A jury acquitted the former Manchester City player, Ched Evans of rape on Friday after hearing evidence about his accuser’s sexual history during his retrial.
In 2012, Evans was convicted after a woman accused him of raping her while she was intoxicated. Evans denied the allegations, saying his sexual encounter with the then 19-year-old woman in May 2011 was consensual. While Evans began to serve out his five-year prison sentence, his family hired private investigators to gather new information about the accuser. Evans ultimately successfully appealed the conviction and was granted a retrial. Although prohibited by Section 41 of the Youth and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, Evans’ lawyers were granted approval to question the woman about statements from two men who said they had previous sexual relationships with her. Both men said that the woman took the lead during sex, which aligned with Evans’ original police statement about his sexual encounter with the woman and was used as evidence that she consented
In the U.S., rape shield laws, designed to bar the introduction of evidence about an accuser’s past sexual history in court, have been in the headlines recently. In June, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that a murder victim’s sexual history could be made public during the appeal of the man who was convicted of the crime. But after New Hampshire’s attorney general challenged the decision, the state Supreme Court ruled last month that victim’s sexual history would remain private.
