Judge To Order Former Detroit Tigers Pitcher To Trial In Sex Assault Case
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A judge is expected to order former Detroit Tigers pitcher Evan Reed to stand trial on third-degree criminal sexual conduct charges.
District Judge Kenneth King is scheduled to sign the order Wednesday morning that will bind the 29-year-old Reed over to Wayne County Circuit Court.
King dismissed the charges in August after hearing evidence and finding what he said were inconsistencies in the alleged victim's story. Prosecutors appealed and Circuit Judge Michael Callahan reinstated the case.
Reed was playing for the Tigers last spring when a 45-year-old woman says she was drugged at a Royal Oak bar before being taken to a Detroit casino hotel on the eve of Opening Day. Reed insists the sex was consensual.
In a pre-trial hearing, the woman testified that she blacked out and woke up naked next to Reed in a bed, with "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.
In dismissing the charges, King said there's no doubt the alleged victim was incapacitated when she entered the hotel with Reed; "The problem is what happened in that hotel room … no one knows," he said.
Reed could face up to 15 years in prison if he's convicted on a charge of third degree criminal sexual conduct.
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