Ex-Aggie reaches plea deal in sexual attack case

Dec 10, 2024, 09:24 PM ET

LAS CRUCES, N.M.– A former New Mexico State basketball player has actually accepted a plea handle a sexual assault case including teammates that led to the shutdown of the team’s 2022-23 season.Kim Aiken Jr. agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to 2 felony counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of conspiracy to commit incorrect imprisonment.Aiken agreed to affirm versus another previous teammate, Deshawndre Washington, whose trial in the attack case is set for February. If the deal holds up, Aiken would be sentenced to 4 1/2 years probation. He was initially charged with 11 criminal activities that carried approximately 24 years in prison.Aiken’s plea happens 2 months after a colleague, Medical professional Bradley, likewise accepted testify against Washington in exchange for pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. If Bradley works together, he’ll get probation after at first facing up to 27 years in prison.The charges against Washington likewise carried a sentence of as much as 27 years in prison.Separate civil suits in this case explained a”humbling”routine in which the offenders would pull down the pants of the victims and in some cases get their genital areas.

The descriptions remained in line with findings in the school’s Title IX investigation into the same players.The indictments versus the players detailed episodes in 2022 in which the offenders were implicated “of holding younger players and trainee staff against their will while they breached them. Alleged acts consisted of numerous occurrences in which they powerfully restrained victims while violently grabbing their genital area.” Last year, the school paid out$8 million to settle a suit brought by two of the victims, former players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu, who went public with the stories of their abuse.