Prosecutors in Washington County, Utah, have refiled a first-degree felony rape charge against Parker Kingston, the former Brigham Young University (BYU) wide receiver, reviving a case that a judge dismissed in June. The new filing was made on Thursday, November 12, and Kingston, 22, is scheduled to appear in Fifth District Court in St. George on December 17, according to the Deseret News. Kingston has not been convicted of any crime and is presumed innocent.
Source: Gephardt Daily
The charge is an allegation, not a finding. In a probable-cause statement reported by Gephardt Daily, a woman identified in court documents only as A.M., who was 20 years old at the time, alleges that Kingston sexually assaulted her in her St. George apartment on February 23, 2025. The court document says the two had communicated for about a month over Instagram and then Snapchat before Kingston travelled to St. George, and that A.M. told him beforehand that if the only reason he was coming was to have sex with her, he should not come.
According to the probable-cause statement, some sexual activity that evening was consensual but did not include intercourse. The document alleges that after A.M. returned from the bathroom, Kingston became more aggressive, that she told him “no” four times, and that he then initiated intercourse without her permission and left about 10 minutes later. Three days later, A.M. asked a neighbour who works in law enforcement what she should do if she was sexually assaulted, and he told her to go to a hospital and report it, the document says.
The refiled charging documents also rely on messages and on a police interview from November 2025, according to reports of the filing. The probable-cause statement says Kingston texted a friend, identified as K.W., at 3:28 a.m. using a slang expression, and that when investigators later asked him what the expression meant, he told them it meant to have sex. Many Snapchat messages between Kingston and A.M. are no longer available, the reports say.
Kingston's own account, as recorded in the arrest document, differs from the allegation. He told investigators that the sex was consensual, that he felt bad about what happened, and that A.M. did not say “no” to intercourse. He also told officers that about an hour after he left, he received a text from A.M. stating that she had not wanted to have sex and had told him “no.” Those competing accounts are now for the court, not for public verdicts.
How a dismissed case came back
Kingston was first charged in February 2026, following what prosecutors described at the time as a yearlong investigation, and he was arrested and later released on bail. The case was scheduled for trial in July, but prosecutors asked for a delay, saying the alleged victim was not ready to testify; they proposed a September trial date tied to an assessment by her therapist of whether she was prepared to participate. Fifth District Judge Jay T. Winward denied that request, citing Kingston's right to a speedy trial, and in late June dismissed the case without prejudice — a form of dismissal that expressly left prosecutors free to refile, which they have now done.
Kingston's lawyers say he is innocent. In response to the new filing, his attorneys criticised the probable-cause statement as one-sided and accused Washington County Attorney Jerry Jaeger of gamesmanship, according to reports of their statement. The defence criticism and the prosecution's document are both claims at this stage; neither has been tested at a trial in the refiled case.
The case has already ended Kingston's university football career. After his February arrest he was removed from the BYU football team and lost his student status, according to reports, after a season in which he had been BYU's leading receiver. BYU said when he was first charged that it takes any allegation very seriously and would cooperate with law enforcement, and it has not commented further because of privacy rules.
The case returns to Fifth District Court in St. George on December 17 for a procedural appearance. Reports say the hearing is expected to deal with the schedule, witness readiness and questions about what evidence can be used. No trial date in the refiled case has been reported yet.
For readers, the key distinction is between dismissal and exoneration: the June dismissal was about timing and the right to a speedy trial, not a ruling that the allegation was false, and the November refiling is about prosecutors' decision to try again, not proof of guilt. Kingston remains presumed innocent unless the state proves the charge beyond a reasonable doubt in court.