As the football turns

As I correctly predicted, we're far from hearing the last of the blossoming Austin Scott saga. The latest update was provided Monday morning in this article from The Daily Collegian.

When a Penn State Police officer first approached Nittany Lion football player Austin Scott inside the HUB-Robeson Center on Oct. 5, the 22-year-old said he knew why authorities wanted to speak to him.

Perhaps he double-parked in the HUB parking deck?

Earlier that morning, a female student came back with him to his Nittany Apartments residence, he told his lawyer. That woman, who Scott thought he was meeting inside the HUB, had called police after she left his apartment at about 4 a.m. and told them she had been raped and abused by Scott.

Oh, right. That.

Fast-forward a week and Scott is now charged of four felony counts -- rape, sexual assault, and two counts of aggravated assault -- and three misdemeanor counts -- two counts of indecent assault and simple assault.

I guess he wasn't scouting out criminal lawyers last week for fun after all.

And what does Austin Scott have to say for himself?

"He's absolutely devastated," defense attorney Joseph Amendola said. "He's in a state of disbelief."

Isn't that the same guy who insisted he hadn't been retained as Scott's attorney? Oh yeah, him, the one I told you would end up being his lawyer. How about that.

I'll spare you the details, but if you want to check it out, the police report is reviewed in full detail in the article. Basically, Scott and "this girl," as he so affectionately calls her, met outside a local bar and walked back to his apartment. She told him she wasn't going to have sex with him, he asks to at least "cop a feel" (she refuses), she later falls asleep only to wake up a few hours later underneath Scott, who is attempting to initiate intercourse. She's too scared to refuse and tells him that he's hurting her. That's the basic gist of it.

Clearly this case is far from over, and we'll be keeping an eye on it. However, I'll call your attention to this part of the article:

Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said he questions Scott's judgement; the football player should have honored the woman's wishes from the beginning of the evening to the end, he said.

"She said, nothing is going to happen tonight. That's a no," Madeira said. "Do you need to be told no twice?"

I will note that this is the same district attorney that charged and vehemently ripped into six Penn State players over the summer for trespassing and assault, only to have charges dropped against four of them and a seemingly shaky case against the other two that will eventually go to trial in December.

But this case is obviously far more severe in magnitude.