UM football players proclaim innocence Minor, Gomes deny raping woman

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BANGOR – Paris Minor and Stefan Gomes are not rapists.

That was the impassioned message conveyed Monday by the two University of Maine football players, who spoke publicly for the first time since being suspended from the university Sept. 25 for their roles in an alleged sexual assault last June in Old Town.

Gomes and Minor, who sat down at the office of their attorney, Harry Richardson, talked about how the allegation by a fellow student and the subsequent suspension levied by the UMaine Student Conduct Code Committee has affected their lives.

“I’m not a rapist,” said Minor, a charismatic 21-year-old from Woodbury, N.J. “I’m not a sexual assaulter. I’m not a violent person. I’m nothing like that.”

Gomes was equally staunch in defending himself.

“I’m just not that kind of person,” said the soft-spoken 21-year-old from Hyannis, Mass. “[My parents] raised me better than to do anything like that.”

Richardson addressed local broadcast media earlier Monday, but did not make Gomes and Minor available for TV or radio interviews.

Although neither the Old Town police nor the Penobscot Country District Attorney’s office ever charged them with a crime, Minor and Gomes went before the UMaine conduct committee Sept. 24 in connection with the alleged incident. The next day, they were suspended from school and barred from campus.

“My mom’s always raised me to be respectful to women and I’ve always been a respectful person,” Minor said. “I’ve never laid my hands on a woman.”

On Sept. 27, Richardson’s firm filed an appeal with the university on behalf of the men. The three-member appeal committee, which includes Robert Whelan, Anne Pooler and Michael Scott, first met Oct. 2 and has been considering the appeal in the 13 days since.

“The process is moving forward and the committee working on this appeal is focused on making the correct decision,” UMaine spokesman Joe Carr said Monday. “That’s their motivation, and they have been working hard on it.”

Richardson and his clients are growing impatient with the pace of the process.

“I have no intention of rushing this committee to judgment, but I suggest to you that these young men have been subject to an academic lynching and they’re now left hanging in the wind,” said Richardson, who further criticized UMaine’s handling of the initial conduct code hearing.

Minor said the tone of the hearing led him to believe the committee considered him and Gomes “guilty” before they ever walked into the room.

“Throughout the whole proceeding they were saying, ‘During the rape,'” Minor explained. “When we talked, they didn’t even really pay attention; like they really didn’t care what we had to say. They already had their answer.”

Richardson said UMaine officials withheld vital information critical to his clients. He alleges the committee considered evidence at the conduct hearing that contradicts the official report of the incident filed by the Old Town police.

Minor said he and the woman, who lives in the Portland area and has since left school, had been good friends for three years. Richardson did not let his clients answer specific questions about what happened, but said the trio had consensual sex the night of the alleged incident.

Minor and Gomes filed suit against UMaine at U.S. District Court in Bangor on Sept. 26, charging the university with denying them due process during the conduct hearing and engaging in a conspiracy to deprive them of their constitutional rights.

In the meantime, Richardson has filed motions in U.S. District Court seeking a response to the complaint and requesting expedited discovery, which would allow the lawyers to begin taking the depositions of UMaine employees. Richardson also seeks a written transcript of the conduct committee hearing, which the university has not provided.

It is far from life as usual these days for Minor and Gomes, who are living in an Old Town apartment – waiting.

“We just sit there and watch the news, watch everything go by while we’re standing still,” Minor said.

“We’re just sitting there thinking, ‘When is this going to end?'” added Gomes.

Spurred on by Richardson, UMaine football coach Jack Cosgrove and their Black Bear teammates, Gomes and Minor are hopeful they will win the appeal and be allowed to return to school, and the football field.

“I just want the truth to come out,” Minor said. “I want to play ball again. I want to be back in classes.”

Minor, a junior marketing major, said the missed class time may create havoc with his academic schedule and his planned graduation date. Gomes, a junior studying sociology, said he can’t afford such a setback.

“I have to do good this year and all this is holding me back,” Gomes said. “I was doing good until this happened.”

Gomes and Minor both are appreciative of the support they have received.

“They’ve supported us, they’re our friends,” Gomes said. “They’re just like our family. They know we wouldn’t do anything like this.”

The most difficult aspect of the ordeal for Minor and Gomes has been the damage to their reputations.

“No matter how you cut or slice it, no matter how good your excuse is, that word [rape] always sticks with our names,” Minor said.

“I’ve got to go somewhere far away [after graduation] where nobody knows my name so I can feel confident about putting in job applications, about saying my name in public,” he added.

Minor is convinced he will always have to deal with the residual effects of the situation regardless of the outcome of the appeal.

“It’ll never be over, ever,” Minor said. “Our lives will never be the same.”