Johnathan Turner, a former Ranger (Texas) College basketball player on probation for manslaughter, is now facing a felony sexual assault charge, Outside the Lines has learned.
Officials at the Eastland County jail, in Eastland, Texas, said Turner was arrested Tuesday by Ranger city police on the campus of Ranger College and was still being held on $300,000 bond as of Sunday night. Turner was charged with second-degree felony sexual assault and third-degree felony obstruction and intimidation. Details of the incident and the alleged victim were not available Sunday night. But officials said that they expect his probation for manslaughter to be revoked as he awaits prosecution on those two charges.
Turner, 22, was featured in an Outside the Lines report last year about a fight he had with his best friend and roommate, Troy Causey Jr., that left Causey dead in 2014. Both were promising high school basketball players, living in the home of a Dallas woman in violation of state residency rules for high school students. The night they fought, Turner punched Causey, and Causey struck his head on the street outside the house. Causey died the next day. The case exposed widespread Dallas high school recruiting violations and caused 15 Dallas Independent School District employees to lose their jobs.
It was never in dispute that Turner punched Causey, causing his death. Turner turned himself in to police and said he had punched Causey during a fight that had started over a video game. But he said he never struck Causey after he fell. Under Texas' mutual combat laws, that could mean Turner might not have committed a crime.
But the initial Dallas police investigation and the autopsy report from the Dallas County medical examiner's report determined that Turner must have struck or kicked Causey after he fell, causing a second injury, and the Dallas district attorney's office charged Turner with first-degree murder. All the eyewitnesses interviewed by detectives, however, supported Turner's version of events and said no one struck Causey after he fell. With no witnesses willing to testify against Turner, he ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was given a seven-year suspended sentence that was set to expire in 2022.
Turner went on to play basketball at Ranger College, a junior college, where the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 13 points and 6.4 rebounds this season. Causey's mother, Tammy Simpson, organized several rallies to demand justice for her son, and even protested one of Turner's games at Ranger College.
ESPN producer Simon Baumgart contributed to this report.