CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -
The Hamilton County grand jury has ignored an alleged sexual abuse case involving former Xavier University basketball player Dezmine Wells.
Wells was expelled from Xavier earlier last week following allegations for sexual assault.
"We always take allegations of this nature very seriously," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. "I assigned senior assistant prosecutors to this case to review all of the evidence and to conduct a complete presentation to the Hamilton County Grand Jury."
Officials say the alleged assault occurred on July 7 and involved a female student.
"Her testimony was contradicted and inconsistent with the testimony of other witnesses. It was contradicted and inconsistent with the physical evidence in the case, visa-vie, the rape exam that was conducted at University Hospital," said Wells' attorney, Merlyn Shiverdecker.
"After this office conducted an independent review of all of the evidence, it was presented to a Grand Jury (Monday). The Grand Jury declined to charge Dezmine Wells with any criminal offense," said Deters.
Xavier officials would only say Wells was expelled for a "serious violation of the Code of Student Conduct" and that a serious violation against the code would not be tolerated.
"To be charged with this type of offense in the first place and yet to be kicked out of schools for it when you know you didn't do anything wrong, where do you turn to to get your reputation back?" said Shiverdecker.
Xavier released the following statement on Tuesday:
"Federal Law (Title IX) and Federal Regulations and Guidances prohibit Universities from ceding student conduct matters to the criminal justice system. The Federal Law requires schools to act quickly and all schools, by law, must use the "preponderance of the evidence" standard, whereas the criminal justice system uses the "probable cause" standard to indict, and the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard to convict.
"The process used by the Xavier University Conduct Board is the standard used in American universities. The XU Conduct Board heard evidence that may or may not have been heard by the Grand Jury. After the Conduct Board reached its decision, the matter was considered and upheld by an appeal board of members of the student body, faculty and staff and is final."
"I have nothing but the greatest respect for Xavier University," said Deters. " I would sincerely hope the institution would revisit this situation."
FOX19 has learned this was not Wells' first contact with the criminal justice system. He was arrested in August of 2010 in North Carolina for indecent exposure and consuming alcohol under age 19. Both charges were later dismissed.
Wells started 32 games as a freshman in the 2011-12 season. He finished fourth on the team in scoring and third in rebounding.
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Dez Wells (Source: XU)
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