Shawn Oakman, former standout defensive end for Baylor University who went undrafted at this year's NFL draft, was indicted on second-degree felony assault charges in Waco today. Oakman was arrested on April 13th after a woman reported she was sexually assaulted by Oakman in his apartment ten days earlier. In an affidavit, the victim claimed Oakman forced her into a bedroom, "forcibly removed" her clothes, and forced her onto the bed, where he sexually assaulted her. Police went to his apartment to investigate and obtain evidence pursuant to a warrant, and spoke to Oakman while there. He claimed the sex was consensual at the time and through his lawyer, he reiterated that stance today:"I think an indictment is just a prosecutor's rubber stamp and requires a much lower burden of proof than one required for a conviction, which is beyond a reasonable doubt," said Michelle Tuegel, Oakman's attorney. "We still have a lot of investigation and work to do in this case. Shawn maintains that the sex in this case was consensual."The indictment comes just one day after Baylor tried, and failed spectacularly, to repair the school's image after years of turning a blind eye to sexual assault and domestic violence committed by athletes, primarily in the football program. First, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby did them no favors when he said on Monday, in reference to sexual assault, that "When you combine alcohol and drugs and raging hormones and the experiences of 18-22-year-olds, it's unrealistic to think that these kinds of things are never going to happen." The concept of not raping someone is apparently "unrealistic" in the Big 12. Not great!Then, yesterday, Baylor interim coach Jim Grobe stepped in it some more when he denied there was a culture of rape at Baylor, a school whose football program and administration covered up sexual assault and domestic violence perpetrated by athletes and deterred victims from reporting the same, and whose board later fired the school president and chancellor and the head football coach. Grobe also went the "everyone else is doing it" route and said most other universities were dealing with the same problems.
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For a school that keeps insisting it is dealing with this issue and changing the way it operates, it sure is clear that Baylor is, um, telling everyone that.[ESPN]Jim Grobe's full quote, when asked about changing the Baylor culture: pic.twitter.com/G6vFGHmhr2
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) July 19, 2016