ISU Bubu Palo Back on Cyclones Basketball Team, Sex Abuse Charges Dropped

Updated 10:01 a.m.

Iowa State Basketball player Bubu Palo said he finally feels like he can breathe again after learning Monday that felony sex abuse charges against him an and another Ames man have been dropped.

A judge dismissed the charges Monday, according to court records available online.

Prosecutors requested that the charges be dismissed because of inconsistencies in the woman's testimony and problems with some evidence including a blouse the woman said was torn the night the alleged incident occurred, according to a report in The Ames Tribune picked up by the Associated Press .

"It's always been taught, innocent until proven guilty. And I felt like I didn't really have a chance to defend myself from people who would make these judgments against me.

"I would say that hurt the most. Especially since my whole life I'd been raised to do the right thing," Palo said during a news conference Monday evening at his attorney's office. "I would never make a mistake to this level."

 Both Palo and Spencer Cruise turned themselves in on felony sex abuse charges in September.

Cruise, 22, and Palo, 21, were accused of offering an adult woman a ride home early May 18. Instead of taking her home, complaints said, that they took her to an Oakland Drive home owned by Cruise's family and asked her to come in. She agreed and then they both committed sex acts by force, complaints said.

Palo has been reinstated to the Cyclones Basketball team and he is able to start practicing today.

"To be able to go out in public and just be able to just breathe finally, and know that people aren't necessarily staring at me or whispering behind my back anymore ... (it's) mostly relief," Palo said at the conference.