SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah State University football star Torrey Green has filed an appeal. This comes nearly a year and a half after Green was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison.
Green is accused of sexually assaulting or raping seven women.
Six of those cases were consolidated in 2019. The seventh and final rape trial is set for January 2021 due to COVID19 restrictions.
What Green was sentenced more than a year ago, his father Clinton said he couldn’t believe what the prosecution was saying about his son.
“He called him a serial raper and that is not so,” said Clinton. "He’s not no raper—I defend that.”
In his appeal, Green’s lawyers call out Prosecutor Spencer Walsh for making statements that “evoked racial fears and stereotypes.”
The appeal also calls the evidence used in the case “inadmissible hearsay.”
“How can you say his character doesn’t matter and their character matters?” said Clinton. “There’s no evidence of what they’re saying.”
Cache County Attorney James Swink said appeals like Green’s are very common.
"Mr. Green is looking at substantial incarceration and he will make any arguments he can to overturn any jury verdict,” said Swink.
Making an appeal, said Swink, is part of the justice system proving defendants multiple opportunities to make sure justice is served.
“The process is working, it is providing a fair system for the defendant to offer their case and to cross examine people, witnesses against them,” said Swink. “All of the constitutional rights that he has been afforded and he’s had a fair day in court.”
Though DNA evidence wasn’t provided by each woman who accused Green, Swink said they had substantial evidence.
“We know in rape and sexual assault cases that is rarely acquired and that’s because of the nature of the offense, the delay in reporting of that and getting examinations,” said Swink.
The testimony of the victims was strong evidence, continued Swink, strong enough that the jury and judge believed them.
“It’s not easy to hear the kind of evidence that comes out because it hurts to hear that someone would hurt other people,” said Swink.
The State will work alongside the Attorney General’s Office to write a response against the allegations made in the appeal.
Once that’s submitted, it will be set before an appellate court.
