Sexual assault defendant pleads no contest

    142

    The trial of a Provo man charged with sexual assault closed Sept. 29 with a plea bargain.

    Michael Drew, 19, of Provo pleaded no contest to reduced charges of class A misdemeanors. He had been charged in January with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, both first-degree felonies.

    A BYU sophomore who was acquainted with Drew claimed he sexually assaulted her in the basement of his family home for several hours Jan. 5. Drew pleaded not guilty to the original charges and continues to assert that the woman’s story is untrue.

    “I am innocent, and I maintain my innocence. I will never plead guilty,” Drew said. He decided to accept the reduced charges after an hour of deliberation when his attorney told him that Judge Anthony Schofield said he would be a “damn fool” not to take the plea bargain.

    Sentencing was set for Nov. 18.

    Drew claims six to eight police officers threatened and beat him after his arrest and that his civil rights were violated throughout the investigation and trial. He is considering bringing a civil suit against the Provo Police Department and the State of Utah for police brutality and malicious prosecution.

    Detective David Moore of the Provo Police Department denied Drew’s allegations of abuse and said that the investigation was carried out in a legal and unbiased manner.

    “As prosecutors and as law enforcers, we are merely objective fact-finding detectives. We try to put together the facts of the case as they stand by themselves, not as the way we may be led to believe. We don’t skew things to try to make it benefit the side of the victim or the person who’s charged with the crime. We just want the facts,” Moore said.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email