After deadlock, jury back to business deciding San Jose State athletic trainer’s sexual assault case
SAN JOSE – The jury deciding the fate of San Jose State’s former athletic trainer accused of sexually assaulting female athletes powered through a stalemate Wednesday, and with urging from the federal judge, resumed deliberations.
The jury was clearly hung up late Tuesday, however, when one of the members sent a handwritten note to U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman:
“We are deadlocked with at least one, and quite likely more, unmovable jurors on each side (guilty vs. not guilty,)” a jury wrote in a note to the judge Tuesday. “What do we do now?”
“Continue your deliberations,” Labson Freeman responded.
By morning, the eight women and four men were back in the jury room, reviewing testimony of one athlete in particular, a former soccer player who said that in 2019 Scott Shaw inappropriately touched her breast when he tucked her t-shirt under her bra and dragged his hands along the side of her breasts to treat a shoulder injury, and cupped her buttocks with his hands when he was placing a stimulation pad.
The jury foreman requested the testimony of a second athlete on Wednesday, a former water polo player who testified she was “internally freaking out” in 2018 when Shaw touched her nipple while treating a shoulder injury and grabbed her bare buttocks when attempting to crack her back.
During their testimonies, both women broke into tears.
Although the judge on Tuesday allowed the court reporter to read back the full testimony of the soccer player, on Wednesday she denied the jury’s request to see partial testimony of the water polo player, telling them to rely on their memories. Partial testimony, defense lawyers said, could distort their recollections.
In another handwritten note to the judge, a different juror asked that in determining whether Shaw acted “willfully,” “do we need to find proof of bad or evil purpose, or is a reckless disregard to the victim’s bodily integrity sufficient?”
The judge instructed them to review the jury instructions.
Shaw, 56, has pleaded not guilty to six federal charges of violating the constitutional rights to “bodily integrity” of four women.
He left the university voluntarily in 2020 – some 11 years after 17 members of the women’s swim team first complained that he touched them inappropriately under their sports bras and underwear. An internal investigation cleared Shaw in 2010, concluding his “trigger point therapy” was legitimate treatment. He was allowed to keep working on athletes until a whistle-blowing swim coach took his decade-long concerns outside the university. More investigations were done by the Cal State system and the U.S. Department of Justice — and more athletes came forward — which ultimately led to the charges against him.
Check back for more on this developing story.