A.J. Johnson and Michael WilliamsKNOXVILLE — A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams, two players suspended from the University of Tennessee football team in November amid a police investigation into an alleged rape and sexual assault, were indicted by a Knox County grand jury on Thursday.
David Eldridge, the attorney for Williams, a sophomore walk-on cornerback, confirmed his client’s indictment to the Times Free Press.
“I can confirm that a presentment was returned against Michael charging him with rape, that he has turned himself in and was released on bail,” Eldridge said.
Johnson’s attorney, Thomas Dillard, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that his client also was indicted.
“We’re making plans for him to surrender,” Dillard told the KNS.
Dillard did not return a message from the Times Free Press seeking comment, and two calls to the Knox County district attorney’s office also were not returned.
Eldridge released the following statement to the Times Free Press on Williams’s behalf: “Michael Williams is innocent of these charges. He cooperated fully with the Knoxville Police Department’s investigation, and is disappointed in the decision to pursue criminal charges against him. He will vigorously defend these charges in court and is confident that when all the evidence is presented there, he will be exonerated.”
The case finally went before a grand jury this week, nearly two months after the Knoxville Police Department completed its month-long investigation into accusations by a 19-year-old woman, who alleges she was raped by Johnson and Williams in a Knoxville apartment the night after the Volunteers beat Kentucky.
The two players missed the final three games of Tennessee’s season while under suspension. Johnson graduated in December and has been preparing for the NFL draft in Florida. He’s on the invitation list for the NFL’s draft combine in Indianapolis later this month.
Williams remains enrolled at Tennessee, but he was not listed on the football program’s roster on UT’s official athletics web site.