By Mason Kelley

GoHuskies.com

When Chris Petersen introduced the team from the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Washington's football coach made it clear Mark Larson, Lisa Johnson and David Martin were people who command attention.

“This is the real deal,” Petersen said. “These are people who have seen it all, heard it all.”

The group of guest speakers brought more than 70 years of experience into the Huskies' team meeting room to talk about sexual assault and domestic violence. Larson – the chief deputy of the criminal division – Johnson – supervisor of the special assault unit – and Martin – supervisor of the domestic violence unit – were on campus to have an honest conversation about uncomfortable topics, to provide guidance and advice about how to make choices that will prevent life-altering situations.

“I've been in this town for a long time, and a Husky fan for a long time,” Larson said at the start of the presentation. “I'm just going to tell you, we've never had an invitation anything like this before, to come and talk to a group of players, young men like yourselves.

“It says a lot about you, it says a lot about your program. It says a lot about your leadership, in my mind, that there's a group of people here who really want you to be educated. They want you to be informed about what the issues are, some of the hard topics we're going to talk about today.”

The subject matter was so important from both an education and awareness perspective, athletic director Jennifer Cohen sat in the meeting room with Washington's football players.

“We want you to be thoughtful as you navigate the world as Husky football players, as young men, as college students and as people entering into adulthood,” Larson said.

After Larson introduced his team – “I wanted to bring my very, very best” – Martin took the Huskies through a sobering presentation, talking about cases of both sexual assault and domestic violence, instances when athletes made headlines, not for their athletic endeavors, but for allegations that involve felony charges.

“This stuff is happening so often,” said Martin, who experienced domestic violence first hand growing up. “It's all around.”

Martin surfaced cases from universities across the country, stories that stack up over months throughout an academic year.

“This stuff is not distant from you,” Martin said.

As Martin clicked through headlines, photos, movie posters and book covers, the room was quiet. The information wasn't always easy to digest, but the severity of issues and the important of the topics sent a clear message.

“The profile of this issue is enormous,” Martin said. “This is not to suggest that you, as college athletes, are going to go out there and do bad things. We don't believe that at all. But you're all going to be making decisions. You're all high-profile people on campus. People look up to you. You're leaders.

“We're hoping a discussion about these things, a discussion about what the law is and an understanding the consequences will help you make better decisions.”

Johnson has spent about two decades in her role. She was frank in her explanation about what constitutes consent and what happens when one party in a sexual encounter doesn't provide it, or is incapable of giving it.

She explained to Washington's football players the ethical, moral and criminal implications of rape. She was direct and honest. She showed how one decision is capable of ruining both careers and lives.

“The law doesn't require a rapist to be a bad person or an evil person,” Johnson said. “The law doesn't discriminate. The law will apply to really good people who make bad decisions, bad decisions that may happen in a split second.”

Johnson talked to the athletes about anticipating situations, thinking about the implications of sexual scenarios in advance to be prepared, so they can avoid anything that could happen, “in the moment.”

In a second-degree sexual assault case, someone with no criminal history, faces up to 8 ½ years in prison. That is the scenario that becomes reality in the wake of poor choices.

Johnson, Martin and Larson were direct, because they needed their message to sink in around the room.

“Just the accusation alone is going to change your life,” Johnson said.

When the presentation was complete, Petersen delivered a summary, a baseline by which players can avoid all of the situations and scenarios presented by Johnson, Martin and Larson.

“At the end of the day, we just need to be good people and do the right thing,” Petersen said. “Just do the right thing. Be a real man.”