07/03/25 03:45:00
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07/03 15:44 CDT Oregon jury convicts former NBA player of raping incapacitated
woman at team party
Oregon jury convicts former NBA player of raping incapacitated woman at team
party
OREGON CITY, Oregon (AP) --- A former NBA player has been found guilty of
raping a 21-year-old woman during a lake house party attended by many of his
then-teammates from the Portland Trail Blazers, a jury ruled Thursday.
The jury in Clackamas County, located directly south of Portland, found Ben
McLemore, 32, guilty of rape, unlawful sexual penetration and one count of
sexual abuse. He was found not guilty on another count of sexual abuse,
Portland television station KGW reported.
Sentencing was scheduled for Wednesday.
"We recognize there are those who fear individuals with celebrity status or a
position of prominence can avoid prosecution. Not in Clackamas County. This
case demonstrates my office prosecutes criminal acts regardless of the
offender's community status," District Attorney John Wentworth said in a
statement.
The charges stemmed from a party Oct. 3, 2021, at the Lake Oswego home owned by
his Trail Blazers teammate Robert Covington.
Prosecutors claimed during the trial that the sexual encounter was rape, while
McLemore's attorney countered it was consensual sex.
The woman said she was incapacitated after a night of heavy drinking and was
unable to give consent. Prosecutors submitted photos of the woman hovering over
a toilet and then passed out on a couch, The Oregonian/Oregon Live earlier
reported.
She said she woke up at one point during the rape and froze in terror.
"I don't know who this person is," she testified. "This is a random person that
is doing something like this to me." The Associated Press generally does not
identify victims of sexual assault.
At one point, she said she let her body slide to the floor in an effort to stop
the assault. The woman testified McLemore pulled her back onto the couch and
continued.
Covington earlier testified he saw the woman flirting with McLemore while they
sat on a couch.
McLemore testified he was also drinking but claimed the sex was consensual. He
also said he and the woman did not have a conversation before, during or after
the act, after which he immediately left the home.
One of his attorneys, Kris Winemiller, said McLemore left after receiving an
angry message from this then-wife, who tracked him and wanted to know why he
wasn't in their own Lake Oswego home.
Clackamas County prosecutor Scott Healy said there was no confusion. "When you
look at all the surrounding circumstances and you assess the evidence in this
case, I submit to you that the defendant is guilty," he said during closing
arguments Tuesday.
Another defense attorney, Lisa Maxfield, argued for McLemore's acquittal.
"The only reasonable verdict in a case where two people get drunk and have sex
and the man is drunker than the woman, the only reasonable verdict in a case
like that is not guilty," she said.
The woman said she did not hire an attorney to sue McLemore and didn't seek
money from him. Instead she pursued the criminal case because "you can't do
that to somebody, let alone somebody that you don't know."
McLemore, who played college at Kansas, was the seventh pick in the 2013 NBA
draft by the Sacramento Kings. He also played for Memphis, Houston and the Los
Angeles Lakers before his last NBA season with Portland in 2021-2022.
Since then, he has played in Europe and China. Last August he signed with a
team in Turkey.
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