10:21am Thursday 8th January 2009
A JUDGE in America has dismissed a rape charge against a 20-year-old tennis player from Bromley.
Oktibbeha County Judge Bernard Crump dismissed the charge without prejudice during a preliminary hearing for Christopher Doerr.
Without prejudice means prosecutors can still file charges against Doerr later.
County prosecutor Roy Carpenter did not comment after the hearing on Tuesday (January 6).
Doerr was arrested on November 17 last year after the alleged sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman at his apartment in Starkville, Mississippi, during a party.
He is studying at Mississippi State University (MSU) on a tennis scholarship.
His lawyer, Jim Waide, said there was no evidence to support the rape charge.
The Hattiesburg American paper reports that Doerr is suspended from the university tennis team but Mr Waide says he plans to get a copy of the judge’s order and ask that his client be reinstated.
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