CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. -- Former NBA guard Ben McLemore was found guilty last week of raping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in 2021.
McLemore, 32, was convicted in Clackamas County Circuit Court on July 3, according to a news release. He is found guilty of rape in the first degree, unlawful sexual penetration in the first degree and sexual abuse in the second degree.
He will be sentenced on July 9.
“We recognize there are those who fear individuals with celebrity status or a position of prominence can avoid prosecution. Not in Clackamas County,” District Attorney John Wentworth said in the release. “This case demonstrates my office prosecutes criminal acts regardless of the offender’s community status.”
The incident occurred on Oct. 3, 2021, at a party at the Lake Oswego, Oregon, home of McLemore’s former Portland Trail Blazers teammate Robert Covington. The unnamed victim was “hammered unconscious drunk” after a night of heavy drinking, prosecutor Scott Healy told jurors.
The victim vomited earlier in the night before passing out on a living room couch around 2 a.m. McLemore also began sleeping on the same couch some time later.
Around 6 a.m., the victim regained partial consciousness when McLemore penetrated her with his fingers and began having sexual intercourse with her while the victim was “fading in and out” of consciousness, according to the release. She sought a specialized medical examination for victims of sexual assault later that same day.
Defense attorneys for McLemore, however, dispute the victims claims of rape and sexual assault, claiming she initiated the sexual contact and consented to it. McLemore’s attorneys said that both he and the victim were intoxicated at the time, but the victim was sober enough to consent.
“(McLemore) needs to be held accountable for what he did,” the victim said during her trial testimony, according to the release. “You can’t do that to somebody, let alone somebody that you don’t know either. You don’t do that to people and just be able to get away with it. I don’t care who you are.”
McLemore played nine seasons in the NBA from 2013-22 for the Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and Trail Blazers. The former University of Kansas star was drafted by Sacramento with the seventh pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
For his nine-year NBA career, McLemore averaged 9 points on 41.4% shooting, 2.3 rebounds and 1 assist per game in 22.5 minutes across 556 games, including 268 starts.
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