Former Louisville football player Kemari Averett will not be indicted on rape charges after a Jefferson County grand jury declined charges Monday.

The grand jurors heard testimony from Averett and other witnesses Monday morning before deciding against indicting him on charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault.

"I feel awesome somebody finally believed my side of the story, because everyone was against me," Averett said on Monday. "But I know God helped me out today and just let the truth come to the light today."

Marit DeLozier, the assistant commonwealth attorney assigned to the investigation, said she "felt the case should be presented." But she has no intentions of presenting other charges to a different grand jury and respects the decision.

"I think that any time there are such serious allegations and there is evidence that it in fact occurred ... whether or not that is enough to overcome our burden in the grand jury or trial, it’s my duty to go forward if I have a good-faith basis that there is enough evidence," she said.

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The decision comes about four months after the Courier Journal first reported that a 20-year-old female student had filed a rape complaint with the U of L police department against Averett on Oct. 9, alleging that he raped her at his apartment on Aug. 14.

Averett, 20, was later suspended and barred from campus after a student-conduct investigation concluded there was enough evidence he did commit the alleged rape. He is no longer enrolled at the school nor a member of the football program.

Averett has denied the allegations and maintained his innocence throughout, claiming that the sex was consensual. His lawyer, Aubrey Williams, said that was the impet for allowing him to appear alone before the grand jury on Monday.

"As any defense lawyer will tell you, it is very risky to put your client before the grand jury," Williams said. "… But I believed and I was confident in the truth and the honesty and the integrity of this young man, and the way he described to me what happened."

Monday's decision also comes just three days after Averett filed a lawsuit against the University of Louisville and his accuser, claiming his constitutional rights were violated during the university's investigation into the allegation. He also alleges defamation of character and discrimination based on his gender. He is seeking $15 million in damages.

Williams doubled-down against the university on Monday, saying U of L "panicked as a result of the 'Me Too Movement'" in making its decision to bar him from campus. Williams vowed "to do everything in my power to make them pay."

"My client has been irreparably harmed by this painful and tragic ordeal, all of which could have been avoided if the athletic department had not thrown him to the wolves and breached their moral obligation to defend him, or at the very least, conduct some kind of investigation before abandoning him," Williams said.

A university spokesman said the school is aware of the suit, but that officials typically do not comment on pending litigation. He declined to respond to Williams' comments, saying, "It would not be appropriate to engage the former student’s attorney in a discussion on this topic in the news media."

Averett has been homeless in Detroit since he was kicked out of school, Williams said, adding that his client wants to play football again.

"I’ve spoken with coaches, I’ve told them what I thought. They’re just waiting to see what the outcome would be," Williams said, without naming any specific teams.

Averett was indefinitely suspended Oct. 16 from the football team, one day after he was arrested following a separate incident involving a gun. After the arrest, the Courier Journal reported the existence of the rape complaint.

A no-contact order was issued to Averett and the woman on Oct. 8, five days before Averett, a starting tight end, played in Louisville's road game against Boston College.

Averett's accuser told police she went to his home at the off-campus Clubhouse Apartments at 4 a.m. on Aug. 14, according to university records obtained by the Courier Journal.

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While she was at work the previous night, she noticed Averett was posting "sad things" on Snapchat that hinted of suicidal thoughts, she told university officials. They talked before she went to the apartment. Once there, she fell asleep in his bed with her clothes on.

She told campus police that about three hours later, she was overpowered, pinned down and raped by Averett. She said she told him "no" at least three times.

"I told him very firmly that I didn’t come there to have sex with him," she told authorities, adding that Averett persisted. She said she continued "to tell him no and to stop."

The woman reported the incident later that day at an on-campus sexual assault crisis center and was examined by a certified sexual assault nurse who prepared a rape evidence kit, records show.

The Courier Journal typically does not identify those who say they are sexual assault victims.

Last week Averett released a statement describing his version of the alleged incident. He described a casual sexual relationship between he and the alleged victim, her repeated text messages and advances after he indicated he wanted to just be friends, and hinted at an apparent motive for her claim after he told her that he may have a child on the way with another woman.

"I had no clue she was going around saying she got raped!" his statement concluded.

Also:Kemari Averett, banned from campus, no longer with Louisville football

Averett does face criminal charges in the separate incident. On Oct. 15 he was arrested outside his apartment after campus police said he held a gun to a different woman’s head and threatened to kill her.

He was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment and fourth-degree assault. However, the wanton endangerment charge, a felony, has been amended to a second-degree charge, which is a misdemeanor. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. Averett pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer has asked a judge to suppress evidence in the case and claimed that his arrest was unconstitutional. A hearing on his motion to suppress is scheduled for Wednesday.

Averett, a native of Atlanta, was in trouble with the law before he joined the Louisville program in 2017.

In 2014, he was accused of using a gun to steal a cellphone in Atlanta. He spent three months in a regional youth detention center and nine days in jail. Then 17, Averett pleaded guilty to lesser charges of disorderly conduct and possession of a handgun, but has said in a recent Twitter post that he was "wrongfully accused."

Court records from Georgia show that Averett was on probation for those charges until Sept. 19, 2018.

Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/justins.