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Matt Patricia emphatic in defense against 1996 sexual assault charge

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia passionately expressed his innocence during a seven-minute news conference Thursday, a day after a 22-year-old aggravated sexual assault indictment in Texas had been reported in the media.

Patricia, like he did in a statement Wednesday night, said he was falsely accused of one count of sexually assaulting a woman in South Padre Island, Texas, during spring break in 1996.

"The truth is on my side. I lived with the mental torture of the situation where facts can be completely ignored or misrepresented with disregard to the consequence and pain that it would create for another person," Patricia said.