Oklahoma State Basketball Player Darrell Williams Found Guilty Of Rape

Suspended Oklahoma State basketball player Darrell Williams was convicted Monday night of sexual battery and rape by instrumentation.

According to The Associated Press, Williams broke down in tears as the verdicts were being read. He bent over and said “Oh my Jesus God,” before turning to the jury and yelling “I didn’t do it!”

The 22-year-old Williams was charged with four accounts of rape by instrumentation, but was acquitted on two of those counts. The jury recommended that Williams be sentenced to a year in prison for each of the rape counts, but formal sentencing will not take place until Aug. 24.

The charges in the case stem from events that occurred at a December 2010 house party where two women claim Williams groped them and reached inside their pants without their consent.

With little evidence to support its claims, the prosecution’s case relied heavily on the testimonies of the two accusers. One woman, a former Oklahoma State student, testified that at least four OSU basketball players held her down and sexually assaulted her in the basement of the house despite her yelling, hitting and attempting to get away. Both women identified Williams as their attacker when shown a team photo of the Cowboy basketball team, but couldn’t identify any of the other players in the basement that night.

Williams has denied the allegations since the moment they surfaced. The defense played a police interview during the trial in which Williams stated: “I don’t know what happened in the basement. Was probably misidentified.”

Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford, who took the stand in Williams’ defense last week, was in the courtroom to hear the verdict, as were several other members of the OSU basketball team. Ford did not respond to questions or release a statement Monday night.

Williams was suspended from the team in February 2011. Prior to that, he had led the Cowboys in rebounding and averaged 7.1 points per game.