A Georgia man, suing Dwight Howard for sexual assault, claims the former NBA star is attempting to dismiss the case by presenting questionable text messages.
In an affidavit obtained by RadarOnline.com, accuser Stephen Harper vehemently denies the authenticity of the numerous text messages submitted by Howard in December.
According to Harper’s legal team, the “questionable” evidence suggests the alleged victim expressed interest in a threesome involving a man dressed as a woman named “Kitty.”
“Defendant Howard appears to be perpetuating the tired excuse that Mr. Harper was somehow asking for it,” the scathing court documents stated. “In an attempt to bolster his position, Defendant Howard submits questionable ‘evidence’ which conveniently surfaced just in time for filing Defendant Howard’s Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“However, the authenticity of this text exchange between Defendant Howard and Mr. Harper is in question.”
Howard’s attorney, Justin Bailey from Goede, DeBoest & Cross PLLC, strongly denies Harper’s legal team’s allegations. Bailey insists that the key text messages submitted as evidence were directly extracted from Howard’s iPhone.
“If anyone can tell me how anyone could hack into a phone platform and add messages to a text chain that were never sent that would be an interesting concept for me,” said Bailey. “That is what they are essentially alleging is that somehow Mr. Howard went back in time and added text messages to a text chain and that is not possible.”
He added: “These messages were pulled from the iMessage history.”
In July, RadarOnline.com had previously reported that Harper filed a lawsuit against Howard, alleging that the basketball star coerced him into an unwanted threesome with someone named Kitty.
Howard refuted Harper’s claim in a 57-page brief, presenting text messages where Harper allegedly acknowledged the threesome and later expressed interest in the basketball star.
But, in crucial five-page affidavit, Harper denied sending certain text messages, marking a significant turn in the narrative.
“Exhibit 4 does not accurately depict the text message conversation between myself and Dwight Howard,” Harper stated. “Specifically, Defendant’s Exhibit 4 appears to have been altered to include a text message that I never sent to Dwight Howard.”
“I never said that I wanted to have a threesome with Dwight.”
Harper’s legal team argues that Howard’s summary judgment request is premature, highlighting the absence of “meaningful”evidence discovery.
According to his lawyers, Olga Izmaylova and Sadeer Sabbak, Harper has subpoenaed his cell phone carrier for certified records.
“This case has nothing to do with unrequited love,” Harper’s lawyers argued.
“This case is about a sexual predator, who does not seem to understand that ‘no’ means ‘no.’ The reality is Defendant Howard sexually assaulted Mr. Harper and now, wants everyone to believe the assault was consensual.”
