After nearly four months, the sexual assault case against Gareon Conley has come to an end. A grand jury in Ohio decided not to indict Conley on any charges after hearing the facts of the case, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Michael O'Malley announced on Monday. The decision means that Conley will no longer have the dark cloud of a potential court case hanging over his head.
Conley's attorney, Kevin Spellacy, said his client was thrilled with the outcome.
"He is vindicated," Spellacy said in a statement. "He looks forward to contributing in the National Football League."
Conley was accused of rape following an incident on April 9 in Cleveland, Ohio. The former Ohio State star wasn't arrested or charged while police investigated the incident. During the course of the investigation, Conley was cooperative with police, and he even offered them a DNA sample in May after voluntarily giving them a statement.
Despite the fact that Conley was dealing with the case in the days leading up to the NFL Draft, the Raiders still decided to take a chance on him by making the cornerback the 24th overall pick.
After the selection, Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said that his team felt good about the pick.
"We did our due diligence throughout this whole process and we trust our research, reports, everything we have on Mr. Conley, and we feel really good about picking Gareon Conley and having him join the Raider team and having him be a great teammate for our players," McKenzie said in April. "We are very confident in all the information that we gathered."
Before the final decision in the case came down on Monday, Raiders owner Mark Davis said he trusted McKenzie's decision to draft Conley.
"We trust in the research Reggie and his staff did before the draft, so we'll let it play out," Davis said via ESPN.com.
