ESPN REPORT: Details on Mike Woodson suspension.
According to Mark Sutter, Terrence Shannon Jr.’s attorney, the Illinois basketball player was suspended indefinitely from all team activities last month after being arrested on a rape charge. On Monday, he filed for a temporary restraining order, demanding that his school “immediately reinstate” him. This accusation is related to a reported September rape.
The Illinois board of trustees and school president Timothy Killeen are named as defendants in Shannon’s case, which was filed by Sutter and his legal team in the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Champaign.
Shannon turned himself in to the police after a warrant was issued for his arrest in Douglas County, Kansas, last month. He spent a short time in custody before obtaining release on bond and going back to Champaign.
Shannon was charged in the first complaint with “unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly engaged in sexual intercourse with a person… who did not consent to the sexual intercourse under circumstances when she was overcome by force or fear, a severity level 1 person felony.”
According to the temporary restraining order, Shannon was not given due process prior to being cut from the team, according to a copy that ESPN was able to get. Although the trial for the matter is scheduled to start in June, following the end of the NCAA basketball season, he is scheduled to be charged on January 18.
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Is there any genuine significance to the presumption of innocence? This dispute revolves around that question,” the lawsuit claims. “While Illinois told Shannon that it would follow this presumption, in reality, Illinois has not done so, suspending Shannon and damaging his career as though he had already been found guilty. To be clear, [Shannon] insists on his innocence. In no way does Shannon try to downplay the seriousness of the issue—sexual assault is a horrifying crime, and he is horrified that his name is associated with it.”
Authorities in Illinois stated that while they are looking into Shannon’s lawsuit, they will stand by the school’s punitive measures.
In a statement, Associate Chancellor Robin Kaler of Illinois said, “We are aware that legal counsel for Terrence Shannon Jr. has filed for injunctive relief from his suspension from the men’s basketball program.” “We will review the filing and defend our student-athlete misconduct procedures, which allow us to respond swiftly to allegations of misconduct and serious crimes while affording our student-athletes a fair process and waiting for the legal system and university discipline processes to proceed.”
Shannon drove to Kansas on the weekend of a Kansas football game, according to the lawsuit, accompanied by colleague Justin Harmon and DyShawn Hobson, an Illinois graduate assistant. The victim claimed that Shannon had inappropriately handled her and sexually abused her at a neighborhood tavern in Lawrence, Kansas, the scene of the alleged rape. According to the investigative report that was part of Shannon’s lawsuit, she subsequently went to Lawrence police, who then got in touch with Illinois.
Josh Whitman, the athletic director at Illinois, said that Lawrence police informed the school that Shannon was the focus of an investigation into a claim he had touched a woman inappropriately. However, Illinois officials were not informed of the specifics of that inquiry.
Whitman claimed in a subsequent press conference that school administrators discovered the arrest warrant for him on social media last month.
After Shannon was barred from all team events, Whitman issued a statement saying, “The university and [the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics] have shown time and again that we have zero tolerance for sexual misconduct.” “DIA policy, however, grants student-athletes the proper degrees of due process in accordance with the type and gravity of the accusations. To handle this case in a way that is best for the institution and the people concerned, we will refer to that policy as well as our past experiences.”
In his lawsuit, Shannon claims that Illinois officials informed him that the school would not review his suspension until his legal matter was settled. As a result, Shannon would have to miss the remainder of the 2023–24 season and “suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief, as his career will certainly be ruined if the suspension continues, trouncing on his business interests including contractual rights.”
Shannon’s legal team sent a statement to ESPN stating, “All we want for our client is a fair process, and [Shannon] has not received that yet.” “With all due respect, the institution rushed to judgment in this case, and their procedure for abruptly suspending our client disregarded the tenets of due process and the assumption of innocent. Our group is still optimistic that justice will be done in the end.”
This season, Shannon’s average scoring is 21.7 points.
