Woman who accused Nelly of rape says she won’t testify
The woman who accused rap star Nelly of raping her in Auburn after a concert is dropping her pursuit of criminal charges, her lawyer says.
Karen Koehler, the woman’s lawyer, issued a statement Friday afternoon saying that her client wanted to stop the investigation and would refuse to testify in King County court.
“She wishes she had not called 911 because she believes the system is going to fail her,” Koehler wrote.
The woman told police about 3:45 a.m. Oct. 6 that she had been sexually assaulted aboard the rap star’s tour bus, parked at the 700 block of Outlet Collection Drive Southwest at the time.
The 42-year-old rapper born as Cornell Haynes Jr. was booked into jail on suspicion of second-degree rape and released later that afternoon.
The night before, he had performed with country act Florida Georgia Line in a concert at the White River Amphitheatre.
Nelly has three Grammy awards, including for the song “Hot in Herre,” the best male rap solo performance award-winner in 2002.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Woman who accused Nelly of rape says she won’t testify."