Iowa State men’s basketball: Bubu Palo defamation case date set

Former Iowa State men’s basketball player Bubu Palo is countersuing the woman who accused him of sexual assault, and a date has been set for next September.

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Palo is suing the accuser on grounds of defamation. He filed it back on May 16, and after an attempt from the accuser and her mother to dismiss it on violation of the right to petition under the first amendment, that was denied over the summer.

From the Iowa State Daily:

"According to court documents, as a result of defending himself against false allegations, Palo has incurred substantial costs and expenses and filed a petition against defendants for abuse of process, defamation and tortious infliction of emotional distress on May 16."

Back in May 2012, Palo and his friend, Spencer Cruise, allegedly had sex with the woman forcefully after meeting up with her outside of Cy’s Roost, a bar on Welch Avenue in Ames. Criminal charges were eventually dropped due to tampering with the evidence.

"Palo was criminally charged with second degree sexual abuse in September of 2012, but the criminal charges were dropped after forensic analysis concluded that a tear in the woman’s blouse, which she claimed was torn during the assault, had been tampered with after her encounter with Palo and his friend."

Other details were released in mid-September. Palo, Cruise, and the accuser all went to the same high school together and both Palo and the accuser had consensual sex throughout the fall of 2010. The problem was that on that May 2012 night, the accuser didn’t want to have sex with Cruise and just expected to spend the night with Palo.

After that event took place, Palo allegedly came into the room and had sex with the accuser afterwards. The woman didn’t agree to it verbally but also didn’t display a lack of consent. However, the details also show that she was in shock after the alleged assault by Cruise.

Another problem is that things aren’t completely clear because everybody was drunk. The whole situation has been an ugly mess for all parties involved, and it will be well over a total of three years before a weird night is sorted out.

It did prevent Palo from playing last season. He was found guilty under Iowa State University’s code of conduct, but the decision was overturned and eventually Palo was eligible to play.

However, head coach Fred Hoiberg never played him, likely giving Palo an opportunity to get an extra year of eligibility and play elsewhere. Palo was going to transfer to Colorado State in mid-June, but then decommitted just weeks later.