Clayton Eckerd

I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor.

The dating contract.

Please search warrant.

This is unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

And Mike, the great parts of him will continue and dominate for the rest of his life.

In this particular case regarding the conduct here, Mr. Levengood understands that it is unacceptable.

And I'm very confident as I stand here today that he has internalized that.

He has been kind to others.

He has been empathetic to others.

He has been non-self-centered.

He has been a giving person and an excellent dad and an excellent employee and friend to dozens throughout his life.

But I do think that this was...

part of this kind of hailstorm or tornado is the best thing I could think of him being kind of twirled into these, we would say, unacceptable criminal series of conduct.

Much of the most offensive behavior in this case is legal under the law, which has no bearing on whether or not it's moral, appropriate, desired, or right.

But as it was, this case was difficult because incapacitation is not a grounds of sexual assault with your spouse in Maryland.

And the hours of footage that were presented by the state were largely of somebody incapacitated.

There were also hours and hours of footage of mutual, completely different conduct that was sexual in nature and was pornographic.

It was completely within their marriage and completely within the two of them and purely for their own private enjoyment.

Mr. Levengood was in a committed marriage.