Here's an update on
the Wildcat Lodge rape allegations. You may remember a woman accused
Chuck Hayes of drugging and raping her. The original charges seemed
flimsy, but after she reinstated the charges and discussed the behavior of the
Lexington police, she certainly deserves to be taken seriously.
Perhaps making her case a bit tougher is the prosecutor, Margaret Kannensohn,
who has not exactly been brutal on UK athletes in the past. When Wayne
Turner had an auto accident and left the scene, charges were not filed for some
time, and Kannensohn admitted to delaying them so that the team "wouldn't
be distracted" on the way to the Final Four.
John Heckler, whose truck was totaled by either Turner or teammate Myron
Anthony - as far as we're concerned it was never fully made clear who was
driving - said the police had lied to him in the course of the investigation,
and that he hoped the results of a lie detector test were legitimate, but his
expectations were clearly not that high: "I'd like to think this is the truth, finally. But they've lied once
before, so are they now again? I don't know."
Did they not fully release the information about the woman's rape test?
She says they didn't, that the test showed other drugs in the same family, but
not the specific one the police mentioned. And they did by their own
admission call Tubby Smith to let him know.
Since then, her attorney has expressed frustration with the wait, and her
house has been broken into, something she thinks may be linked to the
case.
Kannensohn says she is about two-thirds through a 200 page transcript of an
interview with the alleged victim. The woman's attorney is now concerned
that Hayes will leave the country before any recommendation is made. Given
the history of Kannensohn and Kentucky athletics, which is not limited to the
Wayne Turner situation, that is a reasonable concern.
Bringing a rape case is hard anywhere, but in Lexington, against a UK player,
with a prosecutor who knows where her votes are, it's going to be very tough
indeed.