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Four years ago, Garrison Kepley – then 17 years old – was a star high school quarterback at Oceanside Collegiate Academy in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The Dorchester County native dreamed of playing college football – and seemed to have the inside track on getting a college scholarship.
Kepley’s career was irrevocably sidetracked, however, after he was accused of raping his Oceanside classmate, Ella Baine Marcey, on the evening of March 20, 2021 as they partied into the early morning hours with other teenagers at a friend’s home.
The following day, March 21, 2021, Kepley’s hopes of playing college football took another hit when he was injured in what one court filing called a “criminal gang attack” at a department store parking lot in Mount Pleasant. This attack – purported payback for the “rape” – was allegedly orchestrated by Marcey and her then-boyfriend, Dana Brunson (Kepley’s high school football teammate).
When no criminal charges were filed in either instance, however, the case moved into the civil arena.
Two years ago, Charleston, S.C.-based attorney Victoria Smith filed suit on Kepley’s behalf against Marcey, Brunson and their parents. That pleading named three other individuals who allegedly joined in the assault on Kepley in the department store parking lot four years ago.
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According to the lawsuit (.pdf), Marcey and Brunson “conspired, concocted and devised an evil plan to lure (Kepley) to the Kohl’s parking lot” at 3075 Proprietors Place in Mount Pleasant “with the intention of having (him) violently assaulted” by Brunson and “his band of recruited henchmen.”
“Ambushed and greatly outnumbered,” Kepley was allegedly “assaulted and battered multiple times in succession” during the attack by this “henchmen gang,” per the complaint.
Brunson is no longer an active party to the case, multiple sources close to the ongoing legal drama told FITSNews. Reached for comment, his attorney – Joe McCulloch of Columbia, S.C. – said the complaint “over-dramatized” the alleged assault against the quarterback.
“It was essentially a verbal altercation between 16- and 17-year-olds,” McCulloch said. “Police called their parents to come pick them up. No charges were filed.”
The three other individuals – Oceanside football players Matthew Brown, Shane Mahoney and Lucas Sneed – were accused of participating in the “premeditated, unjustified and unprovoked” assault against Kepley, which left him with “serious injuries” requiring “medical treatment,” according to the pleading.
Following a 911 call from an unidentified third-party witness who recognized Kepley “was in great peril,” officers of the Mount Pleasant Police Department (MPPD) responded to the Kohl’s parking lot. Shortly thereafter, they initiated an investigation into the fight – although that inquiry quickly shifted focus after Marcey told them “she was sexually assaulted the night prior.”
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Per the lawsuit, investigators ultimately determined Marcey “lacked credibility and that she made false, untrue and defamatory allegations against (Kepley) which ultimately incited the violent attack against (him).”
The first part of that characterization would certainly appear to mesh with the findings of the MPPD investigation.
“This case will be unfounded based on the following: Inconsistencies throughout the interview process with Ella,” it noted. “The victim told friends that she cheated on her boyfriend and (Kepley) did not force her (to have sex).”
That conclusion is consistent with extensive investigatory notes related to the incident – as well as a Snapchat video sent by Haven Hobbs, one of Marcey’s best friends at the time.
“She’s lying,” Hobbs said bluntly in the video.
(Click to view)
(Provided)
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Both Hobbs and Hayden Fann, who were in the room with Marcey in the immediate aftermath of the incident, told police she made it clear to them the sex with Kepley was consensual.
“Was anything forced?” Fann asked Marcey, according to his statement to police.
Marcey responded in the negative, Fann said, but repeatedly expressed remorse at having had sex with Kepley given she was in a relationship with Brunson at the time.
The police report went on to note Marcey “admitted to detectives and (her) parents that the rape never happened.” It further noted the written statement she provided police was “entirely different from the interview on how the sexual assault took place.”
To be clear: FITSNews takes no position as to the veracity of Marcey’s allegations. In fact, were she actually raped, such trauma could have obviously clouded her memory of the evening’s events. All we know for certain is her allegations were investigated by law enforcement and deemed unfounded. We also know her case has sparked significant discussion within South Carolina’s legal community owing to a jaw-dropping motion filed by Smith in Charleston County on March 13, 2025.
The motion (.pdf) contained detailed discussion about vivid descriptions previously used by Smith to label Marcey – not Kepley – as the “sexual aggressor” in this incident. According to the filing, Marcey not only admitted the sex with Kepley was consensual, she “admitted to the position in which the sex occurred.”
Things got even more heated from there…
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According to the filing, Marcey allegedly “climbed on top of (Kepley) multiple times and initiated consensual sexual activity.” While discussing such intimate details might be “unpleasant,” those are facts Kepley should be allowed to plead, his attorney stated in her motion.
“They’re clutching their pearls about (Kepley) putting the female’s name and the word cowgirl in the same sentence,” Smith wrote. “Most people would rather have their name associated with cowgirl than sex offender.”
“(Sexual) position is very relevant in evaluating whether a rape occurred,” Smith continued. “The fact that the sex occurred in the cowgirl position is a fact revealed by the police reports and statements provided to police in this case. (Kepley) is entitled to plead facts regardless of whether the facts are pleasant.”
Reached for comment regarding the case, Smith told FITSNews “the accuser’s own statements to her best friend and to police give every indication that the sexual encounter with my client was consensual.”
“False allegations of sexual assault are not only harmful to the wrongfully accused individual but also to every legitimate victim of sexual assault,” Smith said. “The criminal penalty for making false allegations to law enforcement is rarely enforced and carries a minimal sentence. What my client was wrongfully and recklessly accused of could have cost him decades in prison. That disparity in criminal consequences is inequitable and should be addressed by our lawmakers. Thankfully, law enforcement thoroughly investigated the accusations and ultimately determined – based on the accuser’s own admissions – that this was a case of consensual sex followed by buyer’s remorse.”
Naturally, there are multiple sides to every story and we have made repeated efforts to elicit commit from Marcey’s legal counsel. Given the allegations leveled against her in these court filings, we wanted to know whether she stood by her original allegation about a sexual assault, whether she participated in a conspiracy to entrap her alleged attacker and what she thought of the characterization of her in the filings from Kepley’s attorney.
Multiple inquiries to her counsel have failed to yield answers, however.
In the event we receive anything from Marcey’s counsel, we will provide our audience with those details.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
False allegations of “rape” by females are much more common than the average person realizes. So many lives are ruined each year because some delicate little flower re-thought her actions for one or more of several reasons and decided crying rape was the easiest way to save face. “Buyer’s remorse”, fear of pregancy, fear of having been seen with the accused while cheating on a husband or boyfriend, are just a few of the motivations behind these false allegations. I had a female LE Investigator tell me once that probably close to 50% of the “rape” cases she dealt with, are false.
Police are reluctant to discuss these cases with the press or public because the “sexual assault” industry, just like the “CDV” industry, does not want any appearance of “blaming the victim”, even when the victim was never a victim. It is a political football that bounces into the offices of chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, councilmen, and legislators. Never mind the lives of the (mostly) men which are destroyed by ruined reputations and incarceration. Even if these (mostly) men are eventually cleared, how much of their life’s savings are expended on fighting bogus cases? How many will be paying on their defense against bogus charges, well into their senior years of life or beyond?
In an effort to “protect victims”, our laws and legal system has created new classes of often unseen or ignored victims as their accusers ride the train of no responsibility because we don’t want to be seen as “blaming the victim”.
Because of the reluctance of police to prosecute false accusers, the problem gets worse. Perhaps it is time we have a “mandatory must arrest” law for false accusers who made up allegations of rape and/or CDV. Institute minimum sentences of five or even ten years incarceration with no parole or early release. Failure to do so will only make this problem worse.
Ms. Smith’s court filings are some of the worst legal writings I’ve come across. Are we sure she’s a lawyer?