Minnesota- A judge today dismissed all three indecent behavior charges against former Minnesota Vikings star Daunte Culpepper, ruling the prosecutor did not have enough solid evidence to bring the case to trial.
But Hennepin County District Judge Kevin Burke allowed charges against football player Moe Williams to stand. Williams is set to face trial on indecency charges April 18.
In dismissing the charges against Culpepper, the judge granted a dismissal motion from defense attorneys, who argued prosecutor Steve Tallen lacked probable cause to charge Culpepper.
Burke said a second Culpepper motion for dismissal based on racial discrimination was moot. Culpepper's attorney had argued Tallen selectively prosecuted the players because they are black.
Both Culpepper and Williams were accused of indecent conduct, disorderly conduct and lewd or lascivious conduct stemming from an Oct. 6 Vikings players' boat party on Lake Minnetonka.
Culpepper and Williams were alleged by the crew to have received lap dances, but the two insisted they were named simply because they were more recognizable than others on two boats chartered from Al & Alma's Supper Club and Charter Cruises. The allegations, they said, were false.
Williams testified in court last week that he did see naked women dancing and that some players received lap dances, but he didn't know who they were. Williams said a woman danced next to him as he stood outside a bathroom, but there was no touching involved. Culpepper said he played dice during his entire time on the boat, and declined offers for a lap dance.
Tallen, representing the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District, said he brought the charges because crew members, many of them young, had not been expecting to see lewd dancing and strippers mixing with patrons. He said the crew were the true victims.
Indeed, Williams said on the witness stand that he was aware of a female bartender who was offended by some of the behavior, and he demonstrated how the woman lowered her head and used her hand to shield her eyes while she poured drinks.
About 90 people were aboard the boats for a party rookies held for veteran players. The resulting criminal complaints also alleged a third player, Bryant McKinnie, performed and received oral sex; and that a fourth, Fred Smoot, used a sex toy on two women. Smoot's case is set for trial May 2. McKinnie's is set for May 22.
Culpepper and Williams had chosen to defend themselves together, hiring well-known Twin Cities criminal defense attorneys Earl Gray and Joseph Friedberg, respectively, to plead their cases.
Culpepper is now with the Miami Dolphins, and Williams is a free agent. Smoot and McKinnie are still Vikings players.
