Dwight Howard says the defendant forged text messages and left others in the sexual assault lawsuit – Gudstory

Former NBA star Dwight Howard has called for the lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and battery to be dismissed.

Howard’s lawyers claim that the encounter between their client and Stephen Harper was a consensual encounter involving a third person at Howard’s residence in Georgia in July 2021. According to a Thursday file obtained by ESPN.

Harper filed a lawsuit in July alleging that Howard and Harper began corresponding via Instagram direct messages, with Harper initiating the exchange. Harper accused Howard of sexually assaulting him at the latter’s home during a subsequent July 2021 encounter.

In the original filingincluding Harper Alleged screenshots of messages The exchange between Harper and Howard as of 2021, as well as an Uber ride to Howard’s home on the night of the incident.

Howard denied the allegations in Octoberrequesting that the case be dismissed.

Howard’s lawyer They claim that key text messages were deleted and were not present in Harper’s initial complaint. The file, according to ESPN, contains those new messages along with several that Howard’s lawyers claim were tampered with.

“In sum, the entirety of the text messages between Mr. Howard and Mr. Harper makes it abundantly clear that Mr. Harper’s claims are frivolous, and that he was a willing participant in the events of July 19, 2021, in the early morning hours. “It was meant to be,” Howard’s lawyers wrote in a filing Thursday. On July 20, 2021, and that touching his person was at his invitation.”

“Importantly, the explicit messages not only show consent, but also show that Mr. Harper was the one who initiated some of the sexual contact.” Mr. Harper not only invited the initial rehearsal, but tried to initiate a second meeting because the first had been so much fun. Since it is undisputed that Mr. Harper consented to the touching between himself and Mr. Howard, Mr. Harper’s claims necessarily fail, and Mr. Howard is entitled to summary judgment because apparent consent negates the underlying element of intent and the allegations of assault, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. “It falls like a house of cards.”

Harper’s attorneys did not immediately respond to ESPN’s request for comment.

Howard’s lawyers now claim, according to a filing Thursday, that the incident is “nothing more than a classic case of unrequited love.” After one consensual event together, Mr. Howard was no longer interested in keeping Mr. Harper’s company.

The filing also alleges that Howard received multiple requests for payment, each from different legal representatives over the course of a year.

He has long pursued the 38-year-old Howard Rumors related to his sexual life.