Sex assault charge against ex-Seton Hall basketball standout dropped as trial nears
Sexual assault charges against Michael Nzei, 28, now an executive with Goldman Sachs, were recently dropped.
Mike Nzei
- Thread starter SPK145
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Mike is a great kid. Smear job by an absolute garbage newspaper.
Thankfully he kept moving forward and didn’t let this keep him down. Now, it’s rightfully in the rear-view mirror.
What are you talking about? They reported he got off, had interview with his lawyer. Seem pretty straight piece to me.
Not sure why this is a smear job. He was charged with a crime. That’s factual. The Prosecutors office ultimately dismissed the charge right before trial. That’s a fact. Seems like neutral and standard reporting.
Question is why did the charges get dropped at this late juncture. Did victim no longer wanted to proceed? Did the Prosecutor’s office discover new evidence?
Sexual assault charges against ex-Seton Hall basketball star Michael Nzei dropped days before trial
Sexual assault charges against former Seton Hall basketball star and current Goldman Sachs exec Michael Nzei have been dropped days before trial was set to begin.
www.nydailynews.com
So I was a prosecutor and this is just my opinion based on my own experience in bringing cases forward and taking them to trial. Additionally in full disclosure I never worked in a SVU unit so this is also based on second-hand knowledge based on what I’ve learned about these cases from other prosecutors who have investigated and tried them.
Sexual assault cases are IMO the hardest to win convictions on, because so many of them are “he said, she said” that come down to the credibility of the victim. In this particular case, it is undisputed that the alleged victim and Nzei had sex. The proofs apparently included the alleged victim having injuries on her face. The alleged victim says Nzei assaulted her. Nzei’s contention is that it was a consensual encounter and she asked for it to be rough. Nzei was likely going to have to testify in his own defense, and on cross examination he was going to be confronted with the fact that he gave the police a false statement, and said that he initially didn’t know/remember the alleged victim. It’s certainly possible that Nzei genuinely did not remember, but it wasn’t going to look good in front of a jury.
That said, they pushed forward with the case and indicted him on very serious sexual assault charges. The State then signed a trial memo and felt that it could win a conviction at that time. It is unusual for the State dismiss an indictment, especially as serious as this one, mere days before trial.
The only reasonable explanations that I can think of are either 1. The State found some background information about the alleged victim which undermined her credibility, or that she made the whole thing up. 2. The alleged victim came in during trial prep and recanted her story or 3. The alleged victim went AWOL shortly before trial, and the State could not reach her and thus could not proceed with the case.
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Seems really odd he went from being home with covid during Christmas to out and having a lady over for rough sex. Random Friday or Saturday night sure can be mistaken, but I think most people remember what they did on Christmas.
if someone has been drinking they might not remember anything. even if they weren't blackout the memories are gone days later.
does Nzei have any family in america? he might be a loner on holidays .
Sorry tough for me to forget I had covid New Year’s Day 2022. My sister didn’t come over for Christmas 2022 because her entire family had covid. Seems odd to forget what you did Christmas or Christmas Eve, especially when it’s a sickness you were told to quarantine if you tested positive. Maybe a lot of people do forget that stuff.
The prosecutor decided to drop the charges against Mike. Case closed. That’s all that matters.
Sadly and unfairly it will likely trail him on the internet for a very long time.
I don't care what a judge, jury or prosecutor has to say. Those people don't always get it right. I just hope he is truly innocent. To me that's all that really matters.
Sounds like the prosecutors got it wrong in the first place to even bring the charges.
You’ll never know. So you have to rely on the discretion that the prosecutor showed. As Thomas Jefferson is rumored to have said, better that 12 guilty men go free than one innocent man loses his liberty.
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