Derrick Washington, former U. Missouri tailback, was convicted of deviant sexual assault Wednesday evening after a two-day trial.

Washington began to cry shortly after the verdict was read and continued to cry until he left the courthouse.

“(Sexual assault) cases are very difficult and it’s hard for victims to come forward,” assisting prosecuting attorney Andrea Hayes said. “I hope this verdict helps other victims to come forward with their stories.”

Washington was accused in June 2010 of entering the victim’s bedroom while she was sleeping and performing digital penetration.

Sexual Abuse Nurse Examiner Christine Vogt testified for the defense and first examined the victim the day after the assault. She said there were no signs of trauma, though on cross-examination she admitted that there are frequently no signs of trauma.

But his defense attorneys claimed this was because what the victim was saying was not the way events took place.

“It is our opinion that this didn’t happen,” lead defense attorney Chris Slusher said during closing arguments.

One of the main questions in the case was if the victim was “lashing out” at the MU athletics department, according to Washington’s attorneys. She and her roommate, Lauren Gavin, tutored with the Total Person Program, which is a tutoring service for student athletes and described the environment as “sexually inappropriate.”

“(TPP) was kind of a free-for-all for those involved in the program,” Hayes said. “There just happened to be two people who thought it was inappropriate and voiced their opinions.”

A lack of evidence also played a role in the defense’s argument.

“There was no hair or fiber collection, no DNA samples and no prints lifted,” Slusher said during the trial.

MU Police Department detective Samuel Easley said it was common in sexual assault cases for no evidence to be taken.

“We didn’t take any evidence simply because there was no evidence to take,” Easley said during his testimony. “We took photographs of (the victim’s) room to show how the layout was, but that’s pretty much all we could take as far as evidence goes.”

Another large issue involved Gavin’s statement to police, which was changed a month after the assault. The defense claimed she changed her statement because she wanted to mend the then-broken friendship with the victim. Gavin admitted she withheld the truth because she was dealing with her own rape case, which was not pursued.

“(Having Lauren testify) was a Catch-22,” Hayes said. “It would have been incredibly key to have her actual testimony from the very beginning, but we had (to overcome) the obstacle that it was provided late.”

Hayes also said that Washington’s status as a football player did not affect the way she handled the case.

“It didn’t matter (to me) that it was Derrick Washington,” she said. “We had a victim who was very credible and a jury who took this case very seriously.”

Washington faces anywhere between one day and seven years in prison. A hearing regarding his appeal will take place at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 7. No date has been set for his sentencing.

Washington is also facing two counts of misdemeanor domestic battery in an unrelated incident. The court trial for that case is set to take place Sept. 30 at 1:30 p.m.