Johnson County prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to dismiss three felony sexual battery charges against Jackson Mahomes stemming from an incident last year at an Overland Park restaurant.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Meghan Ahsens cited an ongoing lack of cooperation with the alleged victim as a reason for moving to dismiss the charges.
Mahomes, the younger brother of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual battery, all felonies, and a fourth misdemeanor count of battery.
Mahomes would still face the misdemeanor charge, according to prosecutors’ motion, because it involves a different victim.
A preliminary hearing for Mahomes is set for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Johnson County District Courthouse in Olathe.
The alleged assault occurred in February
Mahomes was originally arrested last May in connection to an incident that occurred at Aspens Restaurant and Lounge, 6995 W. 151st St., in February 2023. (The restaurant has since closed.)
The restaurant’s owner, Aspen Vaughn, publicly accused Jackson Mahomes of assaulting her and a waiter in an account first published by the Kansas City Star in March of last year.
Surveillance video from the restaurant’s office area provided to the Star and later circulated on social media at the time appeared to show Mahomes grabbing Vaughn’s neck and kissing her.
Vaughn told the Star that Mahomes’ behavior was unexpected and shocking, and she believed he was intoxicated.
In a statement at the time, Mahomes’s attorney said his client had “done nothing wrong” and that they were gathering evidence, including the accounts of several other witnesses that refuted Vaughn’s allegations.
Victim has not cooperated with investigation, prosecutors say
In this week’s motion, Johnson County prosecutors said that Vaughn, only referred to in the motion by her initials, would be asserting her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination if compelled to testify against Mahomes.
An affidavit from the victim’s attorney — and attached to the state’s motion included in online court documents — stated that “she would say that she had not been truthful to the police and that the encounter with the defendant was consensual.”
Still, prosecutors said they were prepared to move forward with the case given that “victims recant or become uncooperative for a host of reasons and that does not mean that the original account … was inaccurate.”
Ahsens’s motion also cited the fact that the alleged assault was “captured in its entirety” by surveillance cameras.
But prosecutors say Vaughn has not been served with a subpoena, despite multiple attempts by investigators late last year.
Through conversations with multiple people in contact with Vaughn, prosecutors say the victim is “actively thwarting attempts to serve her to avoid coming to court.”
Affidavit says victim “will not cooperate”
The attached affidavit from Vaughn’s attorney is dated Nov. 29, 2023.
In it, Vaughn swears to several statements, including that she does “not want to cooperate with the State in prosecuting the matter and wish[es] the matter be dismissed as to anything involving me.”
The affidavit says Vaughn would invoke her 5th Amendment privilege if compelled to testify.
It also avows that Vaughn “never contacted law enforcement when the alleged acts occurred.”
