Torrey Green appears in First Judicial District Court in Logan, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, for a change of plea hearing and was sentenced to 3 years to life in Utah state prison, to run consecutive with his other cases. Green is currently serving a prison sentence after a jury convicted him of eight sexual assault-related charges in connection to reports from six other women accusing him of sexual assault while he was a football player at Utah State University. (Photo: Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune)
LOGAN — Torrey Green was sentenced to serve at least three more years in prison after accepting a plea deal in the seventh and final rape case against him. The 29-year-old former Utah State football player sat motionless as the victim told the court how she was sexually assaulted by him in November 2015.
Green appeared Wednesday morning in Logan’s First District Court. He entered an Alford plea to an amended count of attempted rape, a first-degree felony. The plea is seen as a guilty plea in court, while the defendant can still assert his innocence.
The case involved a woman who was sexually assaulted by Green, while he was living in a downtown Logan apartment. The assault happened at a party where alcohol had been consumed.
The victim testified previously during a preliminary hearing that she met Green at a party and found him at first to be a little bit pushy. For several months they texted each other. On the night of Nov. 21, 2015, she and several of her friends were invited to a party at the defendant’s apartment. Later in the night, he took her to his bedroom, where the two started kissing. He then started taking her clothes off as she resisted.
The woman said she tried to leave but the bedroom door was locked. Green then reportedly held her down on his bed and started raping her. The assault continued until someone knocked on the door, giving her time to put her pants back on and leave the room.
Green refused to comment during Wednesday’s hearing. He had previously claimed that the relationship was consensual and not reported until he signed a professional football contract to play for the Atlanta Falcons.
In March 2019, Green was given the maximum prison sentence for raping or sexually assaulting six other women, after a jury found him guilty during a two week jury trial. Judge Brian Cannell ordered him to serve between 26-years-to-life behind bars.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, the victim described waking up after the assault and crying in a bathtub. She told Green, “Kissing does not mean I want to have sex.” The woman questioned why it had taken eight years for the case to finally be resolved, and said that if police had taken the first victim seriously, she may have never been raped.
Defense attorney Mike McGinnis said Green wished to be sentenced immediately and asked for the court to run the sentence concurrent with the existing prison sentence. He said his client was a “model prisoner,” and didn’t make the victim go through a trial.
Cache County Attorney Dane Murray asked the court for consecutive time because of the gravity of the offense and the defendant’s criminal history.
“Green is a danger to society and I believe he will continue to be a danger as long as he is alive,” said Murray. “I hope he never gets out of prison.”
Judge Cannell told the victim that he had done what he could to push the case along but acknowledged the “wheels of justice moved painfully slow.” He sentenced Green to serve three-years-to-life, consecutive with his previous sentence.
“Each survivor should be recognized,” said Judge Cannell. “The harm to them was horrendous.”
Since Judge Cannell ordered Green’s sentences to run consecutively, the defendant will serve 29-years-to-life at the Utah State Correctional Facility. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will determine when exactly when he is released, likely sometime around 2049. Green will be approximately 56-years-old then.
In June, the Utah Supreme Court upheld Green’s conviction after he had claimed to have not received a fair trial. Chief Justice Matthew Durrant said the court had found no errors in the 2019 trial.