Ex-Notre Dame player guilty in sex case

A former Notre Dame football player accused of taking part in a rape with three teammates was found guilty of sexual battery Saturday night but was acquitted of the two most serious charges against him. After 91/2 hours of deliberations, a jury ruled that Abram Elam was not guilty of conspiracy to commit rape, and criminal deviate conduct. Elam, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 7 and faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was the only one of the four players not charged with rape. Elam was accused of holding the then-20-year-old woman down during the attack by three other former Notre Dame players. Elam, of Riviera Beach, Fla., testified Friday that he was embarrassed by what he did that night but said nothing the men did was against the woman`s will. "I don`t approve of the conduct performed that night," he said. "It`s morally incorrect. I apologize to my parents. I`m embarrassed for all I lost." Elam acknowledged he touched the woman`s body on more than one occasion during the early morning hours of March 28, 2002. He denied engaging in any other sexual acts. The woman told police she met the men at a bar, and they lured her to a house by saying there was a party there. She said she was raped repeatedly. Like Elam, receiver Lorenzo Crawford and safeties Donald Dykes and Justin Smith testified the acts were consensual. Crawford, Dykes and Smith face rape charges, as well as the same charges Elam faced. The four were expelled from Notre Dame for what the university called sexual misconduct.