Filed by Ben Allen in Local News.
August 24, 2012

This story was written by KOSU’s Quinton Chandler.

Former Oklahoma State University basketball player Darrell William’s conviction for two charges of rape by instrumentation is drawing national attention and an outpouring of support from Stillwater’s black community. Reverend Jesse Jackson and members of his Rainbow PUSH Coalition championed the basketball player’s innocence before a crowd of about a hundred enthusiastic supporters at the Mount Zion Baptist Church.

“Someone asked me why I got involved in this case… A:  because we know the parents. We watched him grow up in Chicago at Dunbar high school. We watched him make a break and come to Stillwater for the better to come to school.”

The crowd included William’s family who arrived in the middle of the proceedings. His mother expressed her gratitude to the audience and spoke to the difficulty of seeing her son imprisoned for a crime she says he didn’t commit. Darrell Williams is scheduled for sentencing Friday afternoon.