Former MN Gopher football player sentenced to year in jail for 4th degree CSC

(Originally Posted 5-31-08)

Dominic Jones, a former Minnesota Gophers football player, was sentenced to a year in the workhouse (which is work release for those who aren't from Minnesota), four more years in prison suspended, 7 years probation, and $1000 restitution. The sentence comes on the heels on his conviction for 4th degree criminal sexual conduct.

In March, a jury convicted him of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves performing a sex act on a victim without her consent. It acquitted him on a rape charge.

During the weeklong trial, jurors saw cell-phone video that appeared to show Jones masturbating over an 18-year-old woman in April 2007. Jones testified she consented to it.

The victim testified during the trial that she drank up to eight shots of vodka with another player before the act and didn't remember anything between when she was placed on a couch and the next morning.

On Thursday, the victim read a statement in court. She said, "I drank into myself helplessness ... but i did not ask to be raped." She added, "Yes, I have been sexually assaulted, and no, I will never get over it."

Jones was kicked off of the team when the charges were filed and eventually kicked out of the University Of Minnesota. Collateral consequences include registering as a predatory sex offender, getting sex offender treatment, and having no contact with the victim. His attorney, Earl Gray, says he will appeal both conviction and sentence. Three other players were investigated, but never charged in the assault. The sentencing judge was Hennepin County District Judge Marilyn Rosenbaum.

(Update 3-14-09) Jones was released from the workhouse after 8 months on March 2, but probation, which includes completion of sex offender treatment, has just begun. He was denied a chance to try out with the NFL in Ohio this weekend because he hasn't started sex offender treatment. The judge who made the ruling is the same judge who heard Jones' original sexual assault case.

Assistant County Attorney Marlene Senechal, who heads the violent crimes division, argued that Jones should not be allowed to go because he is an "untreated sex offender" and his chances of playing in the NFL are "unrealistic." She said, "It would be inappropriate for him to leave the state."

[Defense Attorney Earl] Gray took issue with Senechal's characterization of Jones' chances, saying he should at least be given an opportunity to try out for the NFL. "In order to be successful on probation, it would seem to me a man should be able to pursue his career," Gray said.

Rosenbloom agreed that Jones had met all requirements of his sentence, and suggested that after sex offender treatment commences, if another NFL tryout occured, she may change her mind.