LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska football player Mark Vedral was
acquitted Friday of charges he raped a woman while she slept in his
home in May.
The jury deliberated for about three hours, ending the four-day
trial.
"I just want to be with my family right now," Vedral said
after the verdict was announced.
Nebraska football coach Frank Solich immediately reinstated
Vedral to the football team, but said he was unsure how long it
would take him to get back into playing shape.
Even though Vedral did not practice during the suspension,
Solich kept in touch with him.
"I wanted to ... make sure he knew he was not being abandoned
and cast aside," Solich said. "It's a very difficult type of
situation for both parties -- both families involved."
If he had been convicted, Vedral could have faced up to 50 years
in prison.
The 21-year-old woman who accused Vedral of rape said she had
awakened after a night of partying to find Vedral having sex with
her.
Vedral testified that he went into a bedroom to get a fan and noticed the woman under a comforter. He said he asked if she were warm and then sat on the edge of the bed.
He said the woman then rolled over, kissed him and the two then began to have sex. Vedral said he left the room when she asked him to stop.
"Mark Vedral was taking advantage of an irresistible
opportunity," Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Lory Pasold said
during her closing arguments. "No reasonable person could conclude
that she gave consent as she lay sleeping."
Vedral's lawyer called the woman's story "fantastic" and told
jurors that prosecutors kept changing their case.
"It's a moving target," Sohl said. "It's tough to nail down
smoke."
Nebraska players Chris Kelsay and Jason Schwab testified during
the trial. Kelsay lived with Vedral in a duplex; Schwab lived next
door.
Schwab said Vedral admitted to having sex with the woman, but
that it was consensual.
The woman, a student at Nebraska, said she attended a party at
the players' house May 5 and had sex with Kelsay in his basement
bedroom. She said Kelsay left the room and she fell asleep.
The woman said she had two beers and two shots of tequila that
night but was not drunk. She said she vomited soon after drinking
the tequila.
Kelsay said he left her in bed to quiet his roommates' loud music and then left to drive a male friend home. When Kelsay returned a half hour later, he was told the woman was upset.
Sohl said the woman became angry and made the rape accusations
because she could not find Kelsay.
"She was mad because she thought the man she had just had sex
with had dumped her," Sohl said.
Vedral, of Gregory, S.D., played as a backup and on special
teams in all 13 games as a sophomore last season. He was listed as
a starter before his suspension.
His brother, Jon Vedral, was suspended from the Nebraska
football team in 1997 after he was arrested and pleaded guilty to
drunken driving charges. The conviction cost him a chance to play
in the Orange Bowl, the last football game of his career.
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