Jury acquits NU lineman Christensen
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BY CORY MATTESON AND LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star
The count stood at 11-1 on the second day of deliberations, with all but one juror convinced there was no proof to find Andy Christensen guilty of first-degree sexual assault.
Jeff Gann, the jury foreman, said the lone juror who believed Christensen had inappropriately touched a 23-year-old woman was asked to present a concrete case against him.
Using the testimony from the weeklong trial against the suspended Nebraska football player, the juror could not.
“We didn’t have any evidence,” Gann said. “Any proof.”
Christensen on Tuesday was found not guilty of first-degree sexual assault. He will be sentenced in November on two misdemeanor charges he had earlier pleaded guilty to — resisting arrest and criminal mischief — that stemmed from the night in question.
Prosecutors had alleged that Christensen, an offensive lineman currently suspended from the team, reached under a woman’s skirt and sexually assaulted her at the Brass Rail early March 8.
The woman testified in Lancaster County District Court last week she was standing at the bar when she felt someone reach under her skirt. She turned around and saw Christensen behind her.
But no one else at the bar that night who testified backed up the claim. No physical evidence was collected. No surveillance footage showed that Christensen assaulted her.
After the verdict was read Tuesday, jurors Gann, 38, a Lincoln firefighter, and Sharon Busch, 68, a retired Lincoln resident, both said they felt the woman was sincere in her belief of what happened that night.
But that wasn’t enough, Gann said.
He said that at least three times during the 11 hours of deliberations, a metaphor used by Christensen’s attorney Bob Creager during closing arguments was revisited.
Creager compared what happened at the Brass Rail to five people in an elevator. If one person is pinched, the victim might turn around and slap the guy behind her. But another guy in the elevator did it.
“This is a circumstantial case,” Creager said during closing remarks. “This isn’t two people on the elevator.”
Neither Creager nor Deputy County Attorneys Krista Hendrick or Matt Acton offered to comment after the trial.
“Not at this time,” Christensen said when asked if he wanted to say anything as he walked outside the courtroom with members of his family, who openly wept in court when the verdict was read.
About an hour after the verdict was read, Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini was asked about Christensen’s future with the team.
“Obviously, we’ve let the legal process play out. But I can’t really comment any further until I talk to Andy and his family and kind of get more of the facts.
“The legal process played out in his favor. And when it’s the appropriate time, I'll give you further comment.”
Following the report of the assault March 8, the Brass Rail’s owner called police. When officers tried to talk to the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Christensen, Hendrick said in court last week, he walked past them outside the bar.
When they tried to put him in handcuffs, he resisted, she said.
Hendrick said he kicked the police Tahoe, leaving a dent, when they arrested him.
Pelini was asked about Christensen pleading to two charges.
“Everything will weigh into it,” the coach said. “Like I said, I don’t know all the facts and all the circumstances. But when I do, we’ll come to a conclusion as a football program, and we'll make a definitive statement at that point.”
Reach Cory Matteson at 473-7438 or cmatteson@journalstar.com. Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. Steven M. Sipple contributed to this report.
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