Accused Video Voyeur Suing LSU For Harsh Punishment

The lawyer for an LSU student accused of recording two other students having sex says they're suing the university, saying his punishment is too harsh.

Attorney John DiGulio said Xavien Riascos has been suspended by LSU for three years for the sex incident in the dorm, which DiGulio calls a gross overreaction.

"And we suspect that the fact that the resident assistant, who was having sex with a freshman girl, has parents on the faculty may have something to do with the recommendation, which is tantamount to an expulsion," said DiGulio.

DiGulio said Riascos and another student heard a woman screaming at the dorm and went to investigate the situation, only to find the RA of Kirby Smith Hall having loud sex with a freshman.

He said it's unclear what took place after that, and he said believes his client should be given due process.

"That kind of suspension, which LSU has told me is because the, quote, victims don't want him on campus," said DiGulio. "Well, that ought not to be the way these things are decided, in our view."

DiGulio said he and his client will make an equal protection argument citing the fact that some past famous LSU football players have received much less severe punishment — or none at all — for more serious offenses.

He also said it's ironic that Riascos is being accused of a sex crime when the matter involved a university employee having sex, publicly, with a student.

"Here he is having sex that's loud enough to hear in the hallway with a freshman girl," DiGulio said, "and everybody is more offended by the college prank?"

LSU has released no comment on the suit.