UCLA punter Adam Searl won't face rape charges after investigation

LOS ANGELES -- No criminal charges will be filed against UCLA punter Adam Searl over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women, prosecutors said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office rejected the case on Aug. 11 for lack of evidence, according to a document provided by the prosecutor's office Wednesday.

"Adam has maintained his innocence from the start and could not be happier to have his name finally cleared," said Mark Hathaway, one of his lawyers.

The decision came nearly a year after Searl's arrest.

"It's sad," Hathaway said. "The kid's name is in Sports Illustrated, they walk him off-campus, he's arrested publicly."

Searl was allowed to continue classes at UCLA and will graduate next year, the attorney said.

UCLA reinstated Searl for spring practice after it became clear that he would not be charged earlier in the year.

Searl, a walk-on for the Bruins, was arrested a year after another student reported that she became drunk at a party in October 2014 and blacked out, to wake up in her own nearby apartment with Searl on top of her "taking her clothes off," according to a DA's office charge evaluation worksheet.

The woman claimed she blacked out a total of three times but remembered part of a sexual encounter and later found three used condoms, according to the report.

Searl's DNA was found on the condoms, the report said, but a lengthy investigation failed to find evidence to show the woman was too drunk to consent to sex. There also was some evidence indicating she led Searl to her apartment, the report said.

Prosecutors also rejected charges involving a woman who claimed that Searl sexually assaulted after she became intoxicated at a party in February 2014.

The report said the woman failed to report the alleged attack for nearly a year and eight months, until she heard about Searl's arrest.