Two former Husker football players made brief court appearances Thursday, a day after prosecutors charged them both with first-degree sexual assault in connection to a 19-year-old woman's report she was raped by the two in August.
Andre Hunt, 20, went before the judge first, followed by Katerian LeGrone, 19.
Both have been out on bail and also faced civil cases evicting them from their off-campus apartment where police arrested them Dec. 10 on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln student’s allegations.
In front of the courthouse after the morning hearings, defense attorneys cautioned against rushing to judgment.
“At this stage that’s all they are, is charges,†attorney John Berry Jr. said.
He said probable-cause affidavits, where police lay out the basis for an arrest, give one side of the story, and there’s always another side.
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Berry said LeGrone was "going to fight it, and he’s going to be OK.â€
“Ultimately, this is just starting,†he said.
In a probable-cause affidavit, Lincoln police said they were called Aug. 25 to a local hospital, where a woman reported she had been sexually assaulted by both men at their apartment that day.
Sgt. David Lopez said Hunt originally told investigators he'd had consensual sex with the woman, but both said LeGrone did not have sex with her. During a second interview with police, they said they'd both had consensual sex with her, Lopez said in the affidavit.
He said the woman told police she did not resist because she felt pressured and uncomfortable.
The two were suspended from the team Aug. 26, a day after the incident.
Hunt’s attorney, Carlos Monzon, said the case is about someone who decided to swipe right on Tinder, had sexual conversations with Hunt, then came over and had sex with him and regretted it.
“That’s what this case is about. It’s about a woman that changed her mind,†he said.
Monzon called Hunt an innocent man.
On Dec. 10, shortly after 5 p.m., police went to the off-campus apartment where LeGrone and Hunt lived and arrested them in connection with the woman's report. But formal charges were not filed until Wednesday, a day before they were set to return to court.
Police said they also are investigating similar allegations against LeGrone and Hunt made following news in December that the two had been suspended from UNL for 2½ years as a result of a Title IX report.