Ex-U football player's sex-crime conviction is upheld

A three-judge state Court of Appeals panel says Dominic Jones' conviction for criminal sexual conduct was proper. The defense had asked for a new trial.

By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune

Last update: July 9, 2009 - 1:46 AM

The criminal sexual conduct conviction of former University of Minnesota football star Dominic Jones will stand, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, rejecting arguments that the victim's prior sex acts with three other players should have been admitted at trial.

Judge Heidi Schellhas called "weak and misplaced" the argument that the victim's sex with the other players was relevant to her ability to consent to a sex act with Jones.

"Jones was charged with criminal sexual conduct in the form of penetration with a physically helpless person, not penetration accomplished by force or coercion," she wrote for the unanimous panel that included Judges Michelle Larkin and Kevin Ross.

The critical question at trial was not whether the woman was "forced into sexual contact against her will; the question was whether she was conscious," Schellhas wrote. Jones and his lawyer, Earl Gray, "failed to show the prior incident" was relevant to "demonstrate her later consciousness."

A year ago a Hennepin County jury convicted Jones of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct after viewing a 37-second cell phone video in which he masturbated over the 18-year-old woman, who prosecutors argued was passed out and too drunk to consent.

The trial judge barred testimony about sex with the other men because a rape shield law protects victims from having to reveal their sexual history. The other men weren't charged.

The events occurred in April 2007 after former player Robert McField and another man took the woman and her friend, Laquisha Malone, to the apartment he shared with three players. Jones lived a floor below.

The victim got into a vodka shot-drinking contest with McField, who testified that he then had sex with Malone.

The court also rejected Gray's arguments that an expert shouldn't have been allowed to opine on the woman's drunkenness, that the video shouldn't have been taken into the jury room, and that Jones' sentence was excessive.

Gray argued that the victim consented to sex with the other players and the act with Jones. He said she was sober enough to walk on high heels and go outside to smoke.

Richardson argued that to bring up those sex acts at trial, Gray would have had to prove that the woman made previous false allegations of sex assault -- the legal standard for overcoming the shield law.

Throughout the opinion, the court noted the "broad discretion" given to trial judges and said evidentiary rulings "will not be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion."

In upholding Jones' sentence, the court rejected the argument that masturbating over the victim's face, laughing and recording it did not "so aggravate" the crime enough to double his sentence.

Jones served eight months in the workhouse and remains on probation. He was kicked off the football team after he was charged in July 2007.

Gray said he hopes to appeal to the state Supreme Court. "Unfortunately, the [Court of Appeals] panel didn't recognize my client's constitutional right to a fair trial," Gray said.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said he's "elated" by the ruling, especially the upholding of the sentence. "We're so aghast at the conduct of Jones," Freeman said.

Freeman's office also prosecuted Jones for rape, but the jury acquitted him of that charge.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

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