Former MSU football player sentenced for sexually assaulting woman

LANSING – A former Michigan State University football player who admitted raping a woman last year during an off-campus incident will spend several years in prison. 

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Clinton Canady III on Wednesday sentenced Auston Robertson, 21, to 43 months to 10 years in prison for assault with intent to commit criminal sexual penetration. He will also have to register as a sex offender. Robertson has a credit for 247 days served.

Canady said there was "evidence of a continuing pattern of conduct" before he issued the sentence.

Ingham County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nicole Matusko said the sentence should send a "clear message this kind of behavior is never acceptable."

"Unfortunately, in today’s society, it’s common that we read about these assaults," Matusko said. "We need to start focusing and calling these cases what they truly are: Rape."

Robertson pleaded guilty to the charges last month, telling Canady he did assault a fellow MSU student in her apartment last year. As part of the plea deal, he was facing 3½ to 10 years in prison.

He originally was awaiting trial of two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, but the prosecutor's office agreed to dismiss those two counts as part of a plea agreement. He had faced up to 15 years in prison on those charges. 

Brent Leder, Robertson's attorney, told Canady he's confident Robertson can be a success story and that he realizes he's made poor choices "that have landed him where he stands today.

"I do believe that this is the last time he’ll be seeing the inside of a courtroom," Leder said. 

The sentencing marked the end of a long road for Robertson and for the 20-year-old woman he was charged with sexually assaulting in her Meridian Township apartment in April 2017, when he was still on the football team. 

The woman testified previously that Robertson walked her up to her second-floor apartment, then followed her into her bedroom and forced himself on her. The woman said she told her boyfriend, a teammate of Robertson's, about the incident. The boyfriend notified his coach, who reported the allegations to police, she said.

In a written statement read by Matsuko, the victim said she's simply relieved it's over. 

"This has taken over two of the four years that were supposed to be the best years of my life," the victim wrote. 

In her statement, she detailed a struggle with depression, panic attacks and an inability to feel safe in her own home. She said she initially blamed herself for ruining Robertson's life but now realizes he is responsible for his own actions. 

She directed many of her written comments directly at Robertson, saying she thought of him as a friend and assumed he looked at her as a sister – and that she never would have seen him as someone who might hurt her. 

She ended her statement by telling him she hope he's received the support and help he needs and by thanking him. 

"You taught me that I am stronger than I thought I was," she said. "That no matter the circumstance, I would be OK." 

More:Former Michigan State football player agrees to plea deal on rape charges

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More:Auston Robertson dismissed from MSU football; police looking for him

Following the charges, MSU dismissed Robertson from the team. But he later played football at Garden City Community College in Kansas after Canady agreed to modify his bond conditions.

Canady in May ruled that prosecutors could admit evidence of two previous rape accusations against Robertson — and a portion of a third incident — because the allegations were similar to what the Ingham County woman reported. Those alleged incidents occurred in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

In January 2016, Robertson was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an incident at his high school the previous fall. Court records show he was accused of improperly touching a female classmate.

Those charges were cleared from his record after he successfully completed a diversionary program, according to the records. MSU officials said they were aware of that incident when they recruited Robertson.

Last April, his bond was revoked after he was arrested in connection with an armed robbery in Garden City. He pleaded no contest to two charges in Finney County District Court and was sentenced to 36 months probation, which he will serve following time served in Michigan.

Contact reporter Megan Banta (517) 377-1261 or at mbanta@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1