The trial began with a question to the judge about the admission of an audio recording of Cook’s July 1 interview with Tallahassee police investigator Jerritt Federico. Patel and McCall wanted to suppress the recording because they felt it undermined Cook’s choice to exercise his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. Aikens listened to the recording out of earshot of the gallery – and without the jury in the courtroom – and ruled in favor of the defense. But Dugan would find a way to get the words Cook said to Federico in front of the jury later in the trial by walking Federico through the interview. By the time McCall objected, prompting a lengthy sidebar followed by a recess and another sidebar, Dugan had allowed the jury to hear that Cook denied being involved in any kind of argument to Federico in spite of the fact that teammates Rudolph, quarterback Deondre Francois and receiver Da’Vante Phillips would later tell Federico and the jury that, like them, Cook was involved in an argument with Geohegan.
Dugan had scored points earlier in the trial as well. She started off by guiding Geohegan through the timeline that night, and Geohegan’s testimony suggested alcohol had not impaired her memory as much as the defense wanted the jury to believe. Geohegan conceded points – her intoxication, shoving Rudolph – before the defense could attack them.
The entire mess began with an unwanted advance followed by a poor choice of words in response. The witnesses all agreed that as patrons poured out of the bar following closing time, Phillips, a freshman receiver, asked Geohegan if she had a boyfriend. Geohegan responded that she did have a boyfriend. Though she had not revealed his identity at this point in the argument, that boyfriend is Auburn cornerback T.J. Davis, who like Geohegan grew up in Tallahassee. According to Geohegan and the players who testified, Phillips then made reference to her dancing with a man in the bar. Geohegan said her angry denial caused Phillips to call her a “ho.” Geohegan testified that she responded with something to the effect of “Your mother is a ho.” That set off Phillips, a Miami native who lived with Cook’s grandmother after Phillips’ mother was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2013. All the parties agreed the argument escalated from there.
All parties also agreed that Cook initially tried to play peacemaker. Where those stories diverge is what happened after Geohegan made contact with Rudolph. She said she shoved him. Though Rudolph didn’t mention a punch when he initially spoke to TPD’s Federico, he, Phillips and Francois all testified Monday that Geohegan punched Rudolph in the back of the head when he turned away. Phillips – the player neither Rudolph nor Francois told Federico was there -- testified Monday that after that moment, all four players walked across a street. But in a recorded interview with Federico on July 20, Phillips said he and Francois led Rudolph away while Cook stayed behind and screamed at Geohegan. “It was screaming as in putting sense in your head screams,” Phillips told Federico in the interview.
Geohegan and her friend, Keara Lubeskie, testified that Cook then punched Geohegan in the mouth. They both testified that Lubeskie jumped in between Cook and Geohegan and that the other players grabbed Cook, who flailed at Geohegan with more punches. The players, meanwhile, said Cook punched no one.
The defense helped its case midway through the trial when Tallahassee police officer Matthew Smidt, who was dispatched after Geohegan’s 911 call, expressed disbelief that a punch in the mouth from the 215-pound Cook would cause only a split lip and no major bruising. “To me, no it did not look like she got hit by a fist in the face,” Smidt testified. That defense momentum was short-lived, though. Federico was the next witness on the stand, and the introduction of Cook’s statements – as well as Federico’s observation that Cook wouldn’t look him in the eye – seemed to give the prosecution an edge.
Dugan also made up some ground on a problematic issue when Federico calmly explained how Geohegan identified Cook, whom she had not met before the night in question. She had not given the police an ID on that night. Smidt testified that he called up Florida State’s roster on his laptop, but after about 45 seconds of looking through thumbnail images, Geohegan and Lubeskie could identify only Rudolph, the one player Lubeskie knew previously. Geohegan had testified that several days later she had seen Cook again at a club called The Mint and that he had smirked at her when they made eye contact. Lubeskie had followed Rudolph on Instagram, hoping to find a photo of the man they believed punched Geohegan. They found one that included Cook. Lubeskie sent it to the police, and Geohegan sent it to her father, who she described as a Florida State fan. Geohegan’s father said the person looked like Dalvin Cook. Later, Federico would show Geohegan a photo lineup that included driver’s license photos of six men. All six men had similar skin tones. All had similar facial hair. All had dreadlocks. Federico testified that Geohegan pointed immediately to Cook’s photo. Later, the defense would challenge the photo lineup because Cook was the only player pictured who was involved that night.
The strangest moment of the trial came when the defense called Grant Jenkins, a Florida State finance major. Jenkins claimed he watched the entire argument while a homeless man kept talking to him about “suing New Zealand.” Jenkins claimed that at one point, he moved between the parties in an effort to stop the argument. Jenkins came to the defense’s attention because of a (since-deleted) Facebook post he made after reading an ESPN.com story about the charges against Cook. Jenkins also claimed that no one from TPD or the state attorney’s office tried to contact him before his interview with the state attorney’s office last week. After Jenkins testified that he had never received a call or voicemail from TPD’s Federico, Dugan pressed him. Jenkins then said if Federico left him a voicemail, it was unopened. Dugan then recalled Geohegan, who said she’d never seen Jenkins, and Federico, who confirmed that he had an outgoing call on his cell phone matching Jenkins’ number. How did Federico find the number? The number and the name “Grant” were given to him, Federico said, by the litigious Kiwi-hater Jenkins described.
In their closing statements, the attorneys asked the questions that had been floating around the courtroom throughout the trial.
Dugan:
What would Geohegan have to gain other than citywide scorn by taking her accusation all the way to trial?
Someone punched her, and the defense hasn’t offered a plausible alternative. If Cook didn’t do it, who did?
Why did the players change their stories between meeting with police and testifying at trial?
McCall:
How could a musclebound college athlete punch a small woman multiple times and only cause a split lip?
How could two admittedly intoxicated people remember events in such great detail?
Aikens finished his instructions and sent the jury to deliberate at 7:10 p.m. By 7:33, word spread through the halls that the jury was headed back to the courtroom. Everyone reassembled. The judge told Cook to stand. The verdict was passed to the judge, who passed it to the clerk and told her to publish it.
Minutes later, Cook stood outside the courtroom flanked by Patel and McCall. “I’m just thankful and blessed the truth came out,” Cook told reporters. Patel wouldn’t allow Cook to answer a question about Geohegan’s possible motive for making the accusation, nor would he allow Cook to answer a question about why he originally told Federico he wasn’t involved in any argument outside Clyde’s and Costello’s. Patel would allow Cook to answer a question about resuming his football career. “It’s time to go to work,” Cook said. “Back to the field.” Less than two hours after the verdict, Florida State announced that Cook’s indefinite suspension had been lifted. He’s expected back at practice Tuesday. The Seminoles open Sept. 5 against Texas State.
A few minutes later, Cook and his legal team walked through a corridor in the basement of the courthouse. A Leon County sheriff’s deputy who had been manning a metal detector noted the exiting men in suits and nodded. “Y’all have a good one,” the deputy said. Then a day that began with Cook listening to the clank of nearby prisoner’s chains ended with him walking into the sticky twilight completely unfettered.
