By Emily Overholt/DFP Staff
Prosecutors dropped the sexual assault charges made against former Boston University hockey player Max Nicastro at a hearing Friday morning in Brighton District Court.
Hugh Curran, Nicastro’s attorney, said in a statement after the hearing that the decision “speaks volumes” about the case.
“The District Attorney’s office did a thorough and intensive investigation and reviewed numerous witnesses, and they have declined to prosecute Max,” he said.
Nicastro, a former Metropolitan College junior and hockey defenseman, faced charges on two counts of rape stemming from a Feb. 19 incident. He was kicked off the hockey team after his arrest and unenrolled at BU during the court proceedings.
A BU spokesman declined to comment.
Nicastro said in a brief statement after the hearing that he feels “relieved.”
“It’s been a hard road, but I stayed confident,” he said. “My friends and family have been with me this whole time. It’s been okay.”
Read more at dailyfreepress.com
Funny how the blog goes silent when the truth is reveled. Anyone have anything good to say or is it always going to be negative? (crickets, crickets) That’s what I thought, I’m proud of Max for hanging in there! I would love to see the kid battle through adversity and back into a BU uniform and finish his college degree. “For every 1 person that wants to see you succeed, there are 10 that want to see you fail.” Ain’t it the truth!!
Terrible news for this rape victim and the prosecutors. Let us all keep her in our thoughts and prayers. She got raped and the criminal element that did this just walked away with only minimum damage (reputation). Must be terrible for her.
Right, you were there, so you know exactly what happened.
Wow. Just wow.
I love how anonymous #2 makes false assumptions and presumes one is guilty unless proven innocent.
To Terrible news:
Are you kidding? Obviously, there was not enough evidence to go to trial. As Max Nicastro’s attorney said, that speaks volumes.
How on earth can you assume Nicastro’s guilt. Ipse dixit. Because (s)he said it,it is so. Did you ever stop to consider that the accusation was false? Did you ever think that the lack of evidence supports a conclusion that it is more probable than not that the accuser committed the crime of making false accusations and false statements to the police? I’ll bet it never entered your mind. The crime of rape is intollerable. But past trangressions against women, or anyone, do not justify punishing the innocent.
As an alum of BU, the school should examine its policy of condemning and “unenrolling” anyone, male or female, on the basis of an inclomplete investigation or an arrest. Neither prove anything. It smacks of Stalin’s Russia. Political correctness does not take precedence over the presumption of innocense and the right to a fair trial.
Maybe the academics who run our great university can show some fortitude and intelligence now and in the future and avoid a rush to judgment because they want to be politically correct. And maybe, you can start thinking.
To “Are you kidding?”:
One of the concerns with the current senior-level administration at BU is that there is a “sales” element to the way the university has been operated in recent years that hadn’t been seen in the past (Silber, Westling, and even the early Brown years).
As an alum who has remained tight with the BU community, I feel the university has become much more PR and image-conscious — style over substance. They are investing heavily in highly visible research ventures and physical improvements, and seem to favor top-level leaders who are charismatic and can “sell” the university much more so than the past.
I don’t think the salesmanship aspect of the BU brand is necessarily bad, as BU has long been criticized for being an apathetic community. However, the risk of aggressively selling the BU brand is the overreaction to public perception at the expense of internal perception.