UK’s request to dismiss lawsuit over student’s rape case denied, judge says

 

 

News Staff

A federal judge denied UK’s request to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit related to UK’s disciplinary process in a student’s alleged rape. 

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hood denied UK’s motion to dismiss a case filed by student identified as “Jane Doe.” She said UK violated her Title IX rights after she reported her alleged rape in Oct. 2014. 

Jane Doe’s attorney, Elizabeth Howell, identified the attacker as former UK Football player Lloyd Tubman, the Herald-Leader reported. 

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A previous Kernel article said Tubman pleaded not guilty in court to a first-degreed rape charge in 2014. 

A grand jury declined to indict Tubman, but three UK panels found him responsible of sexual misconduct, the Herald-Leader said. Tubman was expelled from the university. He now plays for Austin Peay State University

The Herald-Leader reported Tubman appealed each ruling and was granted a fourth hearing, which was not scheduled. 

Jane Doe’s lawsuit said she was allegedly re-victimized every time UK allowed Tubman to appeal the decision, according to the Herald-Leader. She eventually dropped out of UK during the process. 

Hood’s order said UK responded immediately to the allegation by suspending Tubman and issuing a no contact order, according to the Herald-Leader. 

“It is undisputed that the university bungled the disciplinary hearings so badly, so inexcusably, that it necessitated three appeals and reversals in an attempt to remedy the due process deficiencies,” Hood wrote, the newspaper said. 

Related: Kernel obtains withheld records; victims say UK trying to protect professor in sexual assault case  

UK spokesman Jay Blanton told the Herald-Leader UK will hold the fourth hearing as soon as possible. 

“In Title IX cases, the university is required to do three critically important things: stop the harassment, remedy the effects on the victim survivor and prevent the harassment from recurring,” Blanton told the Herald-Leader. “To that end, we have taken concrete steps to reform and improve our system for deciding sexual misconduct cases. We believe our system works well.”