USC Football Recruit Will Answer Assault Charges Before Grand Jury

Antione Simpson, the USC football recruit charged last week with sexual assault, will testify before a grand jury in Houston later this month or in early July.

Kent Schaffer, Simpson’s attorney, said all “eight or nine” people at a May 29 party where a 15-year-old girl says Simpson and a friend took turns restraining and assaulting her will testify on Simpson’s behalf. “Everyone who was there, except for the girl, supports Antione’s version of the events, not the girl’s,” Schaffer said. “No witness supports the girl’s story.”

The possible prosecutor in the case, Harris County (Tex.) attorney Jane Waters, did not return calls Thursday.

Simpson, a 6-foot-2, 280-pound defensive end at La Porte High, was named the greater Houston area’s defensive player of the year last season by the Touchdown Club of Houston.