New details have emerged in the Bubu Palo case that led to his suspension from the ISU basketball team in 2013. Previously sealed court records show vastly different rulings from ISU president Steven Leath and an administrative law judge who ruled on the case in May 2013.  

The previously sealed records were released earlier this month after Michael Gartner, a shareholder in the Iowa corporation Big Green Umbrella, Inc. and former Des Moines Register editor, petitioned the Iowa Supreme Court to release them.

In the court records from administrative law judge John Priester’s ruling May 22, 2013, Priester ruled that the complaint filed by Iowa State against Palo was not founded. That decision was later appealed by the plaintiff to President Leath, who, despite Priester’s findings, ruled Aug. 30, 2013, that Palo was guilty of violating the student sexual misconduct code, which led to Palo’s suspension from the team. 

The case stems from an incident on May 17, 2012, which led to Palo and a friend being charged with sexual assault Sept. 18, 2012. Palo was also charged with violating two disciplinary regulations in the student code of conduct. Palo was suspended from the men’s basketball team while the investigation was ongoing. 

The criminal charges against Palo were dropped Jan. 14, 2013, after the plaintiff’s credibility came into question because of a fabrication of evidence. 

According to the records, all three — Palo, his friend and the plaintiff — attended high school together and Palo and the plaintiff had several consensual sexual interactions in fall 2010.

The records from the May 22, 2013, ruling included extensive text messages between Palo and the plaintiff leading up to the incident, as well as text messages that the plaintiff sent to friends after the incident, accusing Palo and his friend of raping her.

Also in the records were text messages from the next morning between the plaintiff and Palo’s friend as well as a brief transcription of a phone call between Palo and the plaintiff. The text messages and phone transcription showed all three involved were under the influence of alcohol and Palo admitted to being under the influence of marijuana.

“It is very difficult to reconcile the conflicting versions of events from the early morning hours of May 18, 2012,” Priester wrote. “What makes it all the more difficult is that the whole evening is covered with a murky fog caused by the consumption of alcohol.”

Through the text messages leading up to the incident, Priester found that “the evening was falling into the pattern of a casual sexual encounter between [the plaintiff] and Mr. Palo.”

Palo and his friend picked up the plaintiff at Cy’s Roost and then proceeded to the friend’s father’s house, where both men had sex with the plaintiff. The records show that the plaintiff was not expecting Palo’s friend to be with him and that she had expected it to just be Palo.

The three went upstairs and, according to the records, “[Palo’s friend] then had sex with [the plaintiff] against her will. She did not consent to this sex and she expressed her will to [Palo’s friend]. She also became traumatized and was in shock because of the rape.”

Palo’s friend left the room, after which Palo entered and had sex with the plaintiff. Priester found that while there was no verbal consent, the plaintiff did not display a lack of consent. 

“From texts earlier that evening, coupled with their prior casual encounters, from an objective review of the situation, this was just another ‘hook up,'” Priester wrote. 

Priester also wrote that the texts from the next morning confirmed his ruling of events, as Palo discussed the matter with her and expressed regret over any miscommunication, while the friend refused to talk about the matter. 

“This case is one of the most difficult cases the undersigned has had to render a decision on,” Priester wrote in his conclusion. “As stated in the Findings of Fact, the undersigned finds that the university has not established by a preponderance of evidence that Mr. Palo committed a violation of the Iowa State University Code of Conduct.”

The plantiff appealed Priester’s decision to Leath, who found Palo guilty of violating Iowa State’s sexual misconduct policy Aug. 30, 2013, without any further hearing. The Board of Regents upheld Leath’s decision in December 2013. 

The Board of Regents issued a stay of sanction in the Story County district court in January 2014 and Steven Oeth, Story County district court judge, ruled last month against Iowa State.

On Sept. 16, the Board of Regents filed an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court to review the decision.