Suffolk DA drops case against noted NBA skills trainer
Robert McClanaghan was charged last November
Suffolk prosecutors on Wednesday dropped the case against high profile NBA skills trainer Robert McClanaghan who had been charged with allegedly drugging and raping a woman at a Boston hotel.
Suffolk DA Keven Hayden’s office said in a release Wednesday it had filed a nolle prosequi with the court — which translates from the Latin to “not to wish to prosecute,” according to Cornell Law School’s Wex Law Dictionary — effectively ending the case.
“Rob and his family are relieved that this nightmare is over,” said defense attorney Kelli Porges. “He has maintained his innocence from the beginning.”
In the filing with the court, Hayden’s office stated “the Commonwealth has determined that it cannot prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.”
”Our responsibility in all cases is to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Hayden’s office said in the announcement. “In some cases that endeavor does not add up to a viable prosecution. We have a duty to recognize that conclusion and to take the appropriate action when it is reached. We have taken that appropriate action today. Out of respect for the privacy of all parties involved we will have no further comment.”
McClanaghan of Warwick, R.I. who goes by Rob Mac on social media, is a noted NBA skills trainer who has worked with the likes of the Golden State Warriors’ star Stephen Curry, who wrote the forward to McClanaghan’s book, “Net Work: Training the NBA’s Best and Finding the Keys to Greatness.”
McClanaghan was arrested and charged on Nov. 18 after authorities say they were contacted by a victim on Nov. 4, according to a bail appeal document, who alleged she awoke bleeding and bruised and with little memory after accompanying the trainer to his hotel room.
McClanaghan’s bail was reduced earlier this year when toxicology reports returned that showed no presence of any date rape drugs in the victim’s system.
Defense attorneys in their appeal appeal motion wrote that the toxicology report from the state lab — which was under seal and impounded until trial — “indicates therapeutic levels of alprazolam and amphetamines inconsistent with producing the results/effects described by the complainant.”
Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine drug, which is used to treat anxiety, most well-known under the brand name Xanax, according to the Mayo Clinic. Amphetamines, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, are prescribed medically to treat ADHD under brand names including Adderall and Ritalin.
In addition to the state lab tests, the defense dismissed the photographic and video evidence that police and prosecutors used to back up the case.
“The Commonwealth represented the video from the hotel bar shows the defendant sprinkling something into the complainant’s drink,” Porges wrote in the memo. “However, the video unequivocally shows the complainant watching the defendant jokingly and in full view pretend to put something in her drink to which she slaps his hand away, laughs and continues the date.”