Former NBA player Ben McLemore raped a 21-year-old woman during lakeside team house party in 2021, a county jury in Washington found on Thursday.
After deliberating for about 10 hours, the 12-person jury in Clackamas County found the 32-year-old former NBA guard guilty of rape, unlawful sexual penetration, and sexual abuse.
McLemore was found not guilty on a count of second-degree sexual abuse. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
"We recognize there are those who fear individuals with celebrity status or a position of prominence can avoid prosecution. Not in Clackamas County,” District Attorney John Wentworth said in a statement. “This case demonstrates my office prosecutes criminal acts, regardless of the offender's community status.”
An attorney for the former American pro told Oregon Live she was shocked by the verdict, but praised the court nonetheless.
“We had a jury that worked incredibly hard and took it seriously and the same is true with the judge,” Kristen Winemiller said.
The charges stem from a 2021 incident at a Lake Oswego gathering where McLemore was accused of raping and digitally penetrating a heavily intoxicated, partially unconscious woman at party thrown by McLemore’s then-teammate on the Portland Trail Blazers, Robert Covington.
Prosecutors said McLemore was well aware the victim was “hammered” and “unconscious drunk” before the incident. They said he saw her vomit in a bathroom then helped her onto a couch where he later assaulted her as she remained nonverbal and went in and out of consciousness.
Witnesses saw the woman, then a Vancouver resident, having difficulty walking, slurring her speech, and barely being able to lift her head before she passed out on the living room couch of the home around 2 a.m., according to prosecutors.
“She was physically helpless when he did this to her,” First Assistant District Attorney Scott Healy told the jury. “He also did not have consent to do that to her.”
The woman later sought a medical exam for victims of sexual assault.
County officials accused the basketball player of initially denying to police that he had sex with the woman and then later claiming she initiated the sexual contact once he learned police had conducted a DNA analysis.
Covington, the owner of the home where the incident took place, testified he saw the woman trying to initiate sexual contact with McLemore then left the room.
“This is the 21st century,” defense attorney Lisa Maxfield reportedly told the jury. “Adult women, like men, have agency. They’re not stuffed animals. Like men, they are grown adults who make adult choices. If two drunk people have sex and the man is as drunk or more drunk than the woman, it doesn’t always have to be the man’s fault.”
McLemore, who left the NBA in 2022 and has since played in Europe and Asia, will be sentenced next week, and faces a mandatory minimum of at least eight years in prison.
