Roethlisberger case latest in murky waters of sex-assault accusations

After reading the entire lawsuit against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, which contains specific and ugly accusations, the words of another high-profile athlete quickly came to mind: NBA player Grant Hill.

Not too long ago Hill was once asked about the sexual assault allegations against Kobe Bryant stemming from a 2003 incident in an Eagle, Colo., hotel room and if they were making NBA players more cautious. Hill was hesitant, understandably, to discuss specifics of what did or didn't happen with Bryant, but he did talk about some unusual (but wise) precautions he takes when traveling and staying in a hotel.

Unfortunately for Ben Roethlisberger, even a false accusation can be damaging. (AP)

If Hill orders room service and the person who brings the food to his room is a woman, Hill will often ask her to stay in the hallway while he takes the tray inside. Or, if Hill isn't alone, the woman will be allowed to enter the room.

Translation: The chances of false accusations against Hill when he's in his hotel room are next to impossible because Hill often ensures there are multiple witnesses.

Hill's actions should be standard operating procedure for every star athlete, and in fact I'm told several high-profile NBA players do some variation of this when they travel. Some don't even answer their hotel room doors; they have others do it.

This brings us to Roethlisberger. The country once again is intently discussing what did or didn't happen inside the hotel room of a famous athlete.

In fact, when you look at recent history, hotel rooms, athletes and women sometimes make a horrible mix, and the more you look at previous cases, the smarter the already brilliant Hill looks.

The Roethlisberger lawsuit is eerily similar to Bryant's case and some others. Understandably, the skyscraper-sized difference is there's no police investigation, but the general parameters of the two nasty cases are the same.

A woman comes to the hotel room, the woman and the athlete are the only two people in the room, something happens, or nothing happens, and the versions of what occurred are dramatically different.

And there's not a single witness to prove which person is telling the truth.

In the end, Bryant proclaimed his innocence, the sexual-assault charges were dropped, and Bryant settled the civil suit.

Unfortunately, what's alleged to have occurred involving Bryant and Roethlisberger are in no way unique.

USA Today compiled a list of athletes accused of sexual assault. It's staggeringly long and, well, damn frightening. Some of the list involves athletes and their encounters in hotel and motel rooms.

Former Kansas City Chiefs player Tim Barnett in 1994 was accused of grabbing a 14-year-old hotel maid, pulling her onto his bed and running his hands over her body. NFL player Cornelius Bennett in 1997 was accused of assaulting a woman in a Buffalo hotel room. Bennett pled guilty to a charge of sex abuse. Three SMU football players were accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in a Denton, Texas, motel in 1994. A former Cincinnati Reds player was accused of sexual battery in a motel room. There are many other examples.

Let's be clear: Sexual assault can happen anywhere. So can false accusations.

What's also true is there's little doubt some athletes feel a sense of engorged entitlement and these kinds of situations -- no witnesses, two people alone, in a secure hotel room, behind closed doors -- provide a perfect alibi for any athlete wrongdoers or fake accusers.

Deborah Rhode, a professor at Stanford Law School who specializes in sex and the law, said the accuser in the Roethlisberger case is not an appealing complainant because of the lack of witnesses and evidence.

"That said, it may well have happened," Rhode told the Associated Press. "There are certainly more than enough examples of factual settings like this where celebrity athletes feel entitled. But that is not going to win a case."

While the settling of the Bryant case makes it easier for these kinds of lawsuits to succeed, the Duke lacrosse fiasco makes them just as difficult. There's more skepticism now, it seems, among the general public about this kind of litigation, but people also know there's plenty of precedent for athletes behaving arrogantly and criminally.

Who's telling the truth? We don't know. We might never know what happened -- once again -- between a high-profile athlete and a woman accuser inside a hotel room.