Grand jury decides not to indict six UK football players involved in frat party fight

A legal matter that has kept six University of Kentucky football players away from the program since fall camp has been resolved.

A grand jury on Tuesday decided not to indict on burglary charges six players — RJ Adams, JuTahn McClain, Andru Phillips, Earnest Sanders, Vito Tisdale and Joel Williams — who were originally charged in late August. The grand jury also decided not to indict on a wanton endangerment charge that was filed against Tisdale.

The players will be permitted to return to practice immediately, UK spokesperson Susan Lax told the Herald-Leader. Head coach Mark Stoops was scheduled to address members of the media following UK’s practice Tuesday night.

“The process worked the way that it was supposed to and we got the outcome that was just and correct,” said Charles Grundy Jr., Phillips’ attorney. “It wasn’t as speedy as we would like for it to be, but we got the correct result.”

The charges were placed on the players about five months after an altercation at a frat party near UK’s campus. Student conduct records obtained by the Herald-Leader showed alcohol and racial slurs “played a significant role” in the escalation of the altercation.

Records: Racial slurs ‘played a significant role’ in UK players’ fight with fraternity

The players were allegedly told they weren’t welcome at the party, according to court and student conduct records. Racial slurs were allegedly directed at some of the players, who left but later returned with more people. They allegedly forced their way into the home and got into a fight that ended with multiple people injured.

Some people attending the party said females were hit during the fight, according to student conduct records. Tisdale was charged with wanton endangerment because he was accused of bringing a gun and pointing it at people.

A student conduct review was conducted to figure out who violated UK student policies. Ten individuals were charged with at least one student conduct violation. Six people were found not responsible for any of their respective university charges.

Some of the student conduct violations were related to UK’s COVID-19 policies. The fraternity throwing the party, Alpha Sigma Phi, was placed on probation after the university discovered the frat broke several university rules.

No gun was found on a person even though Tisdale was accused of having one, according to available police reports. All reports of “a gun or guns” were hearsay, so the UK hearing board determined that “there was not a preponderance of evidence to say with certainty that (the football player) had a gun.”

Prior to Tuesday, the six players had been suspended from the team while the legal process was ongoing. Stoops said he was going to let the legal process “play out” before bringing the players back.

Grand jury will hear cases of six Kentucky football players charged with burglary