Baritone Samuel Schultz, who was sexually assaulted by famed countertenor David Daniels in 2010. Daniels pleaded guilty on Friday in a Houston courtroom.
Jamie Schultz/Courtesy of the artist
Editor’s note: This report includes accounts of sexual abuse.
When Samuel Schultz walked into a courthouse in Houston, Texas, last Friday morning, he expected that he would be testifying against David Daniels — a man once revered by the opera world as one of its finest singers — and Daniels’ husband, Scott Walters.
Five years ago this month, Schultz had come forward to accuse Daniels and Walters of drugging and raping him in 2010, when he was a graduate student at Rice University. After meeting through a mutual friend at a party following one of Daniels’ performances at Houston Grand Opera, the couple invited Schultz, who is also an opera singer, back to the apartment where they were staying.
Schultz, a baritone singer who is now 36, had been looking forward to networking with Daniels, a noted countertenor who then regularly performed on many of the world’s top stages. At the apartment, Schultz unknowingly took a spiked drink from the couple, blacked out, and was sexually assaulted.
In the years since Schultz made his accusations public, Daniels, 57, and Walters, 40, who had been married by the then-Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg in 2014, had consistently proclaimed their innocence. In a stunning last-minute turn, however, with a jury already seated and with the trial just about to start, Daniels and Walters instead admitted their guilt. Both men pleaded guilty to having sexually assaulted an adult, which is a second-degree felony.
…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply