Ex-USU linebacker ordered to stand trial on final sex assault charge

LOGAN, UT (KSL) — A former Utah State University linebacker facing allegations of sexually assaulting seven women has been ordered to stand trial on the final charge left undecided after a preliminary hearing earlier this year.

In a conference call Tuesday, 1st District Judge Brian Cannell bound over Torrey Green, 23, on a charge of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, prosecutor Barb Lachmar confirmed.

The judge’s decision came after a three-day preliminary hearing in March, closing arguments in April and additional written arguments filed by attorneys over the past several weeks.

Cannell had already ordered green to stand trial six counts of rape, a first-degree felony; two counts of object rape, a first-degree felony; and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

The charges are currently split between seven separate criminal cases, though preliminary hearings for the charges were done jointly.

During the hearings, seven women testified that they met Green while he was playing football at USU between 2013 and 2015. Four of the women connected with Green on the Tinder dating app. One met him at a party. Green walked up and introduced himself to two more on campus.

The women said Green made a good impression during their initial conversations, on several occasions talking warmly about his family, and then quickly pushed to spend time with them. But the first time each of the women was alone with Green, they described how he wouldn’t listen as they told him to stop kissing, touching or undressing them.

In order to argue at trial that Green has followed a pattern as he allegedly assaulted each of the women, prosecutors are seeking the ability to introduce evidence from all of the cases at each of Green’s seven separate trials under a “doctrine of chances” motion. Lachmar said a schedule was set Tuesday for attorneys to make written arguments about the issue, which will be heard during a hearing on Aug. 3.

Green, who is from Rubidoux, California, graduated from USU in early 2016 and was signed as a rookie linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons. He was dropped by the NFL team in August after the sexual assault allegations began to surface, and he is currently being held without bail in the Cache County Jail.