A somber Nathan Fletcher, wearing a dark suit, stood silently next to his attorney in court on Thursday at his first appearance on charges that he groped women on BYU’s campus earlier this year.
John Allan, Fletcher’s lawyer, said there’s a substantial amount of evidence he’s waiting to see and asked that the next hearing in the case — where Fletcher will say whether he wants a preliminary hearing — be set for July 17. Fletcher faces two class A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery. He has been banned from Brigham Young University’s campus and kicked out of school.
Fletcher has been charged in two groping incidents, though there were more than 16 that BYU police have said were committed by the same man between January and mid-March.
Allan said based on the evidence he has seen, he’s confident in his ability to defend his client because it doesn’t match up. Allan said that in one of the cases — based on the little evidence he’s seen — the groper is described as 6 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 4 inches (Fletcher is well under 6 feet tall) and wearing lime green shorts. Ten minutes later and a mile away, Fletcher is seen on video running at the Smith Fieldhouse on the BYU campus.
There may be more evidence, and Allan said he’d like to see what it is and what other groping victims have alleged. He also wants to know why prosecutors have only charged him with the two cases.
“I’m at a loss here,” Allan said.
He said Fletcher feels beat up. Now that Fletcher’s been kicked out of school, he’s been trying to find a job but hasn’t been able to because of the case.
“This has obviously been devastating,” Allan said.
Fletcher will be in court at 9:30 a.m. July 17.