Jury Awards $32 Million to Woman Who Accused Former Hebron Football Players of Rape

A jury has awarded $32 million to a woman who said she was sexually assaulted as a 14-year-old in 2012, finding two former high school athletes liable in the attack.The verdict, in 462nd Judicial District Court, was unanimous, according to a release issued by the victim's legal firm, Aldous/Walker of Dallas.The sexual assault allegedly happened at a party at a student's home. The ninth-grader reported that she had been drugged and then raped by two football players from Hebron High in Carrollton.The two had sex with the girl simultaneously, jurors were told. The defendants said the sex was consensual, and one of them testified that he would act similarly were he to again encounter a girl as intoxicated as the victim, according to the release.The victim, who has not been identified since she was a minor at the time, was awarded $7 million in actual damages and $25 million in punitive damages."I cannot begin to tell you what this verdict means to my client," attorney Charla Aldous said. "She is a brave young woman who stood for what was right against all odds. My hope is that she will be a voice for sexual-assault victims who are afraid to come forward and hold rapists responsible for their actions."An attorney for the defense could not be reached. One of the two defendants testified at trial that what happened between him and the victim was consensual and that his only regret was that he "lost his virginity in that way."The second defendant, testifying by video deposition, asserted his Fifth-Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.Neither has been arrested or charged with a crime in the case.  Continue reading...