Maryland man convicted of sex crime in Johns Hopkins fraternity rape case

By John Clarke

Washington (Reuters) - A Baltimore jury convicted a man on Thursday in connection with the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl at an off-campus Johns Hopkins University fraternity house party in November 2014, officials said.

Ethan Turner, 20, was convicted of second-degree sexual offense and second-degree assault, according to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. He was acquitted on a charge of second-degree rape.

Chaz Haggins, 22, was also charged in the case. He pleaded guilty last week to rape and will serve five years in prison.

Attorneys for the two men, both of whom are from Reisterstown, Maryland, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Neither men attended the university, the school said.

The victim told police she was forced to perform sex acts and was later raped by two men during a party at the off-campus Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, according to charging documents.

The victim had been drinking and had a blood alcohol level of 0.11 when taken for treatment at a hospital, police said. Legal intoxication in Maryland is a blood alcohol level from 0.04 to 0.08.

College sexual assault has drawn increased national attention after a debunked Rolling Stone article purported to detail an alleged 2012 gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity. The pop culture magazine has been sued for defamation over the story.

Turner is set to be sentenced on April 7.

A spokesman for the fraternity's national headquarters said the Johns Hopkins chapter had since been closed because of health and safety violations.

(Reporting by John Clarke in Washington; Editing by Curtis Skinner and Peter Cooney)