A jailed University of Michigan professor and his husband, accused of drugging and raping a man in 2010, won’t fight extradition on charges they face in Texas.

David Daniels, a 52-year-old opera singer, and William Scott Walters, a 36-year-old conductor and singer, both of Ann Arbor, waived their right to extradition hearings during brief appearances in Washtenaw County Trial Judge Carol Kuhnke’s courtroom Friday, Feb. 1.

Within 14 days, they’re expected to be transported to Houston, where each will face charges of sexual assault. If convicted, they could face prison sentences of up to 20 years.

The charges were filed Jan. 29, the same day Ann Arbor police arrested the men. They were being held without bond pending extradition.

“Mr. Daniels and Mr. Walters have waived their rights to contest extradition and look forward to defending the charges in Houston, in a courtroom where facts matter,” said Matt Hennessy, the Houston-based attorney who is representing the couple. " ... Neither of our clients are flight risks and, more importantly, they are innocent ... Holding them without bond makes no sense.”

Mugshots from Washtenaw County Jail

Daniels and Walters, whom Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg married in 2014, were investigated by the Houston Police Department after baritone singer Samuel Schultz came forward with sexual assault allegations in a story published by the New York Daily News on Aug. 22, 2018.

He claimed Daniels and Walters drugged and raped him following a Houston opera performance of “Xerxes," in which Daniels starred, in May 2010. The allegations involve a closing night party held at Daniel’s Houston apartment.

Schultz claims he awoke the following afternoon in a strange bed, disoriented, in pain and bleeding from the rectum.

“I was raped,” Schultz said in a statement posted on his personal website. “Pause and contemplate those three words. I certainly have as I have been living with that reality since 2010, while I was pursuing my master’s degree, when a celebrated opera singer and his boyfriend raped me.”

Schultz declined comment in the wake of the arrests and decision to charge Daniels and Walters. The couple maintain their innocence.

“David and Scott are innocent of any wrongdoing,” said Matt Hennessy, the Houston-based attorney representing the couple. "Sam Schultz is not a victim. He never would have gotten this much attention from his singing, and he knows and resents that fact.

"He waited eight years to complain about adult, consensual sex to ride the #MeToo movement to unearned celebrity. We will fight this.”

The statute of limitations for sexual assault in Texas is 10 years.

The University of Michigan hired Daniels to teach opera classes in 2015 and the Board of Regents voted to grant Daniels tenure in May, less than two months following an anonymous complaint of sexual misconduct filed by a University of Michigan student.

It’s not clear whether the Board of Regents were made aware of the misconduct claims made against the professor.

The anonymous student claimed Daniels offered to pay him for sex over Grindr, a phone application designed to facilitate sexual encounters, in March. Pittsfield police investigated the matter, but found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Text messages, video and photos collected by police, however, validate the student’s claim that Daniels, using the screen name GoBlue, solicited him sexually, with the knowledge that the accuser was a student.

According to police records obtained by MLive, the University of Michigan Office of Institutional Equity, which investigates sexual misconduct allegations on campus, was aware of the claims made against Daniels. The student filed his anonymous claim on March 29, and it was closed April 4.

It’s not clear what the university concluded or whether action was taken against Daniels at that time.

“We don’t discuss specific matters,” university spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen said in an email to MLive. "Generally, when we receive an anonymous report that neither identifies the person reporting or the person who may have experienced the reported conduct, it is incredibly difficult to gather additional information in order to pursue a full investigation through (the Office of Institutional Equity) or the police.

“That said, we do attempt to gather information and investigate or review the allegations through a variety of means.”

Every report received involving allegations of sexual misconduct is carefully reviewed for appropriate action -- which could include action by UMPD or referral to other police agencies, and/or could include action by the Office for Institutional Equity.

Daniels took paid leave in August, following publication of the Houston rape allegations.

Daniels is also named in a federal lawsuit filed in October by former student Andrew Lipian against the university. Lipian claims he was invited over to Daniels' apartment to watch “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” in March 2017, and was sexually assaulted after being given bourbon and tricked into taking sleep medication.

Daniels called Lipian’s allegations “fake and malicious" in a counter claim filed in December.

The university has declined to comment on the arrests, or whether it plans to take any disciplinary action against Daniels.

“We will continue to closely monitor the situation as we determine the appropriate next steps,” university spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen said following the professor’s arrest.