Houstons Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson will plead the Fifth in a civil deposition this week as a Texas grand jury weighs criminal charges against him for alleged sexual assault.
Up to 22 civil lawsuits were filed against Watson in 2021 after several women accused him of sexual assault. Though the first deposition in those cases was scheduled for this week, the quarterback will plead the Fifth just as the “Harris County District Attorney’s Office begins presenting evidence to a Houston grand jury in Watson’s criminal investigation,” according to Yahoo Sports.
Deshaun Watson #4 of the Houston Texans reacts to a play during a game against the Tennessee Titans (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
“While the two proceedings aren’t directly tied to each other, Watson’s legal camp had tried to hold off all of his depositions in the civil cases until after the grand jury’s decision on a criminal indictment,” noted the outlet.
Watson’s defense attorney Rusty Hardin feared that the civil depositions could overlap with the grand jury proceedings.
“The pleading of the Fifth is at my insistence — not Deshaun’s,” Hardin told Yahoo Sports. “No lawyer in America would allow his client to answer questions in a civil suit while the same facts and cases are being considered at the same time by a grand jury.”
“Giving a deposition during a grand jury investigation is a nonstarter. We will be glad to give one once the criminal investigation is completed,” he added.
Lawyers involved in the grand jury proceedings said that “multiple” witnesses will be called to testify, including ten women who filed both civil suits and criminal charges against the quarterback.
Watson will not make an appearance before the grand jury.
The original criminal complaints against Watson were filed by ten women, alleging that he behaved inappropriately during massage sessions by “exposing himself, touching therapists’ hands with his penis and ejaculating on them,” according to the New York Times.
“Three of the complaints allege sexual assault or attempted sexual assault, defined in Texas as nonconsensual penetration,” added the report. “Prosecutors are expected to present at least some of these cases to the grand jury, which will decide if criminal charges will be brought against Watson.”