3rd sexual assault case against former Bethel football player dismissed

A former Bethel University football player acquitted in two sexual assault cases involving fellow students has now had a third one dismissed with the prosecution saying they would be unable to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt if the development went to trial The Ramsey County Attorney s Office on Monday dismissed its last incident against Gideon Osamwonyi Erhabor who was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and alleged to have assaulted a then- -year-old woman at a house party in Roseville on Oct The three cases were filed against Erhabor on Dec after the women shared to law enforcement on separate days in June that Erhabor had assaulted them in the fall and winter of Erhabor was a apprentice at the Christian college in Arden Hills from the fall of to fall when he was a running back on the football company He moved back to his hometown of McKinney Texas Ramsey County sheriff s deputies interviewed Erhabor about the incidents in August While he acknowledged having sex with the three women he announced all the interactions were consensual according to the criminal complaints He was arrested in his Texas hometown a day after the charges were filed and published from the Ramsey County jail after posting a bond about a month later A jury in October uncovered Erhabor not guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for an development with a then- -year-old at a house party in Shoreview on Dec In June following a bench trial before Judge Delight Bartscher Erhabor was acquitted of third- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct for an happening with a then- -year-old woman in his dorm room on Sept In her ruling the judge wrote the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the interaction between the two was nonconsensual On Thursday Erhabor s attorney assistant society defender Daniel Gonnerman who represented the now -year-old in all three cases revealed They re absolutely over I appreciate that the prosecutor decided to take an objective view of the evidence and review the situation and decided not to pursue the event any further he added In a Thursday declaration the Ramsey County Attorney s Office reported the decision to dismiss was made after a thorough review of the evidence and our inability to meet our burden of proving each element of the criminal charge beyond a reasonable doubt as required by law While we acknowledge the immediate disappointment for the victim in this matter we do not want this decision to hinder in any way casualties of sexual assault in our society from reporting their assault to law enforcement Not sure what happened The dismissed complaint gives the following account The woman disclosed to Ramsey County Sheriff s investigators on June that she had arrived at the off-campus house party on Oct and drank two strawberry-flavored alcohol canned drinks She explained she went outside and is not sure what happened to her after that the complaint read The next morning she woke up at a friend s apartment wearing only a T-shirt and no underwear and was confused as to what happened the night before About seven weeks later on Nov Erhabor went into her dorm room uninvited and climbed into bed with her When she sought Erhabor what he thought he was doing he commented he was trying to play with her She described him to stop that she was not going to do anything sexual with him to which he replied Why it wasn t like he had not seen it before the complaint read When she demanded him what he meant Erhabor disclosed they had sex in a bathroom the night of the October house party and that he thought she didn t like it because she had fallen asleep During the assessment one pupil communicated seeing the woman at the party and that she seemed fine at the start but was stumbling and slurring her words about an hour or two later Another novice revealed he brought the woman to his friend s apartment to watch her because she had thrown up He declared that when she awoke the next morning she was confused and not able to recall the previous night This experience tested my faith In September Gonnerman Erhabor s attorney challenged probable cause that he committed the alleged offense and appealed for the affair to be dismissed Related Articles St Paul asks for pause on million suit over building permits Woodbury man gets years in federal prison for extorting minors after coercing sexually explicit videos Man admits to fatally stabbing St Paul woman believing she was his mother White Bear Lake man sentenced for killing infant son while blackout drunk plead guilty to Roseville Lululemon thefts in multi-state crime spree that allegedly netted M Gonnerman wrote in the motion to the court that the woman testified in Erhabor s jury trial in his other matter that she had no recollection of what occurred but speculated that she would not have consented to sexual conduct with Defendant No one else witnessed the alleged crime Gonnerman wrote adding the prosecution has no confession of a crime by Defendant nor any evidence that a crime occurred Gonnerman revealed he emailed Erhabor about the dismissal on Monday and he expressed great gratitude to me that I ve helped him through this process Gonnerman explained Erhabor gave him permission to share the email which read This experience tested my faith my resilience and my ability to keep moving forward even when it felt like everything was against me I m focused on rebuilding my peace moving forward with my life and continuing to grow as a person I m grateful to in the end be able to look ahead with clarity and optimism