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Suspended UNC football player alleges biased magistrate issued sex assault warrant

A former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football player claims he's facing a sexual assault charge only because the magistrate that issued the warrant backs sex assault victims.

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HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — A former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football player claims he's facing a sexual assault charge only because the magistrate that issued the warrant backs sex assault victims.

Delaney Robinson, a rising junior from Apex, swore out warrants last fall charging Allen Anthony Artis with misdemeanor sexual battery and misdemeanor assault on a female. She said he raped her in an apartment at the Ram Village complex on Valentine's Day 2016, and she told police she thought she had been drugged before the alleged assault.

WRAL News usually doesn't identify the victims of sex assault, but Robinson took a public stand on her case, saying UNC officials and local law enforcement had dragged their feet and were slow to press charges in the case.

Artis insists that he never assaulted Robinson and that they had consensual sex.

A trial is set for July, but Artis' attorneys filed a motion last week to have the charges dismissed for lack of probable cause. The motion states that probable cause to issue a warrant must be made by a "neutral and detached judicial official" but that that magistrate who issued the warrants in the case was affiliated with an organization that supports sex assault victims.

Orange County District Judge Charles Anderson said Friday he would rule on that motion and others filed by the defense next month.

Anderson did agree during a pre-trial hearing with a defense request that Robinson not be referred to during the trial as a victim. The judge said that is standard procedure.

"This has just gone on too long, too long. It's hurting both sides. It's painful to watch. It has to end," defense attorney Kerry Sutton said after the hearing, much of which she and fellow defense attorney Stephen Lindsay spent behind closed doors with the judge and Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall.

UNC-Chapel Hill's Title IX compliance coordinator determined in April that Artis didn't violate the school's sexual misconduct policy, and school administrators subsequently upheld the ruling, dismissing Robinson's appeal.

Artis, a senior from Marietta, Ga., was suspended from the football team after the charges were filed.

Lindsay said he is trying to determine if there's a way to provide Artis with another year of eligibility once the case is resolved.

"These sort of circumstances, regardless of whether you've taken a side or a position, it's difficult for everyone involved," Lindsay said.

"It’s been a long process, and we’re just trying to get it resolved," Artis said.

Robinson and her family and attorney declined to comment.

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