Ex-Y. gridder aids defense

PROVO — A former Brigham Young University football player testified Friday in Provo's 4th District Court that he does not believe two former teammates raped a teenage girl last August in the bedroom of his apartment.

The testimony provided by Karland Bennett, who agreed to testify for the state as part of a recent plea agreement, did little to help prosecutors. Asked several times if he thought the alleged victim had been raped, he emphatically said no.

"There's no way I would've let anything forceful go on. It didn't look forceful. If it did, I would've stopped it," he said during cross examination by defense attorneys.

Bennett did admit, however, to agreeing with the other men to lie to police and BYU Honor Code officials about what happened that night.

Former players B.J. Mathis and Ibrahim Rashada, both 19, are being tried on charges of aggravated sexual assault, dealing harmful material to a minor, furnishing alcohol to a minor and obstructing justice.

The charges stem from an August 2004 incident in which a 17-year-old Sandy girl said she accepted an invitation to Bennett's apartment where she drank vodka and watched a pornographic DVD with several men before passing out. She said when she awoke, she was being raped in the bedroom of the apartment.

During opening statements in the case on Thursday, Deputy Utah County Attorney Dave Sturgill had cautioned jurors that they should be wary about which parts of Bennett's testimony to believe, as well as the upcoming testimony of William Turner Jr., another former player who also accepted a plea agreement in return for a promise to testify.

Bennett, Mathis, Rashada and Turner were charged last December with two counts each of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony, dealing harmful material to a minor, furnishing alcohol to a minor and obstruction of justice.

The most serious of those charges were dropped in exchange for Bennett's testimony. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and dealing harmful material to a minor and will be sentenced Oct. 4.

"They still feel quite uneasy with what they did, so they will try to soften their involvement," Sturgill told jurors. "They won't tell you the complete truth, but portions of it."