Peter May On The Mercer Trial

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                                [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
                                [Boston Globe Online / Sports]

                

                                Deadlines set in suit against Mercer,
                                others

                                By Peter May, Globe Staff, 05/20/99

                                A federal judge yesterday set
                                deadlines for depositions and
                                other motions in a woman's civil rights
                                suit against Celtics guard Ron Mercer,
                                former Celtic Chauncey Billups, and a
                                friend of Celtics forward Antoine Walker.
                                The case, however, will not go to trial
                                until well into next year.

                                Mercer, Billups, and Michael Irvin are
                                charged by a plaintiff whose name has not
                                been made public in a case filed a year
                                ago. Documents have been sealed and
                                impounded, but yesterday's routine
                                scheduling conference before Judge Richard
                                Stearns was open to the public. No
                                criminal charges are pending against the
                                three.

                                Stearns ordered discovery completed by
                                Nov. 30. Additional motions are due Dec.
                                30. At that point, Stearns said he would
                                set a schedule for taking depositions from
                                expert witnesses.

                                Walker was originally named as a defendant
                                in the case, but was dropped by Stearns in
                                a recent ruling. It was in Walker's
                                Waltham townhouse that the woman alleges
                                she was raped by Billups, Mercer, and
                                Irvin. Stearns's ruling last year cleared
                                Walker of any liability; the judge ruled
                                no law obligated Walker to stop what he
                                did not believe was necessarily
                                non-consensual sex.

                                The plaintiff has testified before Stearns
                                that the incident occurred Nov. 9, 1997.
                                She said she socialized with the men at a
                                club and that Irwin, who was Walker's
                                roommate, invited her back to Walker's
                                townhouse. The plaintiff and Walker had
                                previously dated.

                                When she arrived at the townhouse, the
                                woman said she was taken to a bedroom and
                                raped by the three men.

                                PETER MAY

                                This story ran on page D7 of the Boston
                                Globe on 05/20/99.
                                © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.