It is the season for scandals surrounding NBA players and executives and Dwight Howard is the latest individual to be related to the grave act. In July last year, a federal lawsuit was filed against former NBA player Dwight Howard with claims of sexual assault.
However, according to Howard, the incident which occurred in the year of 2021 was consensual and agreed upon by both Howard and the accuser. This comes amidst Howard’s valiant attempts to get back into the NBA after playing with multiple basketball teams, around the globe.
Dwight Howard accused of forging evidence
Dwight Howard has strongly denied any allegations of sexual assault in his ongoing lawsuit. However, in the most recent updates of the case, the accuser’s legal team have accused Howard and his legal side of forging the evidence that they are using to refute and disregard the claims of the accuser. According to the accuser, Stephen Harper, the authenticity of the messages submitted as evidence are ‘questionable.’
The court documents brought to light the current situation and stated, “Defendant Howard appears to be perpetuating the tired excuse that Mr. Harper was somehow asking for it. In an attempt to bolster his position, Defendant Howard submits questionable ‘evidence’ which conveniently surfaced just in time for filing Defendant Howard’s Motion for Summary Judgment.”
Dwight Howard’s legal team wasted no time in rejecting claims suggesting that it was quite impossible to edit messages sent in a chain and that the messages directly collected from the basketball star’s personal phone.
Denying all allegations of forgery, Howard’s lawyer said, “If anyone can tell me how anyone could hack into a phone platform and add messages to a text chain that were never sent that would be an interesting concept for me. That is what they are essentially alleging is that somehow Mr. Howard went back in time and added text messages to a text chain and that is not possible. These messages were pulled from the iMessage history.”
“This case is about a sexual predator, who does not seem to understand that ‘no’ means ‘no.’ The reality is Defendant Howard sexually assaulted Mr. Harper and now, wants everyone to believe the assault was consensual,” said Stephen Harper’s lawyers. The alleged assault case occurred in July 2021 after which a case was filed in a local police station at the accuser’s native place in Georgia.
Timeline of Dwight Howard’s sexual assault case
In July 2021, Stephen Harper, the accuser got acquainted with Dwight Howard on social media platform, Instagram and he agreed to meet Howard at the basketball star’s home. While in transport to Howard’s quarters, Harper says that Howard asked if another man or woman could join them at the star’s house.
According to Harper, even though he said no, Howard and Harper were joined by another man, mysteriously identified as only “Kitty”. “Kitty” and Howard then allegedly forced Harper to engage in their antics and sexual activity.
In July 2022, a year after the alleged incident, Harper decided to pursue legal action with the local police who suspended the case as the accuser was a no show for his formal interview with the police. Later, in 2023, the case was reopened and the legal documents presented give a better understanding of the alleged incident.
“Mr. Harper was trapped in Defendant’s bedroom and believed that he would suffer imminent bodily harm if he resisted Defendant’s sexual advances. Mr. Harper felt extremely violated and humiliated, and was in complete shock,” are the exact statements from the accuser’s lawsuit.
Strongly denying all claims of sexual assault, Howard’s legal team came to his aide to defend the allegations. The response filed by Howard’s legal team says that all the three individuals, Dwight Howard, Stephen Harper and “Kitty” agreed to “engage in consensual sexual activity.”
Through an Instagram Live, Howard himself said the claims were anything but true. Addressing his followers, Howard exclaimed, “”Stop worrying about it. I ain’t gotta deny it, I don’t gotta talk about none of that crap. This s— didn’t even happen. You worried about the wrong stuff. That’s why it’s called an accusation. Allegedly. Come on, man.”
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year last played in the NBA in 2021 before switching to overseas basketball. Amidst his legal troubles, he has been trying to make an NBA comeback and even joined the Warriors’ training camp before the commencement of the 2023-24 NBA season.
