The sexual misconduct charge against Adam Banks, a writing professor at Syracuse University, was dropped in December after the Onondaga District Attorney’s office determined there was no evidence against him.

The District Attorney filed motions to Judge Stephen J. Dougherty to drop the case in the interest of justice, meaning there was no proof that Banks committed a crime, said Elijah Huling, Banks’ defense attorney.

‘Even if everything the accuser said was true, there’s no proof,’ Huling said.

The district attorney with the Onondaga Special Victims Bureau who handled Banks’ case was unavailable for comment.

Because the woman who accused Banks had sex with him in private, Judge Dougherty determined there was no evidence of sexual misconduct, Huling said.

‘Two consenting adults entered a closed room for the purpose of having sex, and no one knows what happened after that,’ Huling said.

Huling said he did not know when Banks and the woman had sex or what Banks’ relationship to the woman was at the time. He also said she has since left the state.

According to the television station WSTM NBC-3, Syracuse Police said the accuser was a student at SU.

Huling said he did not know whether or not Banks would keep his job at SU now that the sexual misconduct charge has been dropped. Banks is still listed as an assistant professor in the SU Writing Program in the university’s online directory.

Published on January 15, 2006 at 12:00 pm