Ex-Illinois CBB Player Terrence Shannon Jr. to Face Trial on Rape, Battery Charges

A Kansas judge ruled during a preliminary hearing on Friday that former Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. will stand trial on June 10 as he faces first-degree felony rape and felony sexual aggravated battery charges, per ESPN’s Myron Metcalf.

Shannon entered a plea of not guilty after being arraigned, but the judge ruled that there was enough probable cause to proceed with the case.

The impending trial stems from a woman alleging that Shannon “digitally penetrated her vagina without her consent” at a Kansas bar on Sept. 9, according to court filings (h/t CBS News). The woman identified Shannon after finding his picture through a Google search and informed police.

Police arrested Shannon and charged him with “unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly [engaging] in sexual intercourse with a person … who did not consent to the sexual intercourse under circumstances when she was overcome by force or fear, a severity level 1 person felony.” Shannon’s attorneys requested before the preliminary hearing that the DNA evidence not be admissible in the trial.

Illinois suspended Shannon indefinitely in December, but he only missed six games after a federal judge granted him a temporary restraining order that allowed him to return to the team on Jan. 19. He played the rest of the season, appearing in 32 games total.

Metcalf noted that Shannon’s attorneys said there is an expectation that his trial will be completed before the NBA draft on June 26-27.

Shannon’s legal team released a statement on Friday following the judge’s ruling.

“Our legal team is neither shocked nor disappointed by the outcome of this event,” Mark Sutter, one of Shannon’s attorneys, said. “A preliminary hearing is a procedural process that merely speaks to the threshold of evidence and whether a question of fact may exist for a jury. It has nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Those issues will be decided at trial, and we continue to look forward to our day in court.”