Shutterstock
Osa Masina, a suspended University of Southern California football player accused of sexual assault in Utah, pled guilty to misdemeanor charges in a deal with prosecutors.
According to reports, the plea agreement carries no possible state prison time for 20-year-old Masina. However, he could be sentenced to three years in county jail and probation. Prosecutor Donna Kelly said that prosecutors have yet to decide what sentence they’ll seek at a hearing in December. Masina won’t be forced to register as a sex offender.
Defense attorney Greg Skordas said the plea deal gives his Masina a chance to “pick up the pieces at some point.”
Bethany Warr, the attorney for the victim, said the guilty pleas to three counts of sexual battery are “grossly disproportionate” for what she called a violent sexual assault.
via ESPN:
The agreement was the best prosecutors could do after Judge Keith Kelly excluded key evidence, she said.
“Their case has been gutted, essentially,” she said.
The case is among a series of sex abuse prosecutions across the country involving collegiate athletes that have brought calls for stronger protections by universities and justice systems for women. Masina was a standout player at Brighton High School outside Salt Lake City, and a sophomore linebacker for USC when he was suspended.
He declined to comment after the hearing. Skordas said he’s not expecting Masina to return to USC’s team after the case is finished but hopes he can continue his education. A lawyer for the Masina family, Gregory Phillips, blasted the decision to file charges in the case, saying Thursday there had been a “rush to judgment” against a high-profile athlete.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles declined to file charges after authorities investigated allegations that Masina and a USC teammate assaulted the same woman in California days earlier.
Prosecutors said it would be difficult to prove the woman was too intoxicated to consent.
