Three men charged with raping two women inside an Old Dominion University dorm room in June 2012 appeared in court on Monday where the charges of rape were reduced and the other charges against them were dropped.
Former ODU football players Markell Wilkins and Reid Evans Jr., along with another student, Jack Ly, were each charged after two 18-year-old women testified that they were raped inside Evan’s dorm room in 2012.
They said it happened after the girls met Ly and Evans at the Oceanfront and went back to the ODU campus. The women said they became incoherent after drinking several shots of vodka Evans and Ly poured for them, and said they felt incapable of saying no or pushing the men off.
Jack Ly and Reid Evans, Jr. were each charged with two counts of rape, two counts of forcible sodomy and two counts of conspiracy to rape.
Markell Wilkins was also charged with one count of rape.
All of the rape counts for each of the men have been reduced to misdemeanor sexual battery. The remaining charges were all Nolle Prosequi.
Each man will receive 12 month suspended jail time for each count of sexual battery, unsupervised probation and must maintain three years of no contact with the victims.
The Commonwealth Attorney said there was not enough evidence presented to prosecute the men for the initial charges.
The evidence showed that there were no drugs present in the women's systems and that they were not physically or mentally incapacitated at the time of the incidents.
The Commonwealth's Attorney also said that surveillance video captured in the hallway of that dorm room later that night showed one of the victims hugging Reid before she left.
NewsChannel 3 caught up with Jack Ly's attorney right after the plea hearing and says he's happy with the way it all turned out.
"The Commonwealth’s evidence was insufficient," said Attorney Bobby Howlett. "There was no evidence of any date rape drugs whatsoever and their alcohol levels were extremely low. I think the strength of their case is very weak and I think they did the right thing."
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