CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A jury found UNC Charlotte quarterback Kevin Olsen not guilty of raping his ex-girlfriend at an off-campus apartment in Charlotte back in February 2017.
After finishing deliberations Wednesday, jurors acquitted Olsen on four counts of second-degree forcible rape. Olsen's brother and Carolina Panther Greg Olsen was in the courtroom for the verdict.
"We move on and want to get our lives back. We wish her the best, but the Olsens want to get their lives back," an attorney said.
"The victim, who is now a survivor, was extremely brave. We thank her for her willingness to stand with the prosecution and be with us through the trial process through the very end," said another attorney.
Since Monday, the 12-person jury deliberated for a total of eight hours. The jury only deliberated for about an hour Tuesday after an unexpected technical problem in a request they made to the judge. About an hour after reporting to the courthouse, jurors asked for a transcript from one of the defense's key witness' testimony during deliberations Tuesday.
They wanted to read the testimony of Christopher Clark Walton, a forensic digital expert who testified last week. Walton said he went over 15,000 text messages sent by Olsen's accuser to friends, including a few she sent after his arrest last year.
"'Everything is so negative and I hate them for making it all about rape because they know I was iffy about that anyways,'" Walton testified the accuser said in a message.
He quoted another text, saying, "I believe the next word is supposed to be because. It's spelled slightly differently.
'Because it's hard to believe he could rape me. But they [expletive] did it anyways.'"
The jury deliberated for just over three hours Monday before being sent home by the judge without reaching a verdict. Deliberations continued for a couple hours Tuesday before they were given an early lunch by Judge Karen Eady-Williams.
On Monday, Olsen declined to testify when given the opportunity before closing arguments.
Olsen's defense rested its case Monday morning, leading to closing arguments in the trial. The state's closing arguments only lasted about three minutes.
"She did not have to fight. She did not have to be injured," said one prosecutor. "She did not have to say, 'no.' Consent induced by fear is not consent."
Olsen's defense attorney George Laughrun took over an hour in his closing arguments, reviewing text messages between Olsen and his accuser and made it a point to define reasonable doubt to the jury.
"Folks, we're not asking you if Kevin Olsen was a good boyfriend. We're not asking you if he said some bad things. He did," Laughrun said. "But he's not a rapist."
Last week, Olsen's defense attorney called in a forensic expert to find inconsistencies in the medical exam a nurse performed on the accuser following the alleged rape.
Before resting its case, the state called the nurse who examined the accuser to testify on the stand. She said the accuser suffered a serious injury she'd never seen before in any of her previous 560 cases. On Friday, the defense's forensic nurse, Dr. Bonnie Price of Richmond, Virginia, pointed out inconsistencies in the report, including what the nurse did "wrong" in the report.
Dr. Price questioned why the report was short and wasn't more detailed. A handwritten note on the exam said the accuser had multiple blows to the body and head, but Price questioned if those were the words of the victim or the nurse and said it wasn't clear if the victim was choked by Olsen or threatened to be choked during the incident.
After the state rested Thursday, Laughrun requested a motion to have the charges of second-degree forcible rape and second-degree forced rape dismissed on the grounds of a lack of evidence. The judge denied that request.
Laughrum told NBC Charlotte's Richard DeVayne that he planned to call a forensic phone technician to testify in the trial to review text messages made by the accuser and friends who "were having trouble remembering on the stand."
On Tuesday, a friend of Olsen's accuser testified in court. Alidia Hannon said she dated Olsen's roommate and was out with the couple in uptown and at Olsen's house on the night the accuser said Olsen beat and raped her.
Hannon testified about the group going out drinking and hearing from the accuser the next morning that Olsen had beaten her.
Under cross-examination, the UNC Charlotte grad told jurors the accuser did not tell her she was raped, and she wasn't sure about texts between her and the accuser about their plans to get drunk earlier that night.
NBC Charlotte's Richard Devayne and Nick Carboni contributed to this report.
