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Second BJJ Player, Nicholas Schultz Also Found Not Guilty In NYE Rape Case

 

Nicholas Schultz

Nicholas Schultz

The case of Matthew Maldonado and Nicholas Schultz, the two male Lloyd Irvin students involved in the alleged New Years Eve rape of a third, female team mate has come to a conclusion. Schultz and Maldonado were on trial for sexually abusing a woman at a parking garage near St. Matthews Catholic Church in Northwest Washington last new year’s eve.

The two have been on trial since October 7. According to  abc news The jury first found Matthew Maldonado, 26, not guilty and now the second BJJ player on trial, Nicholas Schultz was also found not guilty.

Both were charged with multiple counts of kidnapping and first and second degree sexual abuse. Nicholas Schultz was acquitted of felony first and second degree sex abuse and kidnapping in connection to the alleged assault.

Schultz

The jurors were unsure about two misdemeanor sex abuse charges against Schultz after 13 days of deliberation. The attack was caught on surveillance footage and played for the jury. One juror said they watched the surveillance video of the incident 100 times but that the video images were bad quality and hard to determine what was actually going on:

“Blurry images … you really couldn’t tell heads or tails what was going on so it made it very difficult,” the juror says.

Scultz and Maldonando’s lawyers were saying that the sex was consensual.

Nicholas Schultz after having spent 11 months in prison, had this to say after being found not guilty:

“There are still people out there thinking I am guilty but I want them to know I am not. I knew I was innocent. I knew that God would help me in the situation,”
“I won’t be able to bring back the time I lost. I am just happy that things worked out.”

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