The problem with all the advice you are suggesting to clam up and ask for a lawyer is that anytime a person does that very thing, innocent or guilty, the media and most people immediately assume guilt. The presumption of innocense is a very difficult concept for most people. It is very difficult to convince a jury in a court room that the defendant is innocent until PROVEN guilty and the proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt. Juries, in general, tend to convict because they don't really comprehend sufficiently the 'beyond a reasonable doubt' stricture and because the automatically assume the accused must of have done something otherwise the cops would not have arrested the accused and he would not have come all the way to this stage in the legal process. In reality (as criminal defense attorney for many years myself), I believe strongly that the assumed presumption of guilty usually outweights the supposed presumption of innocense and the burden to prove innocense is quite heavy indeed.
In a rape case, it is very often a matter of He said vs. She said and who do you believe? The facts of intercourse are not usually in dispute and the case comes down to whether it was consensual or not! There are many cases plea bargained because the attorneys on both sides are not truly certain and both sides know that the jury can come down either way, depending on something as simple as which person in the jury becomes the natural 'leader' and thereby has sway over the members who are more follower in nature. Often, juries go off in tangents off of the slightest or simplest little details and become convinced that the truth is revealed because of the fact they have found. Juries don't always listen to and follow instructions carefully and again, it is very difficult for many people, to see the 'reasonable doubt' that may be readily apparent to others.
Obviously we don't know who was involved or what is alleged to have occured, if anything. We don't know if TA or Westy or any other player or some third party was alleged to have committed a sexual assault. We can only hope that the police and legal process function properly and the correct outcome follows judicially. If a girl was truly raped, then the rapist should be promptly arrested and prosecuted in due course. Let's hope the alleged victim is telling the truth. Obviously, Tommy is no NFL superstar with lots of money so presumably we are not dealing with a gold digger. But groupies are groupies. Sometimes they are seeking attention. Who knows. We just can't speculate and for the sake of all concerned, let's hope the story is simple and the truth is told quickly.
