As part of an ongoing Title IX investigation into sexual misconduct by members of Michigan State’s football team, the university has expelled Keith Mumphery, a former wide receiver now with the Houston Texans, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The university has yet to take action against three current unnamed players last week, after an investigation stemming from a January sexual assault complaint, according to the Free Press. However, the victim’s lawyer claims the investigation concluded that the players engaged in wrongdoing.
Mumphery’s case was never brought to court and Mumphery had exhausted his eligibility when the conduct took place, according to MSU.
Mumphery was accused of sexually assaulting a student in her MSU dorm room on March 17, 2015. The woman reported it to MSU Police that night shortly after the incident. According to the campus police report, the two met a few months before the incident on an online dating site, agreeing to meet at her dorm room weeks later. The report details conflicting accounts of who was the aggressor and whether elements of their sexual behavior were consensual.
Mumphery had completed his MSU playing career at the time of the incident and worked out the next day for NFL representatives during the Spartans’ pro day at the Duffy Daugherty Football Building. Houston selected Mumphery in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft on May 2 that year.
MSU Police forwarded the case to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office and requested third-degree criminal sexual conduct charges in late March that year. On Aug. 24, 2015, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office under then-prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III — in a decision by assistant prosecutor Steve Kwasnik, according to the police report — declined to press charges because the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and the accuser did not return contact.
Michigan State has come under fire for its handling of sexual assault in the football program after those three unnamed players were suspended. Since those suspensions, another player, Auston Robertson, was kicked off the team after being charged with sexual assault. Robertson had faced battery charges as a high school recruit. MSU has also been criticized for failing to take action soon enough when former doctor Larry Nassar was allegedly abusing gymnasts.
The university has been tight-lipped on the investigations, and it has yet to more than generally on Mumphrey’s expulsion or the investigation into the three unnamed players.
[Detroit Free Press]
