Prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed in final arguments Wednesday over whether a woman consented to a sexual encounter with two former La Salle basketball players charged with rape.
Gary Neal, 21, and Michael Cleaves, 23, who are no longer enrolled in the school, have pleaded innocent to charges of raping the visiting University of New Haven player in June 2004 as she vomited in a sink after drinking eight shots of high-proof alcohol.
Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio told jurors that when the drunk woman was sick in the men's dormitory kitchen sink, she was not capable of consent.
"When she vomits in that sink, that's the line," Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio told the jury. "That vomit says, 'No, no, no.'"
The woman testified earlier that the two took turns raping her when she was too drunk and weak to move or protest.
Defense attorneys, however, contended that the 19-year-old woman wanted to "hook up" with the players and made up the allegation out of embarrassment after other female basketball players began to gossip.
The jury deliberated yesterday in Philadelphia but failed to come to a verdict.
Jurors will be resuming deliberations today in front of Shelley Robins New, a Common Pleas Court Judge.
-- Staff and wire reports
