The woman raped by Trail Blazer Ben McLemore four years ago said she waited for her case to go to trial wondering if she should move forward against a professional athlete.
On Wednesday, the woman, now 25, addressed Clackamas County Circuit Judge Michael Wetzel, saying she felt as if she had “dragged this weight with me for all these years.”
She said she understood now why victims of sexual assault often decline to report what happened to them.
“At the time of the assault, I had no idea who Mr. McLemore was,” the woman said, appearing by remote video. “When I found out, I will admit there was hesitation. I questioned whether I should really move forward and report what had happened, especially given his status.”
But she felt compelled to speak up.
“I knew no matter how famous Mr. McLemore was or how much he may have loved and respected his family, he was still capable of hurting someone else,” she said. “He treated me like I was invisible, like I didn’t matter. He thought he could lie and manipulate his way out of the truth but the truth came out in court.”
She testified during the trial that McLemore exploited her incapacitated state during a house party hosted by another Trail Blazer, Robert Covington. She drank heavily in the hours before the assault, vomited in the bathroom of Covington’s Lake Oswego home and McLemore helped get her to the couch, where she drifted in and out of consciousness.
She testified that she awoke to McLemore sexually assaulting her. She said she did not communicate during the assault, which she said continued after she let her body slide off the couch. She said McLemore moved her back to the couch and continued. She testified — and McLemore confirmed in his own testimony — that he quickly left after the encounter.
McLemore testified that he, too, drank heavily and that the woman initiated sexual contact with him. He acknowledged that he had sex with her, though the two said little to each other during the party.
The woman told the court on Wednesday that she “never flirted with him, never had a conversation at all, beyond an exchange of names.”
The woman lived in Vancouver at the time and attended college in Washington. She now lives in Texas and works for a cosmetics company. The Oregonian/OregonLive does not generally identify sexual assault victims.
A jury last week found McLemore, 32, guilty of on one count each of first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and second-degree sexual abuse.
On Tuesday, Wetzel sentenced the former NBA player to the mandatory minimum prison sentence: eight years and three months.
McLemore was sentenced under Oregon’s Measure 11 law, which spells out mandatory minimum sentences for the most serious felonies.
Clackamas County First Assistant District Attorney Scott Healy outlined the required sentence for the charges, adding “the defendant will do every bit of that” since such sentences aren’t eligible for reductions for good behavior.
Healy told the court that the victim is “comfortable with the sentence.”
McLemore, who wore crisp suits to each day of his 11-day trial, was taken into custody immediately after the verdict and on Wednesday stood before the judge in jail-issued black-and-white scrubs, a T-shirt underneath and heavy chains around his waist and ankles. The scrubs carried faded red letters — “Clackamas Co. Jail.”
Kristen Winemiller, who along with Lisa Maxfield, represented McLemore told the judge that her client rose from “incredible poverty, really a lack of resources, a lack of power in society” to achieve “something that was really, truly extraordinary.”
She said McLemore remained humble and considerate throughout the proceedings.
“This is this half hour that we’re talking about — the morning of October 3, 2021 — is without any question the worst half hour of his life, but that should not overshadow everything else that he’s done,” she said.
She said alcohol played a significant role in how that morning at Covington’s house unfolded.
She also pointed to McLemore’s view of the victim.
“He wishes her no harm at all,” she said. “He has done absolutely nothing to try to advertise her name or do anything that could cause others to bring harm to her.”
McLemore did not address the court.
Covington testified that he hosted what he called a “kickback” party for his teammates that night, describing it as “a space to have intimate camaraderie time out of the public eye.”
Covington told jurors that he saw a woman trying to arouse McLemore while the two were on a couch in his home. He said he then left the room.
Covington had played with McLemore for the Houston Rockets before they were teammates on the Blazers.
Covington left the Blazers in 2022. He played for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers, spending 11 years in the NBA. He has not played since the 2023-24 season.
McLemore played one season with the Blazers in 2021-22 and is no longer with the NBA. He has played professionally in Europe, China and most recently Turkey.
During the sentencing, the judge agreed to the removal of chains from around McLemore’s waist and wrists. After the hearing concluded, the courtroom remained still as a Clackamas County sheriff’s deputy placed them back on McLemore and led him through the side door.
— Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184 or ncrombie@oregonian.com.
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