Lawyers representing embattled Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson are now admitting that their client engaged in consensual sex with three of the 22 women who have accused him of varying degrees of sexual misconduct.
Watson lead attorney Rusty Hardin told Gabe Feldman on a recent podcast that the “little amount” of sexual intercourse between his client and his accusers was “consensual.”
In a subsequent video released by Hardin’s office, Watson’s legal team elaborated.
“As we’ve said, as Deshaun has insisted under oath, each of those three occasions were consensual and instituted by the women. But in the other . . . 19 cases there was no sexual activity. And Deshaun has already given nine depositions — 11 now — and sworn under oath that there was no sexual activity except those three incidents, and they were consensual.”
Leah Graham, another member of the Browns quarterback’s legal team, said much the same in an interview with HBO’s Soledad O’Brien.
Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (AP Photo/Justin Rex)
“Well, in every massage, I will tell you he did go, intending just for a professional massage, and only those three instances where sexual conduct occurred — consensual sexual activity — it occurred after the massage session had ended,” Graham claimed. “And Mr. Watson has testified and is insistent that that sexual activity was initiated by the plaintiff in every single instance.”
Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (The Associated Press)
The lawyers’ admission that three sexual encounters occurred between their client and his massage therapists lends credence to the claim that Watson was not solely looking for massages when doing business with these women.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently said that the league was nearing the end of its investigation into Watson’s case. It’s hard to imagine that these revelations will factor favorably for Watson.
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