Former New Mexico state basketball players who filed a lawsuit alleging they were assaulted and sexually assaulted by teammates have settled, one of their attorneys said Tuesday.
Aggie players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu filed the lawsuit in April, alleging that three players on the team assaulted them, while the coaches who knew of the assaults did nothing about it.
Attorney Joleen Youngers said all of the defendants — players, coaches and the New Mexico state board of regents — were parties to the settlement and she could not disclose the terms. A school spokesperson said the terms will be posted “soon” on the state’s open records website.
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The New Mexico State Aggies logo on a pair of shorts during a 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament first round game against the Connecticut Huskies at the KeyBank Center on March 17, 2022 in Buffalo, New York . (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
“The important thing was to get a settlement that would reasonably compensate them and allow them to put this matter behind them and help them move forward,” Youngers said. “Because a lawsuit like this can end up being a second victimization, where they have to spend months, if not years, dealing with all the issues.”
Separately, the state attorney general has been investigating possible criminal charges in the case.
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Former New Mexico State NCAA college basketball player Shak Odunewu speaks at a press conference in Las Cruces, NM on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Odunewu and former Aggie player Deuce Benjamin who said that were sexually assaulted by their teammates, they spoke today about the profound impact their time at the Las Cruces school had on them. Shak Odunewu and Deuce Benjamin, the former New Mexico State basketball players who filed a lawsuit alleging they were sexually assaulted and assaulted by their teammates, have reached a settlement, one of their attorneys said Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton, file)
The lawsuit came two months after the Aggies abruptly canceled the remainder of their 2022-23 basketball season when Deuce Benjamin, a freshman guard, made his allegations to campus police. The school characterized them as allegations of hazing.
In an interview with The Associated Press shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Benjamin said he had lost respect for people after what happened.
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Former New Mexico State NCAA college basketball player Deuce Benjamin speaks at a press conference in Las Cruces, NM on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Shak Odunewu and Deuce Benjamin, the former basketball players of the New Mexico state who filed a lawsuit alleging they were ganged up on and sexually assaulted by teammates have settled the case, one of their attorneys said Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton, file)
“Sort of a lot of anger,” Benjamin said. “I can’t put my trust in people, and I’ve really come to despise people.”
The AP does not normally name alleged victims of sexual assault, but both Benjamin and Odunewu agreed to allow their names to be used both in the lawsuit and in subsequent media interviews, including the AP one. Benjamin’s father, former Aggies star William Benjamin, joined his and Odunewu’s son as plaintiffs.
“It took a lot of courage for them to stand up and speak their name, say that this happened and that it was wrong, and demand accountability, and they did,” Youngers said.
