- Former BYU receiver Parker Kingston is charged with first-degree felony rape.
- A defense attorney contends the alleged victim's account copies the Jake Retzlaff case.
- A preliminary hearing in the Kingston case is scheduled for March 23.
An attorney for former BYU receiver Parker Kingston contends the alleged rape victim’s account of what happened appears to mirror a news report about the now-dismissed sexual assault civil case against his one-time teammate Jake Retzlaff.
In a Thursday court filing, lawyer Cara Tangaro lays out a timeline starting with Kingston and the victim, identified in court documents as A.M., meeting on social media in January 2025 through when Washington County prosecutors charged him with first-degree felony rape on Feb. 10, 2026.
The filing includes an excerpt from a May 21, 2025, Salt Lake Tribune article quoting a police report in which Retzlaff’s accuser alleged “Retzlaff fell asleep, but soon woke up again and began forcefully kissing her and touching her.”
Less than four hours after the story published online, A.M. decided she wanted to pursue charges against Kingston, Tangaro wrote.
“At no point during her initial interviews does she say that Mr. Kingston fell asleep. Notably, the alleged victim in the Retzlaff matter says that he fell asleep, and then woke up and started aggressively kissing her. It appears A.M. is now mirroring the information from the Salt Lake Tribune article related to the former quarterback of BYU,” according to the court filing.
Kingston was arrested last month and initially held in jail. Fifth District Court Judge Jay Winward later released him on bail and ordered him to wear a GPS ankle monitor for at least 60 days.
The new details in the case come in a memorandum in which Tangaro argues that the judge should release Kingston from his ankle monitor. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.
Last May, a woman filed a civil lawsuit against Retzlaff accusing him of sexual assault on Nov. 22, 2023. The lawsuit sought more than $300,000 in damages. A judge dismissed the case at the request of both parties a little more than a month later.
In the Kingston case, the 20-year-old woman reported that he sexually assaulted her on Feb. 23, 2025, in her St. George apartment. She notified police of the alleged assault on Feb. 27 at St. George Regional Hospital, according to a probable cause statement.
As part of the statement, St. George police detective Cody Layton wrote that “after the sexual activity ended, A.M. disclosed that Kingston started to fall asleep, so she left the room to get ready for bed. When she returned approximately 15 minutes later, Kingston initiated sexual activity again. A.M. stated that she told Kingston to stop several times and tried to push him off of her.”
Tangaro wrote that Kingston fully cooperated and agreed to an interview with police on Feb. 4, and “makes clear that everything was consensual between he and A.M.”
According to the new court filing, Kingston was heading to St. George to play golf on the weekend of Feb. 20, 2025. On Feb. 22, he and A.M. were planning a double date with his friend and her roommate to maybe go bowling and get ice cream. But the date didn’t materialize.
“A.M. then reached out and asked Parker to come to her residence. It was 1:30 a.m. by the time Mr. Kingston arrived, as he was staying approximately 30 minutes away from A.M.” Tangaro wrote.
“Once Mr. Kingston arrives at the residence, he and A.M. go into her bedroom and turn on a movie.” The alleged victim and Kingston have both said they engaged in sexual activity. But the accounts differ.
A.M. told Kingston multiple times that she did not want to have sex with him, and if that was the reason he wanted to meet up, he should not come, according to court documents.
Washington County prosecutors are largely hinging their case on text messages retrieved from Kingston’s cell phone. “Based on communications obtained from Kingston’s cell phone after the incident, it can be inferred that he went to her apartment with the intention of having sexual intercourse,” Layton wrote in the probable cause statement.
The new court filing includes an excerpt of Kingston’s interview with police in which he denies he went to the woman’s house to have sex:
Parker Kingston: Yeah, I mean obviously, I’m thinking something’s going to happen, but I wasn’t planning on having sex, obviously. And I made a mistake, and that’s not what I believed in.
Det. Layton: And that’s the thing, Parker, is it feels like you’re going over there with a purpose when you’re talking with (your friend)? Or is that just two bros bro’ing it up?
Parker Kingston: It’s just two bro’s bro’ing it up. Yeah, I was going to go over there, but not to have sex. Right. I’m going over there at 1:30. What else am I thinking?
Det. Layton: Right?
Parker Kingston: What is she thinking? Obviously, it’s to do stuff.
Det. Layton: So it’s not that you weren’t thinking, I’m not going over there just to have sex, but in your mind you kind of already know that that’s —
Parker Kingston: Not to have sex, but just to make out.
According to the memorandum, A.M. reached out to Kingston in March 2025 and “told him that he had taken advantage of her.”
Kingston, per the court filing, responded, “I didn’t take advantage of you and I didn’t think anything was casual you told me before and then you said yes and or else I never would’ve done that because I just don’t do that with anybody tbh. I wouldn’t ever do that to someone unless they agreed and you did. I’m sorry that I took that from you it was late and I shouldn’t have even gone over there in the first place because I regret doing it too. I’m sorry.”
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 23. Deputy Washington County Attorney Ryan Shaum told the judge earlier this month that prosecutors hadn’t decided whether the woman will testify at the hearing.