Monday, January 13, 1997

Irvin's attorney wants names of rape suspects protected until charges

By STEFANI G. KOPENEC / Associated Press Writer (Jan. 13, 1997)

DALLAS (AP) - The names of suspects in rape cases should be protected like those who lodge such complaints, the attorney for Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin said Sunday.

Royce West's remarks came two days after police cleared his client, saying a woman's rape allegations involving Irvin and teammate Erik Williams were unfounded.

"I believe that just like the victim of a sexual assault's name should not be released, I don't believe that the suspect's name should be released until such time as that person has been formally charged," West said during an appearance on "Good Morning America Sunday."

Nina Shahravan, a former topless dancer, filed a police report Dec. 30 accusing Irvin of holding a gun to her head while Williams and a third man who was never identified raped her in Williams' home the night before.

Irvin and Williams denied the allegations and were never charged.

A police source told The Associated Press that Shahravan signed a confession recanting the allegations.

A woman who answered the telephone at Shahravan's parents house Sunday said, "I'm sorry I can't talk right now." She hung up after refusing to identify herself.

Police said they were considering charges of filing a false police report against Shahravan, but no action had been taken by Sunday afternoon. If convicted, she could face up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

West called Shahravan a "pathological liar" whose accusations could have a chilling effect on other women who may allege rape at the hands of a famous person.

"I think the first thing that people will say (is) that 'Uh oh, here we go again, here's another rush to judgment, and the credibility of the victim, who may very well have been the victim of the assault, will very well be questioned, and very well scrutinized," he said.

Attorneys for the players' have criticized police handling of the investigation, taking particular aim at an impromptu news conference Dec. 31 that police have said was necessitated by an onslaught of media requests.

Before going to police, Shahravan told her story to a local television reporter, who sent her to the police then confirmed the allegations and aired them.

Police spokesman Ed Spencer said Sunday that the department is comfortable with how it handled the case, including releasing the suspect names on the police report - a decades-old policy.

"Our intention from the first day was to do it as we would any other investigation," Spencer said. "We also made every effort to follow our policies in terms of being accountable to the public in terms of the press by providing the information that we could on this, that includes both our comments and the public record documents that we provided."

Police Chief Ben Click declined an interview request from the AP.

But he told The Dallas Morning News, "The issue of the complainant originally going to a member of the media made it more difficult for us to try to manage the information."

West said Sunday on NBC's "Today" program that police initially "jumped the gun."

"Thanks to Chief Ben Click here, they were able to right that course and the investigation did, in fact, have integrity built back into it," he added.

West also took aim at the media, whom he said exhibited "a rush to judgment."

Irvin has urged the press to use the same aggressiveness in reporting the outcome as it did in reporting the allegations.

"Rerun it, rewrite it, reprint it," he said. "Just like you did, with the same intensity that you did - the same intensity. Don't lose the intensity. Don't lose the intensity."

West said he hoped the story would be carried on a day when it receives more widespread attention. Police announced the findings of their investigation late Friday.

"I would hope that this is the lead story next week on some of the major newscasts such as yourself and in some of the major media in terms of newspapers and radios next week," West said.

During his weekly television show on Sunday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he "regrets the perception that our off the field issues have caused."

"One of my big goals in 1997 is to give our fans a better feeling about the direction that the Cowboys are going in terms of how sensitive we are in what we want to do about the negatives and black marks that we've gotten off the field," Jones said.