Dwight Howard: Admits consensual meeting with man, denies assault charges

Innocent to the charges of sexual assault on a man declared in court Dwight Howardadmitting-however-that there was consensual contact between them.

The 37-year-old center admitted in his deposition that he expressed an interest in meeting with a man named Stephen Harperat Howard’s home in Georgia in July 2021, following an exchange of messages between them.

Harper claims that when they met at Howard’s home on July 19, 2021, they kissed, but he denied engaging in a sexual act with the 37-year-old center and another friend and added that Howard verbally assaulted him. The complainant reported that he was frightened and felt confined in Howard’s bedroom believing that “will suffer bodily harm» if he resisted the American player’s wishes.

In his testimony, Howard said the three people “they agreed to touch each other and engage in consensual sexual activity” rejecting all of Harper’s claims that she intimidated him.

“A private consensual meeting was made public for profit and Mr Howard is eager to bring the truth to light in a court of lawsaid Justin Bailey, one of the veteran center’s attorneys. “Mr Howard blocked Mr Harper on social media and was then faced with two choices – pay to protect his reputation or publish a fabricated story, an easy target because of the subject matter and his celebrity status».

Olga Izmailova, a lawyer for Stephen Harper, said that the plaintiff’s side “fully expected Mr. Howard to raise the issue of consent in his answer. It has come to my attention that Mr. Howard is now attempting to characterize my client’s filing of this lawsuit as an act of extortion, which is absolutely false».

Howard played last season in Taiwan, however his attempt to return to the NBA for the new season was unsuccessful and he remains a free agent.