Former Notre Dame Assistant Ryan Ayers’ Remaining Charges Dismissed by Judge

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An Indiana judge granted a motion by state prosecutors to drop the remaining charges against former Notre Dame assistant basketball coach Ryan Ayers, according to Marek Mazurek of the South Bend Tribune.

In January, Ayers was charged with three counts of voyeurism and one count of domestic violence. Two women alleged he had “recorded them naked or while having sex without their consent,” and one of the women said he had struck her in the face during an argument.

The prosecution encountered difficulty pursuing the case because one of the women declined to testify because she felt “disrespected, demeaned, and degraded” by St. Joseph Superior Judge Jeffrey Sanford.

Mazurek reported in October the woman wanted a new judge to oversee the case and state attorneys requested Sandford recuse himself after he “allegedly laughed while making a comment about not wanting to look at photographs of a pornographic nature.” Sandford denied the motion.

Two voyeurism charges against Ayers had already been dropped prior to this week due to the statute of limitations and one of the women involved in the case declining to testify.

Notre Dame announced last September that Ayers was no longer on the coaching staff and “pursuing other opportunities.” He played for the Fighting Irish for four years, graduating in 2009. He returned as an assistant coach in June 2016.