Michigan Appeals Court Asked To Consider Evan Reed Rape Case

DETROIT (WWJ) - The Michigan Appeals Court has been asked to look at whether a former Detroit Tigers pitcher is tried for rape.

Evan Reed, 28,  is accused of having sex with an unconscious a woman last spring in Motor City Casino hotel room.

Last November, a 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King refused to bind Reed over for trial, saying that the alleged victim wasn't credible. But the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office appealed and Circuit Judge Michael Callahan reinstated the charges.

Reed's attorney, Ben Gonek, has now asked the appeals court to reinstate the dismissal of the charges, claiming Callahan's decision was erroneous.

"Usually when a judge does that (reinstates charges) they give an analysis of their decision — why the judge was wrong, or why the lower court judge was wrong," said Gonek. "In this case, that didn't happen. There was no clear analysis."

The 45-year-old alleged victim believes that someone slipped a drug into her drink after she met Reed at a Royal Oak bar the night before Opening Day.

In a pre-trial hearing, the woman testified that she blacked out and woke up in a bed beside Reed. Both of them were nude, she said, and there was "evidence around the room" that sexual activity had taken place.

On the stand, the woman then offered some unsettling details as to what allegedly happened next.

[Victim Testifies She Woke Up Dizzy, In Pain Following Alleged Attack By Evan Reed]

The 28-year-old Reed admits, as is seen in a security video shown in court, that he helped carry the woman inside the hotel — but he insists they had consensual sex.

In dismissing the charges, Judge King said there's no doubt the complainant was incapacitated when she entered the hotel with Reed; "The problem is what happened in that hotel room … no one knows," he said.

King pointed out that the woman had lied about little things, like claiming she hasn't known Reed was a Tiger — when a text to a friend showed that she did.

Gonek believes he can prove that the alleged victim isn't telling the truth.

"If the case every does go to trial, we will have additional evidence we will present that calls into question the complainant's credibility even more," Gonek said.

Reed pitched for Triple-A Toledo in 2014 but has since been released by the Tigers organization and remains a free agent.

Gonek said the case is affecting his client's baseball career.

"I mean, no team is going to want to sign Evan Reed with these charges pending over his head, and that's the problem that he faces right now," Gonek said.

Reed could face up to 15 years in prison if he's convicted on a charge of third degree criminal sexual conduct.