An Oktibbeha County judge dismissed, without prejudice, the rape charge against Mississippi State University junior Chris Doerr on Jan. 6.
Roy Carpenter, Oktibbeha County prosecutor, advised Justice Court Judge Bernard Crump to dismiss the charge because of a lack of evidence.
Carpenter and Oktibbeha County Sherriff Dolph Bryant were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Doerr, of London, England, is a member of the MSU men’s tennis team.
Doerr was charged with rape in connection with an incident in which MSU student said she was assaulted at a party at his Campus Trails apartment on Nov. 16.
Doerr’s attorney, Jim Waide of Tupelo, said in a written statement that the affidavit doesn’t allege that force was used, but that the complainant had sex with Doerr because she was under the influence of alcohol.
Waide said in a written statement that the alleged victim was subpoenaed to the hearing by the defense counsel, but didn’t testify. Carpenter told Waide the alleged victim would not speak to Waide about the charge.
Although the charge is dropped for now, Doerr could still face indictment.
Waide said the dismissal of the charge doesn’t prevent prosecutors for presenting the case to a grand jury.
“It will not be known what action, if any, the grand jury will take on the case until the grand jury in Oktibbeha County hands down indictments sometime this month,” Waide said in the statement.
He also said according to Mississippi law, any person can press criminal charges against someone else. Law enforcement recommendation is not required to proceed with the charges.
“This law results in many miscarriages of justice where baseless criminal charges are brought, which greatly harm a person’s reputation,” Waide said in the statement.
News Editor Patrick Young contributed to this article.