Jury Rules in Favor of Hornet Owner

A jury in Columbia, S.C., found in favor of Charlotte Hornet owner George Shinn on Friday in a lawsuit by a woman who accused him of forcing her to have sex.

The decision in the two-week civil trial ended Leslie Price’s more than two-year fight. She was seeking monetary damages and contended Shinn sexually assaulted her at his Tega Cay home in 1997.

The jury decided in less than two hours. Shinn’s lawyer, Bill Diehl, jumped from the defense table when the verdict was read. Price nodded her head at the decision.

“He’s gotten away,” a tearful Price said later. “I didn’t let him get away. He didn’t pay me off. . . . I have been browbeaten to settle, and I wouldn’t do it.”

Shinn was not in court for the verdict. His lawyer said he had gone to Charlotte on business.

“I am personally very sorry for the embarrassment that these absurd accusations caused my family, friends, employees and the people of Charlotte,” he said in a statement through the Hornets. “We all have made mistakes during our lifetime, and this is one that I hope everyone will allow me to put in the past.”

Shinn had admitted a sexual encounter with Price, but said it was consensual. Prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.

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