Wittels Rape Case Dismissed By Bahamas Court
MIAMI (CBS4)- The rape charges facing star FIU baseball player Garrett Wittels' were dropped Monday morning by a Bahamian court, which said there was not enough evidence to sustain the case.
Wittels' Miami attorney Richard Sharpstein, who joined Wittels at the Nassau hearing, said that ends the ordeal for his client, who had claimed all along that he had sex with 2 girls, but with their consent.
"Right now, I'm just very grateful," Wittels told CBS4's Carey Codd. "I just want to thank all the supporters for sticking behind me and always having my back."
The decision had been expected. Bahamian prosecutors announced last Wednesday that rape charges filed against Wittels, FIU's star shortstop, and friends Robert Rothschild and Jonathan Oberti would be dropped. Monday's announcement made that official.
Defense lawyer Richard Sharpstein said the accusations stemmed from an apparent attempt to extort money from the Atlantis resort, where the three friends and two 17-year-olds from the United States spent an evening drinking and gambling at the casino in December 2010.
The three men had insisted on their innocence from the start.
"This was a fake case that went around his neck and now it's relieved," Sharpstein said. "He did nothing wrong. This young man is a star."
"This was an extortion, a set-up, a despicable set-up of a man using his own child and her friend to have sex and claim that it was not consensual, but somehow rape," Sharpstein said.
But authorities apparently decided the evidence gathered did not warrant proceeding with the case, which garnered national attention as it came amid Wittels' failed pursuit of the NCAA hitting streak record.
Wittels recently finished his junior season at FIU, but was not among the hundreds of high school and collegiate prospects chosen in last week's Major League Baseball draft. Still Sharpstein believes in Wittels' major league potential.
"He has become a better person for it, because he has learned a lesson in life that not everybody is out there to help you and cheer for you," Sharpstein said.
