Georgia man who accused NBA star Dwight Howard of sexual assault withdraws lawsuit

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man has dropped his sexual assault lawsuit against former NBA star Dwight Howard after Howard's lawyers claimed the man deleted text messages indicating the encounter was consensual.

Stephen Harper dismissed the lawsuit in a brief in Gwinnett County court on Tuesday. The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning he cannot refile the suit.

No reason for the dismissal was given in the filing. Harper's lawyers Olga Izmaylova and Sadeer Sabbak did not respond to phone or email messages on Thursday.

Justin Bailey, Howard's attorney, said his client has not paid Harper or reached any other kind of agreement with him. He said Howard did not want to comment on the firing.

Bailey referred to court documents he filed in July accusing Harper of deleting text messages and providing a false account of his conversations with Howard about the 2021 sexual encounter at Howard's Georgia home. Howard's lawyers said the missing messages showed Harper had consented to the encounter and planned to “expose” Howard after Howard stopped responding to his advances.

The lawsuit sought sanctions against Harper and his lawyers, including paying Howard's legal fees.

Gwinnett County police said Harper filed a police report nearly a year after the encounter, but then failed to meet with any detectives despite repeated attempts to schedule an interview.

Howard played for the Atlanta Hawks during the 2016–2017 season.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.