William Paterson Students Arrested in Sex Assault Case Cleared by Jury

The five William Paterson University students who were arrested in connection with the sexual assault of a female student in December have been cleared.

After hearing the case Monday, a grand jury decided not to indict the 18-year-old students identified as Noah Williams of Camden, Tremaine Scott of Vineland, Darius Singleton of Jersey City, Jahmel Latimer of Hoboken and Garrett Collick of Paterson, according to NorthJersey.com.

Latimer’s lawyer, Ron Ricci, said the “defense attorneys had presented evidence to prosecutors that cleared their clients and that the prosecution had then ’presented the case honestly’ to grand jurors,” NorthJersey.com reported.

The men were arrested on Dec. 1 after the alleged assault took place on campus. They were accused of blocking the doorway of the residence hall, holding the victim down and ordering her to have sex with all of them during the Nov. 25 assault, according to NJ.com.

Although not going into detail, Ricci said “the facts demonstrated that this was not a sexual assault, and the actions of those young men were not in violation of the law,” according to NorthJersey.com. “It clearly wasn’t a crime.”

However Ricci did say “he blamed William Paterson University authorities for bringing the charges,” NJ.com reported.

“The prosecutor’s office typically handled these kinds of cases,” Ricci said. ”[William Paterson University Police] are not trained to do these kinds of investigations. They’re not qualified.”

It is not known whether the men, who were barred from campus, will be allowed to go back.

Related Articles:

• Five William Paterson University Students Arrested for Sexual Assault of Female Student
• Men Accused of Blocking Doorway in Alleged William Paterson Sex Assault Case