Mbakwe Facts (according to Myron)

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dingo

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Myron tries to lay out all of the facts in the Mbakwe case. The more I read the more I believe Maturi made the correct decision, no matter how unpopular.

Star Tribune Mbakwe details
 

those details...

Those details dont look good but he is still innocent til proven guilty. That being said I agree with Maturi's decision.

:( :( :(
 

I am with Maturi. He had no choice.

It looks like the testimony of the roomate's girfriend is key, since she is contradicting what his attorney says four others can verify. His dodging from town the next day looks pretty incriminating.

Isn't Trevor bigger than 190? I suspect the 6-6 could be any number of basketball players. 6-6 190 sounds about as generic as you get for high level basketball.
 

Holy Man said:
Isn't Trevor bigger than 190? I suspect the 6-6 could be any number of basketball players. 6-6 190 sounds about as generic as you get for high level basketball.
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That's the one part that seems a bit iffy. Anybody who has seen Mbakwe would have a hard time saying he weighs anywhere close to 190. Granted she was under distress but that argument is a two-sided sword since that also puts her entire description of him under question.
 

Could a 6-6, 190 lb waif inflict that type of damage?
 



I think most people who don't watch a lot of sports would have trouble estimating heights or weights. This effect is even more pronounced when the difference between the observer's height and weight and that of the observed is quite large. Obviously this doesn't mean that Trevor did it, but I don't think you can discount the claim simply because she estimated 190. I know that if I asked my wife to estimate Al Jefferson's height and weight she would be much farther off than I would be, especially if she didn't have 9 other hoops players to compare against.
 

His Miami Dade roster listed him at 6'8" 240, so if she was looking at pictures she could have taken the height and weight figures too. I want to know more about physical evidence, not who can verify his location. I don't remember exactly where I was that night. Is it up to him to prove where he was? Hopefully he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those court filings obviously don't tell the whole story. The victim seems fairly convinced because of the phone messages to the police reporting "sightings" near her complex that she identified the correct person.
 

goldybobblehead said:
His Miami Dade roster listed him at 6'8" 240, so if she was looking at pictures she could have taken the height and weight figures too. I want to know more about physical evidence, not who can verify his location. I don't remember exactly where I was that night. Is it up to him to prove where he was? Hopefully he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those court filings obviously don't tell the whole story. The victim seems fairly convinced because of the phone messages to the police reporting "sightings" near her complex that she identified the correct person.
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6'6" 190 is nowhere near to 6'8" 240. Someone who is that tall and only weighs 190 pounds looks nothing like someone with just a couple extra inches but 50 more pounds.

That being said, you can't really argue with Maturi's decision.
 



Maturi had no choice. At this point it would be best for Trevor and for the program for him to redshirt, have the trial in December, and quickly get to the point where all parties can move on (hopefully he is not guilty of the actual crime).
 



Reading Myron's timeline of events makes it a little easier to accept Maturi's decision. While it's still quite likely then Trevor was mistakenly ID'd, the evidence as presented by Myron doesn't make it seem as much of a slam dunk as it did when it came out in bits and pieces.
 



The biggest revelations:

  • Mbakwe didn't have a schedule full of internet classes
  • Mbakwe did, in fact, depart Miami immediately after the assault had occurred
  • The cause for Mbakwe's departure was definitely related to the assault

It comes down to this: do you believe that Trevor departed Miami because he was being threatened?
 

I don't understand

If TB didn't attend a single class after the incident because he came back to Minnesota, how was he able to finish those classes, get a passing grade, become admitted to Minnesota, and then enroll in classes here? Was it all online classes? Is it that easy these days?

Fleeing to Minnesota within hours of the incident sure looks incriminating to me.
 

I strongly support Mr. Maturi on this decision. I struggle a bit with the "innocent until proven guilty" aspect of all of this, but this is the right move for our academic institution.
 

Of course Maturi made the right decision. If Trevor is innocent - I really feel bad he is going through this but Maturi has to think of the rest of the players, the program and the University.

I think it killed him to make this decision but it was the right one.
 

No Redshirt

Juicer said:
Maturi had no choice. At this point it would be best for Trevor and for the program for him to redshirt, have the trial in December, and quickly get to the point where all parties can move on (hopefully he is not guilty of the actual crime).
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He can't redshirt. He's got three years to play yet for some reason. He already played one year at Marquette and another at Dade--no redshirt for him available. As I read it, it doesn't look like he'll ever play for the Gophs.
 

principalguy said:
He can't redshirt. He's got three years to play yet for some reason. He already played one year at Marquette and another at Dade--no redshirt for him available. As I read it, it doesn't look like he'll ever play for the Gophs.
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Why can't he redshirt?

2006-2007: H.S. Senior
2007-2008: Freshman at Marquette - played 11 games
2008-2009: Sophomore at JUCO - played several games
2009-2010: Junior at Minnesota

He has 3 years to play 2 seasons for the Gophers. He has yet to use a redshirt.
 

principalguy said:
He can't redshirt. He's got three years to play yet for some reason. He already played one year at Marquette and another at Dade--no redshirt for him available. As I read it, it doesn't look like he'll ever play for the Gophs.
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Of course he can redshirt. He has 3 years to play 2. Of course, if he's guilty that becomes a moot point.
 

I thought it was fairly obvious that Maturi made the right decision. Tubby is in the process of making us a very strong basketball program, and the Mbakwe case could really blown up on Maturi, Tubby, and the entire athletic department. I always took the stance that if Maturi had any doubt of Mbakwe's innoncence, he needed to suspend him this season.

However, there are a few things to keep in mind....

#1: The fact that the woman described her attacker as 6'6" 190 lbs looks worse than it really is. This is a woman who probably has seen a handful of people over 6'4" in her life, and of those people she has never been asked to guess a weight of that person. She probably thought he is super tall, and he isn't a big dude.

#2: If Mbakwe's flight occured as it is being laid out by the article it does look really bad. I would have a few questions however...had Mbakwe been questioned by police prior to threat, or was he aware he was a suspect? It is a reasonable defense to argue that you left town because you were afraid that you were going to get into trouble, even if you were innocent.

#3: Almost all of this evidence looks circumstantial. It is the type of case that their would typically be a plea deal, however TM loses a lot more than almost any other defendent in his shoes (for the same crime). Mbakwe can't really plea to a lesser crime and survive the court of public opinion (or expect to play at any University). Therefore the case will likely go through the entire trial and it is especially difficult to get a conviction without any physical evidence. The entire case hangs on circumstantial evidence (flight, didn't come home), witness credibility (his 4 witnesses), and the reliability of her identification (late at night, her inaccurate measurements, numerous other males fitting description at the complex). I really think it is a tough case for the prosecution to win. (I'm not rooting for him to walk if he did it, if he really did it I hope the kid spends a long time in prison and never gets to play ball again).

#4: You have to keep in mind that all of these "facts" are from the State's side of the story. I am sure Myron got his info from public documents, well the defense's side of the story is not public. He merely can keep his mouth shut, say I have 4 witnesses, and take it to court. That is precisely what has happened.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
#2: If Mbakwe's flight occured as it is being laid out by the article it does look really bad. I would have a few questions however...had Mbakwe been questioned by police prior to threat, or was he aware he was a suspect? It is a reasonable defense to argue that you left town because you were afraid that you were going to get into trouble, even if you were innocent.
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I don't believe so. Here is the original article from Marcus Fuller that broke the news. It quotes the police report: "Several attempts were made to locate the def(endant) with negative results. Further investigation revealed the def(endant) departed the state and returned to his mother's home in Minnesota."
 

I see a lot of reasonable doubt in what's been laid out so far.
 

There certainly is a lot of reasonable doubt, but this case will be tried in the South where little is reasonable...
 

Plinnius said:
I don't believe so. Here is the original article from Marcus Fuller that broke the news. It quotes the police report: "Several attempts were made to locate the def(endant) with negative results. Further investigation revealed the def(endant) departed the state and returned to his mother's home in Minnesota."
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The thing about him leaving is that it looks bad but I can easily see an innocent guy doing it. Remember that this is a small JUCO and it seems like this apt building wasn't just a student one. Since this woman knew the basketball team had a party, its reasonable to assume that she knew someone on the team or people who knew the team. I can easily see her finding Trevor's picture and telling a friend the name of the guy she thought did it and that info spreading quickly. Lets also remember that Miami is a rough city and we don't know anything about this woman. It could've easily been a situation where a friend approached Trevor and said 'this girl is saying you did it and now her cousins are looking for you' and he got shook and split town.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
#4: You have to keep in mind that all of these "facts" are from the State's side of the story. I am sure Myron got his info from public documents, well the defense's side of the story is not public. He merely can keep his mouth shut, say I have 4 witnesses, and take it to court. That is precisely what has happened.
Click to expand...

This is incredibly important. I was obviously disgusted by the Dom Jones et. al. incident, but it really bothered me that so many 'Holers were using the prosecution's complaint as gospel. Keep in mind, even though the prosecution is typically portrayed as "the good guys," they are trying to win the case and keep quiet the strongest of arguments for the defense. For all we know, one of Mbakwe's alibi witnesses was a local pastor or something. There are a lot of reasons for the prosecution to go through with a case having only circumstantial evidence, politics being the most likely.
 

There is nothing conclusive in the "facts" about the guilt or innocence of Trevor's. It is just unclear if Trevor is innocent or guilty. I am sure there will be more facts coming out later upon which we can form better opinions. Right now, Trevor has a strong case with the four witnesses for his alibi as there seems to be no physical evidence against his innocence. That is about it, sounds to me.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I thought it was fairly obvious that Maturi made the right decision. Tubby is in the process of making us a very strong basketball program, and the Mbakwe case could really blown up on Maturi, Tubby, and the entire athletic department. I always took the stance that if Maturi had any doubt of Mbakwe's innoncence, he needed to suspend him this season.

However, there are a few things to keep in mind....

#1: The fact that the woman described her attacker as 6'6" 190 lbs looks worse than it really is. This is a woman who probably has seen a handful of people over 6'4" in her life, and of those people she has never been asked to guess a weight of that person. She probably thought he is super tall, and he isn't a big dude.

#2: If Mbakwe's flight occured as it is being laid out by the article it does look really bad. I would have a few questions however...had Mbakwe been questioned by police prior to threat, or was he aware he was a suspect? It is a reasonable defense to argue that you left town because you were afraid that you were going to get into trouble, even if you were innocent.

#3: Almost all of this evidence looks circumstantial. It is the type of case that their would typically be a plea deal, however TM loses a lot more than almost any other defendent in his shoes (for the same crime). Mbakwe can't really plea to a lesser crime and survive the court of public opinion (or expect to play at any University). Therefore the case will likely go through the entire trial and it is especially difficult to get a conviction without any physical evidence. The entire case hangs on circumstantial evidence (flight, didn't come home), witness credibility (his 4 witnesses), and the reliability of her identification (late at night, her inaccurate measurements, numerous other males fitting description at the complex). I really think it is a tough case for the prosecution to win. (I'm not rooting for him to walk if he did it, if he really did it I hope the kid spends a long time in prison and never gets to play ball again).

#4: You have to keep in mind that all of these "facts" are from the State's side of the story. I am sure Myron got his info from public documents, well the defense's side of the story is not public. He merely can keep his mouth shut, say I have 4 witnesses, and take it to court. That is precisely what has happened.
Click to expand...

What about the bike? Any description? Color? Type? Did he own one or have easy access to one of the type the assailant was using? Did he get rid of a bike quickly before leaving Miami?

Anyone know?
 

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