Former Cal football player sentenced to 4 years for rapes

Former Cal football player Noah Smith was sentenced July 14 to 4 years in prison for sexually assaulting 2 UC-Berkeley students while studying there in May 2007. Prosecutors wanted 17 years, but the judge was lenient to Smith due to his clean prior record. In June, Smith was convicted of a count of rape, a count of attempted rape, and a count of forced oral copulation.

During the trial, two additional women offered testimony that he had also sexually assaulted them, but no separate charges were filed.

The additional women said in court that Smith faked an illness that he told them required collection of his sperm. They testified that he then exposed his genitals and, when they attempted to leave, physically assaulted and raped them. Smith denied the charges in his testimony.

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Moriarty, who said he believed Smith is a sociopath based on his actions and testimony given during the trial, asked for the maximum possible sentence of 17 years in prison.

But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon sentenced Smith to only four years, citing his lack of a prior criminal record as a mitigating factor.

During the trial, Smith explained the urine specimen cups in his car as a ploy by him and other football players to give the other players clean samples for their urine tests. Herb Benenson, director of media relations for Cal Athletics, said that "The claims made by Mr. Smith are completely false and have no credibility. There are policies and procedures in place to prevent the scenario that he described."

Smith played in 14 games for Cal, going 6 -14 for 89 years and a touchdown. He was an All-American wide receiver (WR) from Taft High School in Lakeview, Calif