UNT Bans Student Convicted Of Rape

[TexasStooge]

DENTON, Texas -- In the wake of the University of North Texas student newspaper's story about a student's recent rape conviction in Oklahoma, the man has been banned from campus, school officials said.

Michael Stephen Mann, 27, pleaded guilty Oct. 1 as part of a plea agreement, said Suanne Carlson, an assistant district attorney in Oklahoma County.

When he is sentenced Dec. 15, Mann will be ordered to serve 90 days in the Oklahoma County Jail, followed by five years of probation. Then Mann must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Carlson said.

Until sentencing, he is not considered a sex offender, she said.

But Mann apparently kept attending classes at UNT in Denton, and his case was publicized this week after his victim called the student newspaper.

The North Texas Daily reported that the Oklahoma county clerk's office, at the request of prosecutors, is monitoring Mann by phone weekly.

UNT spokesman Roddy Wolper said that, as of Thursday, Mann was no longer a student at UNT. He declined to reveal the circumstances surrounding Mann's departure, citing federal student privacy laws, but said Mann will be arrested if he goes to the campus.

NBC 5 reported that Mann was expelled from the school.

In a statement released Thursday, UNT officials said they took action as soon as they learned about Mann's conviction, which was before the student newspaper article was published.

"UNT has a zero-tolerance policy for criminal activity, and it applies to all members of our community: students, faculty and staff," UNT said in the statement.

UNT is the only public university in Texas that requires prospective students to disclose any convictions, Wolper said. Mann was convicted after he was a UNT student.

Mann was convicted of the 1997 first-degree rape of Lindsey Askins, 24. Askins, who has filed a civil lawsuit against Mann, gave permission to use her name because she hopes her story will inspire others who have been assaulted to come forward.

The case first went to trial in February but ended with a mistrial because of a hung jury, Carlson said. Mann's attorney argued that the sex was consensual.

The district attorney's office accepted the plea bargain because of concerns that Mann might go free otherwise, Askins said.

Neither Mann nor his attorney could be reached for comment.