An ECCC student has been cleared of sexual battery charges that resulted from a Halloween night incident on campus.
Ladetres Kirkland, 19, of Philadelphia, was arrested Nov. 6 by ECCC Police and originally charged with rape, which was reclassified as sexual battery. The case was dismissed Thursday during a preliminary hearing.
An 18-year-old student filed a complaint Nov. 5 with the East Central Community College Police Department saying she had “nonconsensual sex” with Kirkland on Oct. 31, according to testimony from ECCC police investigator Cornelius Parks Thursday during a preliminary hearing in Newton County Justice Court.
Parks interviewed the student the following day to obtain her statement.
Parks said the alleged incident began off campus at a birthday party in Newton Oct. 31, at which the woman and Kirkland partied and became intoxicated. The two later went back to his room at Newsome Hall, a male-only dormitory, where the alleged incident occurred.
After a message was left for Kirkland with his roommate, he provided a written statement to the ECCC police department that “denied having intercourse” but said he put “fingers in her vagina,” according to testimony by Parks. However, he retracted later his story to an ECCC official and gave another statement saying that he denied all sexual misconduct.
Parks also provided to the court a set of text messages between the suspect and the possible victim, asking whether they had sex and if Kirkland had “used a condom.”
Charges were filed a day later by ECCC in accordance with federal Title IX regulations that require the school to report any potential sex crimes.
Parks also testified that ECCC held an administrative hearing with Kirkland to see what action the school would take against him. The school allowed Kirkland to attend classes but would not allow him to remain on campus while the charges were still pending.
Parks then said that the victim retracted her story and later said she had been harassed by Kirkland’s friends.
“The victim was being harassed and wanted it to end,” Parks said. “She retracted her story in hopes that the harassment would end.”
Upon hearing evidence and testimony presented during a preliminary hearing Thursday, Edward Blackmon, attorney for Kirkland, moved that the charges be dismissed due to the state not making its case due to the contradictory statements made by the victim.
Justice Court Scott Round ruled that the charges be dismissed and will not be bound over to the grand jury.
