West Chester Rape Conviction Reinstated by PA Supreme Court

The conviction of three men who were accused of raping a West Chester University freshman in 2009 has been reinstated, The Pottstown Mercury is reporting.

According to the paper, in February of 2009 Jamel Clay, Jason Claybrook, and Rashid Lewis, all 23 years old, were charged with raping a West Chester University freshman in Sanderson Hall after the girl invited them to spend the night in her dorm.

The men were convicted of the crime, but, according to the report, in June of 2011, the Pennsylvania Superior Court revisited the case and ruled that the jury was wrong, owing to a reasoning that the woman had somehow consented to the sexual contact. The men were acquitted of the rape charge and released from prison.

But, according to the paper, earlier this month, the state Supreme Court overruled the lower court, stating that the body had “erroneously substituted its own conclusions for those of the jury and the trial court.”

It’s still unclear what impact this decision will have on the three defendants.

Read the full story here.