Michigan AG Asked to Reopen Rape Case Involving MSU's Brock Washington

A women who said she was sexually assaulted by Michigan State basketball player Brock Washington has asked the Michigan attorney general's office to investigate her case, according to Paula Lavigne and Nicole Noren of ESPN.

Michigan State University police had initially recommended charging Washington with first-degree criminal sexual conduct for what took place the night of Jan. 19, but the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office declined to file charges.

Washington has denied the charges but was suspended by the team and remained out for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.

"It's my understanding he's not going to be charged, and he doesn't wish to speak," Washington's previous attorney, Peter Samouris, said. "He's maintained his innocence 100 percent of the time."

Washington had also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in 2018 resulting from a different sex crime investigation.

In the more recent case, the woman told prosecutors Washington had raped her because she was too intoxicated for consent.

Police interviewed her, a roommate, Washington and an Uber driver who took the woman home.

"If she [the woman] would have been by herself, there was no way I was gonna take her. Or I would have taken her to the hospital. I thought she was that drunk," the driver told police.

Despite the information in the police report, the woman was reportedly told by the prosecutor's office that she was "too intoxicated to prove that it [sexual contact] was forced," via Lavigne and Noren.

Washington, a walk-on who has appeared in 16 career games, remains enrolled in the school.

A 2018 report by Lavigne and Noren showed there was "a pattern of widespread denial, inaction and information suppression" from the Michigan State athletic department and others on campus regarding sexual assault, violence and gender discrimination complaints.