BC football player charged with rape

Alleged victim had rejected suspect's advances

Brady J. Smith was arraigned.

Playing football at Boston College was a proud tradition for one Maryland family. Charlie Smith began the legacy as BC's captain in 1965. His son, Charles Jr., played for the Eagles in the 1990s, as did his nephew, Matt Smith.

But the family's decades-long relationship with the school took a disturbing twist yesterday when Matt's brother, Brady J. Smith, was arraigned in Brighton Municipal Court on felony charges that he broke into a campus apartment and raped a female student.

Smith, 20, a 6-foot-2-inch, 285-pound defensive lineman who hoped to play professional football, was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail after a prosecutor told the court that Smith sexually assaulted the woman in her sleep about 4 a.m. Saturday after she spurned his physical advances at The Kells, an Allston nightspot.

"There was some premeditation involved," Megan O'Rourke, assistant Suffolk district attorney, told Judge Patricia Bernstein as Smith watched in handcuffs from a locked prisoner's dock. "The victim was being hit on by the defendant earlier that evening. When she rebuffed him, he followed and came to her home, and he went up to her bedroom and he touched her in a manner that she did not want."

In a written statement she gave the BC police, the alleged victim reported that she "awakened to someone standing over me in inappropriate ways."

"Once I was able to come to/wake up, I noticed that it was Brady Smith and I realized that his hand was down my pants," she wrote.

When the alleged victim realized what was happening, she told Smith "to get the [expletive] out" of her room, awakening her female roommate, who called campus police, she wrote. BC officers arrested Smith soon afterward in a campus parking lot. They alleged that he was intoxicated.

Smith's lawyer, Philip A. Tracy Jr., declined to discuss specifics of the case, though he indicated in court that he would explore how drinking might have influenced the evening's events.

Tracy said Smith "has been kicked out of school and taken off scholarship" because of the allegations. BC spokesman Jack Dunn said Smith was summarily suspended from school pending the outcome of the case and was indefinitely suspended from the football team.

"I think this all revolves around alcohol," Tracy told the judge. "Unfortunately, sometimes alcohol fuels a whole host of problems that can be devastating."

Smith - wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, as he did when arrested - stood silently during the 12-minute arraignment. He glanced several times at his father, his brother, and a family friend in the courtroom. He has been jailed since his arrest.

O'Rourke said Smith was familiar with the alleged victim because he had dated one of her roommates. The prosecutor said the alleged victim decided to leave The Kells because Smith continued to make advances after she asked him to stop.

Smith entered the women's modular apartment at BC through an unlocked rear sliding door, according to O'Rourke. She said Smith first entered his former girlfriend's bedroom, but he left when he discovered the woman's brother in the room.

Smith then allegedly entered the second bedroom and assaulted the sleeping woman, who is a senior at BC, the prosecutor said.

Tracy asked for lower bail, noting that Smith has no criminal record and no history of disciplinary problems at BC. Bernstein rejected the request, ordering Smith to stay away from Boston College and the accuser if he posts bail.

"He is suffering at this point," Tracy told the judge. "Luckily, he has a family who will stand beside him as we try to sort out this mess."

Smith, who was redshirted his freshman year, started 20 of the 24 games he played the last two seasons, as the Eagles posted 10-3 and 11-3 records, including postseason bowl victories.

A three-sport high school star at Loyola Blakefield in Maryland, Smith was the heavyweight wrestling champion of the state's private schools and was such a promising lacrosse player that he received a scholarship offer from the University of Maryland in that sport.

But Smith had his heart set on a football career. In 2004, he told the Baltimore Sun that former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett was "pretty stupid" for entering the NFL draft after one only one year of college. Smith said he planned to spend at least three years in college.

He is due back in court May 19 for a probable cause hearing.

Smith is the third member of BC's 2007 football team to face criminal charges. Offensive lineman Gosder Cherilus and defensive back DeJuan Tribble, both of whom are expected to be selected this weekend in the NFL draft, were charged last July with two counts of assault stemming for a brawl at the Greatest Bar near North Station. They are due back in court in June.

Bob Hohler can be reached at hohler@globe.com.