Former NBA guard Ben McLemore has been handed a fairly large prison sentence after being convicted of rape earlier this week.
McLemore was officially sentenced to 100 months (eight years and four months) in jail by a Clackamas County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes reported. The news comes after McLemore was convicted by a jury last week on three total charges, including first-degree rape.
The charges stemmed from a Oct. 2021 incident at a house party in Lake Oswego, Ore. McLemore had been accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman at the party, which was held at the house of McLemore’s former NBA teammate Robert Covington.
The woman in the case testified that she had been drinking heavily at the party and passed out. She says that she then partially regained consciousness in the morning when McLemore sexually penetrated her with his fingers before proceeding to have sex with her. McLemore also testified that he had been drinking but claimed the encounter had been consensual.
In the end, Clackamas County Circuit Court found McLemore guilty on the charges of first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, and second-degree sexual abuse. McLemore was however found not guilty on a fourth charge (full details here).
Now 32 years old, McLemore played in college for the Kansas Jayhawks before going with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft to the Sacramento Kings. He spent nine total seasons in the NBA with Sacramento, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Portland Trail Blazers.
McLemore, who is set to serve his sentence in Oregon state prison, last played in an NBA game with the Blazers in Apr. 2022. He had since gone on to continue his pro career overseas, playing in China, Greece, Spain, and Turkey in more recent years.
