A man accused of raping a fellow Kansas University freshman in Lewis Hall in fall 2013 will not be criminally charged.

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said, in response to an inquiry from the Journal-World, that his office has officially closed the case.

“After several meetings and conversations with the victim, her mother and their attorney it was recognized there were several impediments to bringing a successful prosecution in this matter,” Branson said, via email.

Branson said his office did, however, negotiate an out-of-court agreement with the suspect and his attorney.

“Anytime we have a case where the outcome is fairly uncertain or the emotional cost of trial are exceptionally high, we look at ways to resolve the case that brings a degree of accountability to the defendant and closure for the victim,” Branson said. “Trials are not always the best way to resolve a case.”

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson

Under the agreement, the suspect underwent an offender evaluation that concluded “counseling was appropriate under the circumstances,” Branson said. While evaluation results are confidential per the agreement, Branson said, the suspect did agree to complete counseling.

The issue was then left to the parties and their attorneys, Branson said.

The woman and her mother declined to comment on the agreement when reached last week, as did their attorney. The man’s attorney also declined to comment.

The woman is still a KU student but the man is not, according to the KU directory.

She went public with her story last summer.

The Journal-World wrote about her case, as did at least two national media outlets.

In October of her freshman year, the woman attended a party with the man, whom she described as a friend, and they both drank heavily, she said.

They returned to his room in Lewis Hall, where she also lived, and had sex. The woman said she told the man no but he continued anyway, and also that she was so intoxicated she did not remember parts of the night.

The woman filed a police report with the KU Office of Public Safety the next day, alleging she was raped.

The case remained under review by the district attorney’s office through the beginning of this year.

The woman said she also filed sexual violence complaints with KU’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access and, later, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The USDE’s investigation of KU’s investigation — now open for a year — has not been resolved.