West Jordan • Former University of Utah football player Sione Lund has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for sexually assaulting a Utah Valley student in 2019.
Lund, 24, had originally been charged with the rape and forcible sodomy of Marissa Root, both first-degree felonies. But after several months of negotiations, Lund accepted a deal to plead guilty to a lesser charge of attempted forcible sexual assault, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
“I just want to be very clear, I just consented to this plea deal because I wanted this chapter closed,” Root said as she spoke at the sentencing hearing on Monday afternoon. “After three and a half years, I just want to move forward. As I said, I forgive Sione Lund. However, that does not mean he doesn’t have to take accountability for this crime that has changed me forever.
“Although I did agree to this plea because I want closure, it does not change the fact that he is guilty of rape.”
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not identify sexual assault victims, but Root has agreed to the use of her name. On Monday, Root stood at the dais for nearly 15 minutes in front of Lund in a 3rd District courtroom, detailing what happened on Sept. 15, 2019.
Lund was hosting a house party in Holladay that night. Root agreed to attend the party with her friend, who wanted to go because she wanted to see another University of Utah football player who was supposed to be in attendance.
As Root and her friend waited for the other player to arrive, Lund kept asking Root to stay and assuring her the other man would be there soon, she said.
“He was clearly drunk and my instincts were telling me something was off,” Root said. “But I ignored my instincts because I wanted to be a good friend.”
As the party was dying down, the other football player did arrive. At that point, Root said she and her friend were the only two women left at the party.
As Root’s friend and the other football player began to talk in the theater room, Lund suggested that he and Root go to his room to give them privacy. Root said that she wanted to leave, but another friend at the party had taken her car to pick someone else up.
“At this point, I made my boundaries clear,” Root said of when Lund suggested they go to his room. “I had already removed his hand from my thighs and genital area multiple times while sitting in separate seats in the theater room.”
Root said she eventually went into the room but told Lund multiple times she did not want to have sex. She said Lund took off his shirt, pulled down her pants and assaulted her.
“I felt stuck,” Root said. “He never kissed me, no flirting, no communicating. Just sexual assault and then rape.”
Root said she tried to leave “at least three times” but he pulled her back down each time and continued to assault her. She said she tried to make loud noises so others in the house would hear her.
“He pinned me down in a bearhug-like manner, pinning my arms above me,” Root said. “I was completely stuck and he raped me as I hit his back and said, ‘Sione, stop, stop.’ Over and over again.”
Root said she eventually ran out of the house and down the street with her shoes in her hands and called the friend who had taken her car.
“It is important for the court to hear these facts because Sione did plead to a lower offense,” Root said. “Although I did agree to this plea because I want closure, it does not change the fact that he is guilty of rape.”
As Root retold the story, members of Lund’s family audibly scoffed several times. Later, 3rd District Judge Kristine Johnson addressed Lund’s supporters in the courtroom.
“I do want to say I was extremely troubled ... that there were suggestions by Mr. Lund’s family and friends that Ms. Root engaged in consensual sex and then regretted it. I don’t hold that against Mr. Lund,” Johnson said. “But to the extended family, I find that incredibly troubling. This was not consensual sex. Let me be crystal clear ... I consider any statements along those lines to be a re-victimization.”
Lund gave a brief statement in which he accepted responsibility.
“There is nothing I can say or do to change that night,” Lund said. “But I can promise I have taken the steps to change my life and ensure it never happens again.”
In addition to the 30 days in jail, Lund will be on probation for the next 48 months — with a possible early termination after 24 months. He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years.
A pre-sentencing hearing initially suggested more jail time for Lund, but Johnson said Lund’s accepting responsibility and over two years of being sober allowed her to take some time off. Root said she wanted Lund to spend some time in jail.
“It is important to me that he spends time in jail, in the hope that he spends time away and thinks about what he did to me and what he took from me,” Root said. “I do not want his life to be ruined, but I do want him to learn: Learn that no means no and women are more than just bodies to rape.”
Root said she is now finishing her degree and recently became a mother to a daughter.
“I am now a mother and I will do everything to protect my daughter,” Root said. “I know I will raise her to be a strong woman who listens to her instincts. Most of all, I will teach her no matter how intimidated or scared she feels, no matter the rumors or judgment she faces, the truth will always prevail. Because lying in my bed on the most anxious of nights, that is what that little voice in my head told me over and over.”
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