David Daniels pleads guilty to 13-year sexual assault conviction.
David Daniels, an American vocalist considered one of the top countertenors who can sing high notes like a woman, has pleaded guilty to a same-sex sexual assault committed 13 years ago.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on April 4 that Daniels and his same-sex husband, Scott Walters, appeared in a Houston, Texas, courtroom and each pleaded guilty to one count of the prosecution’s indictment.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, the Danielses received eight years of probation in lieu of jail time and will have to register as sexual predators for the rest of their lives.
The Danielses sexually assaulted baritone singer Samuel Schultz, a 23-year-old graduate student at the time, after inviting him to their home after an opera performance in Houston in 2010.
Schultz testified that he blacked out after drinking a drink they offered him.
After the incident, Schultz did not report the assault to police, but later came forward in 2018, as the “Me too” movement gained momentum in the United States.
Daniels initially denied the allegations, but was arrested in 2019 and eventually admitted to the sexual assault.
Daniels had been one of the world’s most sought-after countertenors, 먹튀검증 singing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera in London, but was effectively forced out of the music industry after the sexual assault.
Daniels was also fired from his position as a professor at the University of Michigan.