Hours after the brother of the accuser in
"I myself just learned that the young woman ended her own life several years ago and I am filled with profound sorrow," he wrote. "I can’t tell you how hard it is to hear this news. I can’t help but think of all the implications this has for her family. I cannot — nor do I want to — ignore the pain she endured during and following our trial."
The accuser was 30 when she died. According to court records from the trial cited by The New York Times, it was not the first time she'd attempted suicide after suffering "severe depression, sleeplessness and anxiety attacks."
Parker, whose latest project, Birth of a Nation, is due Oct. 7, was referring to the 1999 rape charges filed against him and co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin when they were roommates and wrestling teammates at Penn State.
Nearly two decades later, the sex-assault trial remains a negative in what would otherwise be a slam-dunk campaign in the upcoming 2017 Oscar season. Birth of a Nation won the Grand jury Prize at this year's
Parker recently revisited the case with Variety.
The accuser, who was never named due to the sensitive nature of the case, told police that the two sexually assaulted her at their off-campus apartment after she passed out. Parker was acquitted on the grounds that he and the victim had consensual sex before the rape but Celestin was convicted of sexual assault and spent six months in prison. He appealed when the court tried to lengthen his sentence and the case ended in mistrial in 2005 when the victim declined to testify again.
After being suspended from the Penn State wrestling team, Parker transferred to the
"While I maintain my innocence that the encounter was unambiguously consensual, there are things more important than the law," Parker said in hindsight. "There is morality; no one who calls himself a man of faith should even be in that situation. As a 36-year-old father of daughters and person of faith, I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom. I look back on that time, my indignant attitude and my heartfelt mission to prove my innocence with eyes that are more wise with time. I see now that I may not have shown enough empathy even as I fought to clear my name. Empathy for the young woman and empathy for the seriousness of the situation I put myself and others in."
Parker then acknowledged that his words cannot heal the damage he caused and that, "I cannot change what has happened. I cannot bring this young woman who was someone else’s daughter, someone’s sister and someone’s mother back to life."
He also tried to place the emphasis on what he's done since that fateful period in 1999. "I have changed so much since (age 19)," he proclaimed. "I’ve grown and matured in so many ways and still have more learning and growth to do. I have tried to conduct myself in a way that honors my entire community – and will continue to do this to the best of my ability."
Parker tried to make clear that his statement was intended as a reaction to the accuser's death rather than an attempt to absolve himself of guilt.
"I have never run from this period in my life and I never ever will," he promised.