Supreme Court rejects appeal of former baseball players

<p>Two former State University of West Georgia baseball players face the prospect of a second trial in the alleged sexual assault of a female student after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected their appeal.</p><p>Superior Court Judge Aubrey Duffey declared a mistrial two years ago in the case of Michael Perez and Benjamin Hodges, citing an "inappropriate and inadvertent comment by one juror."</p><p>Defense attorney Gerald Word argued that trying the two again would be double jeopardy. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal Monday.</p><p>Perez, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Hodges, of Donalsonville, Ga., were charged with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated sodomy of a 20-year-old woman. A third player, Barry Sommer, 21, of Eustis, Fla., pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and testified against the others.</p><p>Prosecutors said the incident occurred Jan. 31, 2002, in Perez' apartment and was filmed by Hodges. The woman testified she drank heavily at a "keg party" and later went to the apartment but said she remembered nothing about the assault.</p><p>The men were released from custody in February 2002 after agreeing to drop out of school and leave Carroll County.</p>