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Osa Masina — former Brighton High, USC football player — sentenced to 1 year in jail for sexual battery

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former Brighton High and University of Southern California linebacker Osa Masina goes before the judge at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017. Masina was sentenced to 365 days in jail, followed by two years on probation for sexual battery.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former Brighton High and University of Southern California linebacker Osa Masina goes before the judge at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017. Masina was sentenced to 365 days in jail, followed by two years on probation for sexual battery.

A woman stood next to her attorney in 3rd District Court on Tuesday and recounted what she could remember from a sexual assault a year and a half ago.

“I am haunted by flashbacks,” she said at a sentencing hearing for Osa Masina, a former football player for Brighton High and University of Southern California accused of raping her.

The woman read a pre-written statement at Masina’s sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

Masina, 20, was sentenced to serve 365 days in jail.

Masina had accepted a plea deal in October, where charges were downgraded from first-degree felony rape and two first-degree felony charges of forcible sodomy to three counys of class A misdemeanor sexual battery.

Because of the reduction in charges, Masina won’t be required to register as a sex offender.

Judge Keith Kelly ordered Masina to serve jail time on only one of the counts. Jail time on the other two counts was suspended. As part of 36-month probation, Masina must complete a psychosexual evaluation and any recommended treatment.

“I’m persuaded by the state that the aggravating factors are very serious,” said Kelly. “They caused significant trauma to the victim.”

The victim not only experienced physical pain, she said during the hearing, but also emotional and mental pain, as she saw her story discussed online and was questioned by lawyers during a December preliminary hearing.

“I had to hear about what everyone else had to say about it,” the victim said. “I felt like I was the one on trial.”

Speaking to reporters after the sentencing hearing, she said didn’t feel justice was served.

“They talked a lot about how he lost everything, but I don’t think a lot of people realized what I lost,” she said. “All of the therapy sessions I’ve had to be in ... all of the nights I couldn’t sleep, the nightmares that I’ve had, the flashbacks. Everything.”

The two had previously had consensual sex, and kissed the evening of the assault, but the victim was too intoxicated to consent to the alleged July 2016 rape, she said.

Besides, she said, a kiss isn’t an agreement to have sex and consensual sex once isn’t a free pass to sex in the future.

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve done previously or what happened before,” the victim said. “All that matters is what happened at that moment. And I think that’s something everybody else needs to learn.”

Masina apologized to his family, to the victim’s family and to the court during the sentencing, adding that he takes full responsibility for the assault.

“This is a fine young man and he’s not defined by all of the accusations that have been made against him,” said defense attorney Rebecca Skordas. “In fact, I would have him in my home without hesitation with my daughter and my family present.”

Masina was accused of violently raping the then-19-year-old woman after a Cottonwood Heights house party on July 25. She had passed out after drinking rum, hard lemonade and eating half of a marijuana cookie. She remembered waking up to Masina having sex with her, she testified.

“I never had the chance to say no,” the victim said.

She tried to stop him with her leg, the victim testified, and said Masina laughed and kept going.

“I will never forget that laugh,” she said. She remembered waking up next to Masina on the couch, and left, afraid, she said. In the morning, she woke up across the street, hiding under a blanket between a neighbor’s porch and tree, she testified. On her way home she realized she was bleeding.

Masina told police the sex was consensual.

The victim said Masina also sexually assaulted her during a trip she took to visit him in Los Angeles, weeks before the assault in Cottonwood Heights.

Police in California declined to file charges after investigating.

“The number one question on everyone’s mind when this came out: Why did she hang out with him again?” said Bethany Warr, with the Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic. “She was able to articulate that beautifully today. When something happens to you that you know was wrong and wasn’t okay, your brain will literally go into overtime trying to convince yourself that everything’s okay.”

Masina was suspended from the University of Southern California’s football team in 2016, when details of a police investigation became public.

Salt Lake Tribune generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse.