Prosecutors drop rape case against ex-Kansas player Arterio Morris due to lack of evidence
Content warning: This story includes descriptions of alleged domestic violence.
Kansas prosecutors dropped a felony rape case against former Jayhawks basketball player Arterio Morris on Tuesday due to insufficient evidence, according to The Associated Press.
Morris was arrested on a rape charge and dismissed from the team in September after an alleged incident at a dorm on Kansas’ campus. According to an incident report, an 18-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted early Aug. 26 at McCarthy Hall, which is the dorm where basketball players live. The alleged assault was reported to police the next day.
Morris was not named in the incident report, but he was suspended from the team and later dismissed completely. On Tuesday, though, prosecutors declined to proceed with the case due to an apparent lack of evidence.
"For about two years we have stayed silent waiting for justice to run its course, but also trusting that the truth would come to light, which is that I am not guilty of the horrible allegations made against me," he wrote on Instagram. "It has been a path of trials, sorrow, and despair, but also one in which I was able to grow and become wiser to discern who I invite into my life.
"Today, I close a horrible chapter in my life and now I look into my future with hope and with more desire to be who I was destined to be. I am moving forward with God and my family by side."
The incident was the second that Morris has faced in as many years. He transferred to Kansas last summer after spending his freshman season at Texas. He was arrested in June 2022 after an alleged altercation with his ex-girlfriend. He was charged with a misdemeanor in that incident, and he later entered a no-contest plea in the case as part of a deal with prosecutors. That no-contest plea was filed the day before he was suspended by Kansas.
Morris averaged 4.6 points and played nearly 12 minutes per game for the Longhorns during the 2022-23 season. Now that his legal battle is behind him, it’s unclear if Morris will attempt to play at the college level again. The Jayhawks went 23-11 last season without him and were knocked out of the second round of the NCAA tournament by Gonzaga.
