Following Rape Charges, Illinois Basketball Player Files for Restraining Order to Return to Play

A former Illinois basketball player who was suspended following an arrest over rape charges last month has filed for a temporary restraining order, demanding that he be immediately reinstated. 

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Mark Sutter on behalf of Terrence Shannon Jr., lists the Illinois board of trustees and school president Timothy Killeen as defendants. 

A warrant was issued last month for Shannon in Douglas County, Kansas, where he submitted to authorities and was briefly jailed before posting bail and returning to Champaign. 

According to ESPN, which obtained a copy of the initial complaint,  Shannon was charged with "unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly engaged in sexual intercourse with a person ... who did not consent to the sexual intercourse under circumstances when she was overcome by force or fear, a severity level 1 person felony."

The temporary restraining order claims Shannon was not granted due process before he was removed from the team. He is set to be arraigned Jan. 18, but the the trial won't begin until June, after the conclusion of the college basketball season. 

"Does the presumption of innocence really mean anything? That question is at the heart of this case," the lawsuit states. "Illinois has promised [Shannon] that it would adhere to this presumption, but in practice Illinois has not applied it by suspending [him] and ruining his career as if he were already convicted. [Shannon] maintains his innocence, for the record. Sexual assault is a horrific crime, and [Shannon] is appalled that his name is mentioned in the same sentence with such a crime, and he in no way seeks to minimize that it is a real problem."

Illinois officials told ESPN they are reviewing Shannon's lawsuit but will defend the school's disciplinary process. 

"We are aware that legal counsel for Terrence Shannon Jr. has filed for injunctive relief from his suspension from the men's basketball program," Robin Kaler, associate chancellor at Illinois, said in a statement. "We will review the filing and defend our student-athlete misconduct procedures, which allow us to respond swiftly to allegations of misconduct and serious crimes while affording our student-athletes a fair process and waiting for the legal system and university discipline processes to proceed."

Shannon drove to Kansas with teammate Justin Harmon and DyShawn Hobson, an Illinois grad assistant who accompanied the two players on the trip on the weekend of a Kansas football game. The alleged rape happened at local bar in Lawrence, Kansas, where a woman said Shannon touched her inappropriately and sexually assaulted her. The woman went to Lawrence police who then contacted Illinois. 

Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman confirmed that the school was notified of the incident but alleged that Illinois officials were not made aware of the full extent of the allegations and only learned about the warrant for Shannon's arrest on social media. 

"The university and [the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics] have shown time and again that we have zero tolerance for sexual misconduct," Whitman said in a statement after Shannon was suspended from all team activities. "At the same time, DIA policy affords student-athletes appropriate levels of due process based on the nature and severity of the allegations. We will rely on that policy and our prior experiences to manage this situation appropriately for the university and the involved parties."

Shannon's lawsuit states that Illinois officials told him they would not consider his reinstatement until his legal case was resolved, which would be afer the 2023-24 season has concluded. 

"All we want for our client is a fair process, and [Shannon] has not received that yet," Shannon's legal team said in a statement to ESPN. "Respectfully, this was a rush to judgment by the university, and the protocol that they implemented to summarily suspend our client ignored the fundamentals of due process and the presumption of innocence. Our team remains hopeful that justice will ultimately be served."