HOUSTON — A grand jury decided Friday not to indict Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson on criminal charges of sexual assault or harassment.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office presented nine criminal complaints against Watson to a grand jury.
After hearing six hours of testimony, grand jurors returned nine “no bills,” meaning there will be no criminal charges.
“This is definitely a very emotional moment for me,” Watson said after the hearing.
Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, released the following statement.
“We are delighted that the grand jury has looked at the matter thoroughly and reached the same conclusion we did. Deshaun Watson did not commit any crimes and is not guilty of any offenses. Now that the criminal investigations have been completed, we are happy to move forward with the civil case depositions. We will vigorously defend those cases with every ounce we have. There were no crimes here but there is a plaintiffs’ attorney churning up negative press and churning up his clients hoping for a pay day. These cases have been the product of a lawyer maximizing his own personal publicity at the expense of others, including his own clients.”
Attorney Tony Buzbee said earlier that some of the 22 clients he is representing testified before the grand jury.
A total of 10 criminal complaints were filed with the Houston Police Department.
“After a Harris County grand jury was presented all the evidence and had the opportunity to hear from all witnesses, grand jurors declined to indict Deshaun Watson. Grand jury proceedings are secret by law, so no information related to their inquiry may be disclosed ,” said Dane Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
While the criminal investigation is over, the civil suits against Watson still linger.
He’s been sued by 22 women on allegations of sexual misconduct and — in a few cases — sexual assault.
Watson was deposed by Buzbee Friday morning. The deposition was over by midday and Hardin said Watson pleaded the fifth, as expected, meaning the defendant didn’t have to answer questions.
Before the hearing, Buzbee said they were hoping for some answers.
“Well, you don’t plead the fifth unless you think you’re gonna incriminate yourself, so if you did nothing wrong, you shouldn’t plead the fifth,” Buzbee told us before the deposition. “The two women that we’re going to talk about have not made any criminal complaints. There should be no reason whatsoever he can’t answer questions about what happened.”
Hardin has called the lawsuits “a money grab.”
We’ll have team coverage on the legal proceedings beginning on KHOU 11 News at 4.