It only took Quintez Cephus five minutes to go through his first hearing in court but the suspended Wisconsin wideout and his lawyers still managed to do plenty of legal wrangling the past two days as they face two sexual assault charges from an alleged incident this past spring.
According to the Associated Press, those charges are for second-and third-degree sexual assault and Cephus has already moved to ask a judge to dismiss the more serious of the two. If the Badgers junior is ultimately convicted of a second-degree sexual assault, he could be facing as much as 40 years behind bars but his attorneys have argued, and we will quote the report here, “that the woman linked to that count wasn’t drunk and parted with Cephus on good terms.”
“A criminal complaint, and this criminal complaint, is a slanted, one-sided version of the events,” attorney Kathleen Stilling told the AP. “We look forward to getting out all of the facts and clearing Quintez’s name.”
Cephus has denied any wrongdoing publicly in a Tweet he sent out shortly before the team suspended him indefinitely earlier this week. The criminal complaint says that he allegedly “sexually assaulted two drunken women at once in the bedroom of his apartment in April” but his attorneys produced surveillance camera footage and text messages for the court that they claim dispute this version of events.
Also involved is fellow Wisconsin receiver Danny Davis, who is Cephus’ roommate and allegedly witnessed and took pictures of the incident at the time. The school has already suspended Davis for two games though he has not been charged at the moment.
Cephus was released on a $5,000 bond but perhaps more notable for many is the date of the next preliminary hearing in the case, which is set for Sept. 6. That comes two days before Wisconsin’s second game of the season (home against New Mexico) and could signal that the Badgers’ leading wideout from last season will not come anywhere close to the field anytime soon even if he is able to eventually get the charges dismissed.
