After being found guilty on one of two counts of sexual assault, Sam Ukwuachu was sentenced to six months in jail followed by 10 years of probation.
On Friday, the days after delivering the conviction, the jury of the 54th State District Court in Waco, Texas recommended eight years of probation, The Waco Tribune reported. The jury reportedly deliberated on sentencing for three hours and rejected the prosecution's recommendation of a long prison sentence.
Judge Matt Johnson ultimately decided to give Ukwuachu the maximum sentence for a conditional probation, 180 days in county jail. Johnson also ruled the former Baylor and Boise State football player must perform 400 hours of community service, The Tribune reported.
The victim, a female former student-athlete at Baylor University, accused Ukwuachu of raping her in Oct. 2013 and she also contends the school did not help her after reporting the crime. For example, she testified during the trial that BU did not take Ukwuachu out of any classes they shared, so she took it upon herself to alter her schedule.
Ultimately, she said she transferred to another school in Texas to avoid the possibility of randomly running into Ukwuachu on campus.
Ukwuachu was indicted in June 2014, which likely held him off the Baylor University (BU) football roster last season. Despite the public record of the charges, neither school administrators nor football personnel shared the specific reason for why their touted transfer defensive end would not be playing.
At the time, BU football personnel alluded to an unspecified legal matter Ukwuachu was going through that they wanted to see resolved before reinstating him. Meanwhile, Ukwuachu earned his undergraduate degree from BU and began taking graduate school courses.
According to The Tribune, Ukwuachu pleaded not guilty at his trial and maintained he only had consensual sex with the female student. He also reportedly wept openly when the jury delivered the guilty verdict.
