Terrence Shannon Jr.'s legal team may use video evidence - ESPN

Former Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr.'s legal team can show video evidence at his felony rape trial next week to support its claim that mistaken identity might have prompted police to charge the wrong man, a judge ruled Friday.

At a hearing in Lawrence, Kansas, Shannon's lawyers argued that the video evidence they will present during the trial will show another man standing next to the alleged victim the night of the alleged sexual assault at the same bar in Lawrence, which Judge Amy Hanley called «relevant» to the case during her ruling. That «third-party defendant,» according to Shannon's legal team, had been accused of sexually touching another woman in a nonconsensual manner two weeks earlier at the bar where the woman in Shannon's case had told police in September that a man had sexually penetrated her with his fingers. She later identified Shannon via Google search.

«Additionally, the defendant, the third-party defendant, to be very carefully precise, the third-party defendant is alleged to have been present at the scene of this case and this alleged crime,» Hanley said in her ruling Friday. «The court finds that that evidence is relevant and admissible and the defense will be allowed to present that evidence.»

Shannon was charged with felony rape and arrested in December. He missed six games before he later rejoined the Illinois men's basketball team and led the program to the NCAA tournament. He is ranked 31st among NBA prospects by ESPN.

The woman in Shannon's case told police that the former Illinois star assaulted her while she was up against a wall at the bar with limited ability to move. She said she never gave him any indication that it was consensual and said she had not had any interactions with