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Philadelphia Eagles player Joshua Sills has been acquitted of charges of rape and kidnapping by an Ohio jury following a five-day trial. Prosecutors had alleged that Sills picked up a woman against her will in his truck and sexually assaulted her. The jury acquitted Sills after a three-hour deliberation period. After the acquittal, Sills was allowed to rejoin the Eagles by the NFL and expressed his vindication at being proven innocent.
According to the prosecution, Sills met with a woman and her cousin at a few bars with other friends. The collective knew each other from high school. The victim, who remained anonymous during the prosecution and was referred to as MM, and her cousin were offered a ride home by Sills in his pick up truck. The cousin, named Breanna Woods, took the stand and stated that Sills had groped MM’s legs on the way home.
As the trio reached Woods’s house, Woods went into the home while MM stayed in the truck with Sills. Woods stated that she fell asleep without suspecting anything and woke up the next day to find MM visibly shaken and upset. Prosecutors alleged that Sills had restrained the woman and forced her to perform oral sex while the defense argued that the act was consensual. The Jury decided that Sills was innocent and referred to MM as ‘the girl who cries wolf’.
Sills said, “I have done nothing wrong, and I am glad that was proven today.”
Sills to rejoin Eagles as NFL remove player from exempt list
Josh Sills has been on the NFL’s exempt list for a few months, since February. After his acquittal, the NFL published a statement that read, “We have notified the Eagles that Sills has been removed from the commissioner's exempt list and is eligible to join the club.”
Sills’s defense attorney Michael Connick stated, “[Mr Sills will now] be able to build his football career and grow as a person and be successful in all of the things that he chooses to do. It's unfortunate he was accused of this. It cost him a Super Bowl appearance. He will move on and live his life in a very honourable fashion.”
The Philadelphia Eagles stated that Sills would rejoin their active roster and travel to meet up with the team. He was an undrafted free agent that joined the team in 2022
