache County Jail did not have a listed inmate under Evans’ date of birth.

Court documents indicate that Evans is on pretrial supervision with Professional Probation Services, Inc. The probation includes no alcohol or illegal drugs, no contact with the alleged victim and he must report to PPSI immediately upon release from custody.

Evans’ next court appearance, for the two felony charges, is scheduled July 10 before Judge Brian Cannell. Evans noted he does not have money to hire his own attorney and will be appointed a public defender, according to court records.

Evans signed with Utah State’s football team Feb. 1, 2017.

laurenmarie.bennett@aggiemail.usu.edu

@laurmarben

LOGAN — A Utah State University football player was charged Thursday with raping a woman who investigators say was too intoxicated to have given consent.

Jamaal Anthony Evans, 19, is charged in 1st District Court with rape and forcible sodomy, both first-degree felonies.

The incident is the latest in a series of sexual assault allegations involving USU students over the past few years.

A woman was at an off-campus party that started the night of June 17 and went into the early morning hours of June 18. The woman “stated she began drinking vodka” in the basement with a friend, according to a Cache County Jail report.

“The next thing she remembered was waking up in the shower when she struck her head on a metal rack that was hanging over the shower head. (She) stated she heard Jamaal ask her if she ‘was good,'” the report states.

Friends of the woman told investigators that prior to that, they watched as she and Evans went upstairs allegedly to get a drink, according to the report. But after some time, the friends became concerned when the woman did not return and began searching the house for her.

A female friend found the woman’s phone under a pool table, the report states. She then sent text messages to Evans.

“Evans would not tell her where he and (the woman) were but would only tell her to ‘hold up’ and ‘we good,'” the report states.

The friend heard a shower in an upstairs bedroom turn on and went to investigate. They found vomit on the bed, floor and Evans’ shirt, according to police. But when they tried to get into the bathroom, it was locked.

“Evans was telling her to give him a minute and she began yelling for (the woman) who was not responding to her,” the report states. “Evans told her through the door that she did not need to be there and that they were OK.”

But when the friend was finally able to get into the bathroom, she found the woman “completely nude” and “hunched over and … completely incoherent,” according to the report.

“(The woman) began tearing up and telling her she did not know what was happening.”

When confronted about what had happened, Evans “described what occurred as ‘when you’re in the moment and you want what you want, you just got to do it sometimes,'” investigators wrote in the report. He allegedly stated that the woman was sober and “he gave that girl what she wanted.”

A couple of days after the party, the woman called Evans while a police detective recorded the conversation.

“During the phone call, (the woman) tells Evans that she could not remember almost anything from the night in question. Evans seemed surprised that (she) could not even remember the bedroom they were in. (The woman) states to Evans, ‘Obviously I was not sober,’ to which Evans replied, ‘Yeah I know but I was in the same place you are,'” the report states. “Throughout the call, Evans tried to tell (the woman) that he believed she was not drunk during their encounter and that she showed no signs of impairment.

“(The woman) accuses Evans of rape, to which he responds that she needs to trust him because he is the only person who was there and knows what happened,” the report states.

In a recorded conversation with the friend, Evans claimed he was drunk and high, according to the report. But when interviewed by police, Evans denied being intoxicated.

“Evans stated, ‘Was I drunk? Honestly no. Well not like out of my mind but I’m like a little buzzed because I don’t drink a lot,'” according to the report.

Investigators also interviewed the other people who were at the party. All of them concurred that the woman was intoxicated, but they did not believe Evans was, police wrote.

The other men at the party “agreed not to interact with the girls sexually in any way because they were obviously intoxicated and you can get into trouble for that,” the report states.

Evans is listed as a freshman linebacker on the USU Aggie 2018 football roster who is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. He is originally from Las Vegas where he was a first team, all-state quarterback.

A call for comment from the USU Athletic Department was not returned Thursday.

The incident is the latest in several rape and sexual misconduct allegations levied against Utah State students.

In April, USU announced that Stacy Sturgeon was removed from her position as Title IX coordinator in response to an investigation that found gender discrimination and sexual misconduct went unchecked for years in the school’s music department.

In 2017, Scott Raymond Simmons was charged with rape and forcible sexual abuse for allegedly raping a classmate on the campus lawn. He is scheduled to go to trial in August.

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Former USU football star Torrey Green currently faces rape charges in several cases for allegedly assaulting up to seven women.

In 2015, a former fraternity president at the school, Ryan Wray, pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge of trying to sexually assault a woman while tasked with assisting inebriated women at a party.

The following year, former student Jason Relopez also pleaded guilty to reduced charges after police said he sexually assaulted two female USU students at his fraternity.

Utah State created a task force to address sexual violence in 2016.

LOGAN — A former Utah State football player has pleaded guilty for his involvement in the electronics burglary case involving four other players. Jaylan Brown was arrested and charged in April with burglary, a second-degree felony, tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony and misdemeanor theft.

Police arrested Brown and Troy Murray, after a video game console and several games were stolen from a Logan apartment complex in December 2016. The equipment was discovered at a pawn shop in Salt Lake City, where the two 19-year-old men had sold the items for cash.

Jamarcus Ingram, Dayshawn Littleton and Kevin Meiztenheimer were arrested later, accused of trying to hit the witnesses with their car and threatening to return and shoot the victim. The three 19-year-olds were allegedly trying to prevent charges from being filed against Brown and Murray.

Brown appeared in 1st District Court Tuesday afternoon. He accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to charges of trespassing, theft and attempted tampering with a witness, all misdemeanors.

Brown’s attorney, Earl Xaiz told the court Brown had no criminal history prior to coming to Utah State. He explained that his client got involved with the wrong crowd, after moving to Logan on a football scholarship.

Xaiz said Brown was kicked off the team after his arrest and moved back to California. He enrolled in a community college and has maintained a 3.6 GPA. He also apologized to the team for his actions.

Judge Kevin Allen said stealing the electronics was a minor issue but it became a bigger problem when Brown asked the other teammates to threaten the victim. He ordered him to serve one-year of probation and complete 50-hours of community service.

Murray, Ingram, Littleton and Meiztenheimer have already accepted similar plea deals and were sentenced.

will@cvradio.com