ALBANY, N.Y. -- “Imagine waking up on a Monday morning, going to work, coming home from work and then having the police show up on your front door, and you're suddenly accused of something you didn't do,” said Lee Kindlon, Evan Hymes’ attorney.
He claims that’s what happened to Hymes, a former Siena College basketball player.
“I'll say this as a father who’s brought my own sons to watch him play: He's innocent,” said Kindlon.
Hymes is charged with first degree rape from an alleged incident that occurred at the end of July with his ex-girlfriend. Kindlon says the victim’s ex-boyfriend reported the incident three and a half weeks later.
“This was just a relationship that he had. It ended. It didn’t end with any acrimony. It just ended, and all of a sudden, these things came up a month and a half after the fact,” said Kindlon.
He believes this is a case of taking advantage of the positive image his client has had in the Capital Region for years.
“I think this is gross character assassination,” Kindlon said, "because she knows who he is. She knows that he got some notoriety in the community. She knows he's a valued member of Siena's community, and just to do this could be the ultimate payback in terms of being scorned."
Although Hymes was released from custody on bail Tuesday, Kindlon says it’s now time to move forward in proving his innocence on a charge that could have him facing up to 25 years in prison.
“If this is an opportunity for everybody to sit down and discuss the criminal justice system and what can happen to an innocent person, then I encourage those conversations,” Kindlon said.
A future court date has not yet been scheduled. The assistant district attorney prosecuting this case did not make herself available to the media for comment after Wednesday's hearing.
Time Warner Cable News has filed a request with the police to get a copy of the incident report in this case. We'll bring you new developments in this story as they come into our newsroom.