Counterternor David Daniels admits drugging and raping young singer
NewsIn what appears to be a plea-bargain, the former opera star and University of Michigan professor pleaded guilty with his husband Scott Walters in Houston to drugging and raping a young vocalist in 2010.
Daniels and Walters (pictured at wedding) face eight years of probation and will be ordered to register as sex offender for the rest of their lives.
Their victim Samuel Schultz said: ‘I am glad that the defendants have acknowledged by their guilty pleas the truth of my traumatic experience, and that this portion of my nightmarish ordeal has finally concluded.’
I had never much cared for countertenors until Daniels came along, and then I learned to appreciate the slightly strange beauty of the sound.
A sad conclusion to this career–well, I assume it’s a conclusion, since I can’t imagine any organization engaging Daniels now.
Not even in Russia, with its anti-gay laws and all.
But mainly because Daniels can no longer sing.
And he’s fat and old, there aren’t many fat and old roles for countertenors, which tend to be lithe young heroes, especially in the baroque repertoire that he specialized in.
1) Good thing Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not alive to see this ignominy. Supreme Court justices really ought not perform marriages for people they hardly know, she wasn’t a friend, just an opera buff.
2) Three unusual facts about this all too familiar rape case:
-the spouse was a partner in the rape
-the police found the victim credible despite no physical evidence or contemporaneous police report
-the prosecution happened in Texas
3) Let’s not forget what Daniels said initially, via his lawyer: “Sam Schultz is not a victim. He never would have gotten this much attention from his singing, and he knows and resents that fact. He waited eight years to complain about adult, consensual sex to ride the #MeToo movement to unearned celebrity. We will fight this.”
Daniels is truly a disgusting human being.
He and his drug-raping husband (they admitted their guilt in court, so it’s an established fact now) got off lucky not serving jail time. It’s right that they must register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives anywhere they live in the US. Which means they can’t live near schools or playgrounds among other things.
I wonder whose idea it was, initially, I wonder if there were earlier victims…
Probation !!!
I would have hoped they would get prison time for drugging and raping some poor young man how awful.
Very odd: so far, no evidence of it…
And going to the police eight years after the “incident” is rather peculiar…
Also, no other víctims of sexual abuse, or rape so far (except for flirting …)
Very sad and unusual case…
Eight years’ probation for drugging and raping a singer. Really? Some might surmise the guilty parties dug deep in their pockets to see what they might find (not that). Wonder what the outcome would have been if the accused at the time had been destitute people of color.
This is what I find weird. Gays refer to themselves as “husband” and “wife” and married hetero couples “partners”. It’s the other way around, folks.
No we don’t. Read the manual…
Can there be anything sillier and more oxymoronic than the term “his husband”? Just say “his partner” folks and we’ll all understand. That way it won’t be a word salad either.
Sue, if they’re married, that IS his husband.
What are you doing here? there is no place for such attitudes among music lovers.
My spouse and I were partners for 27 years and then we got married 16 years ago. At that point he became my legal husband under the law. If the law recognizes him as that why wouldn’t I?
Greetings, all. There is actually more to this story and I would advise one and all to be in touch with David for the part of this that was NOT reported.
Oh Lord.
“…and I would advise one and all to be in touch with David for the part of this that was NOT reported”
Sure, might pop round for a quick drink.
Oh hai Stephen H. Lord, fellow serial sexual predator who never had to face his day in court
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this comment.
in case there is anyone in the opera world who doesn’t know https://twincitiesarts.com/2019/06/18/feature-threats-quid-pro-quo-abuse-on-an-operatic-scale/
Nah, no one would be interested in hearing that actually.
Please let us know !!
Something fishy there ?
VERY interesting, I hope that you can tell us something…
The fact that there was no evidence, no rape kit and an eight years delay to report this, makes some people wonder what happened …
Probation? They should both rot- period. Degenerate slime.
“This portion” means civil suit to follow?
Believe women!!
Yet another free felony issued to members of an affirmative action group.
I first heard David Daniels voice when I purchased a CD of Handel arias on a visit to the Handel House in London. I then saw him as Giulio Cesare iin Chicago in what had originally been the Glyndebourne production with Dame Sarah Connelly. That he as a well-known public figure was so utterly stupid as to solicit sex from students at the University where he taught must have been some form of madness. That he and his partner have now admitted rape is as appalling as it is disgusting. His career could have continued for quite a few more years. Now it must have reached its end.
Awful quiet in here… all his defenders ?
What a charming trio of leftist virtue-signallers.
Sounds like a very lenient punishment for a terrible crime.
This is taking Bill Cosby shit to the next level.
It’s one thing to rape someone, quite another to drug them in order to be able to have sex with them, and yet quite another to enlist your husband to participate.
How does that conversation even go?
“- Hey honey, let’s have a threesome tonite.
– Good idea, let’s drug him first, do we have some Rohypnol left?
– Yeah, then let’s rape him”
The couple weren’t even at home in Michigan, Daniels was performing in Texas, which means they *travel* with date-rape drug, which means they anticipate and prepare for this kind of encounter.
What kind of marital dynamics must you have in which this has become routine?
Even if you were their best friend, would you attend another one of their cocktail parties? Better BYOB!
I find hard to BELIEVE that they travelled with Rohypnol pills “just in case” they meet the “right” víctims….
I would keep RBG out of this.
Irrelevant to the news and the case itself but that was NL’s choice, though.
Yes, the Ministry of Truth should process that picture.
Only 8 years probation for drugging and raping, and no hard time?
That’s very disturbing.
Probation for a drug rape?
Was Justice Ginsberg a gay icon, or why are these men smiling like they’re standing with Santa Claus?
The United States Sentencing Commission reports that in 2020, 99.5% of sexual abuse offenders received prison time, with an average sentence of over 16 years. A large majority of convictions —85%—included a mandatory minimum sentence.
https://www.lawinfo.com/resources/criminal-defense/sentencing/sentencing-statistics/how-much-time-will-i-serve-for-sexual-abuse.html
The civil lawsuit that the victim Samuel Schultz is likely to file (if he hasn’t already) against David Daniels and his husband is probably going to bankrupt them. Even though Daniels and husband will be avoiding prison, the life they will be living on the other side of all of this will not be pleasant, especially given that they are un-hirable. I hope Schultz is getting the help he needs to heal from this ordeal if that’s at all possible.
Seems a very light sentence for such a serious crime. In college David was always known as “mountatenor”.
A lot of people in this industry owe Samuel Schultz an apology, including several famous singers. I’m looking at you, Susan Graham.
Bingo!
Known from now on as Susan ‘Crickets’ Graham …
It is in the insidious nature of these drugs that the victim could have zero memory of what happened, and their lives, as they perceive it, would continue as though nothing ever occurred.
Those closest to Daniels could have no bad memories of him and would, naturally, defend him.
But only Daniels knows, for sure.
“It is in the insidious nature of these drugs that the victim could have zero memory of what happened, and their lives, as they perceive it, would continue as though nothing ever occurred.”
I think waking up to realize that your rear end has been ravaged isn’t going to make it easy to go on “as though nothing ever occurred.”
Only Daniels knows for sure, and thankfully he told all of us that yes, he in fact did what he was accused of.
Eight years of probation for this act of barbarity! Obscene! These two should serve 20 years of hard labor at minimum. One has to wonder if the lenient sentence is because the both the perpetrators and the victim were males.
Actually, (and sadly) I think it’s because the victim was a male- a symptom of our increasingly (and virulently) misandrist society. Typically men receive much harsher sentences than women for the same crime. This seems to be more of a case of male victims of assault being taken less seriously than their female counterparts. I’m willing to bet every cent I have that if Daniels’ victim were female, there is no way that he (and his accomplice) would not be spending a significant amount of time inside a jail cell.
Eight years probation for rape? Unbelievable.
If the punishment seems far too light that is what obtains the guilty plea in a plea bargain, although the sentencing judge is NOT obligated to sentence according to the deal worked out with the prosecutor. But usually, the judge does go along and sentences the defendant according to the deal between defendant and prosecutor.
Plea bargains rarely look very good or fair to the observers, but there has to be something in it for both sides. The prosecutor recognizes that almost any trial involves the very real risk of a not guilty verdict. The defendant recognizes that the sentence is likely to be far more harsh if they plead not guilty but are found guilty.
You are mentioning something that some posters are not considering: there may have been facts about this case that did not support of an airtight criminal conviction. (Civil cases, as we know from other high profile celebrity trouble, involves a different burden of proof and adjudication of evidence.) Many times there is a great deal of pressure on both sides to accept plea bargains and the language has to be very harsh towards defendants, or else the prosecution wouldn’t have proposed and agreed to the bargain. It is not always done to avoid trial. I think both sides get worn down by the lack of completely sufficient evidence on either side of the case, and attorneys stanch the bleeding with these plea bargains. This is not to suggest that daniels and his husband did nothing wrong; because I know nothing of the actual facts, I presume that a very ugly crime took place. My caution is concerning how these pleas are entered into and why they are crafted the way they are.
As a result of this scandal. Should I bin my recording of Handel’s Rinaldo. The one with AAM, Hogwood, Bartoli etc. Daniels sings Rinaldo? I prefer it to the Rene Jacobs one. The DVD from the 2011 Glyndebourne has that awful production set in a school. I think I read that Sonia Prina did not like it.
Depends on whether you hear the voice and can separate it from the criminal behaviour.
I have decided to bin it, rather than have a criminal in my record collection.
I came across this interesting passage in Germania by the Roman historian, Tacitus concerning criminal charges and punishments meted out by the various German tribes. Sodomites are pressed down under a wicker hurdle into the slimy mud of a bog. This distinction in the punishments is based on the idea that offenders against the state should be made a public example of, whereas deeds of shame should be buried out of men’s sight.
And in Leviticus XX, 13, If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
I am not binning the Handel CD with Norrington (the Rinaldo I saw at Munich was very pale in comparison). It is very good Handel.
As a university professor I find it incomprehensible that he could offer $300 to a student of his for sex. For me, this is even more horrible than their, um, dating habits.
FROM THE COURTROOM:
I was in the courtroom on Aug 4, 2023. I was seated in the middle of the gallery with the NY Times and Houston Globe reporters to my left. Mr. Daniels and Mr. Walters were seated in front of me with their attorneys. I arrived at the Court at approximately 8:30 am to hear the defense motions in Limine before the Honorable Judge Reagan Clark. I would say that 90% of the Defense motions were granted. I will not report on the details of those motions in respect to Mr. Schultz. I will say there is more to this story than has been reported.
This is why I was upset that a plea was offered and accepted. Ten minutes before the Jury entered and the trial was to begin, the Prosecution requested a meeting with the defense team. I could not hear what they were saying but soon the defendants were taken out of the courtroom by their attorneys. We soon heard from Judge Clark a plea bargain had been reached. We learned that the Prosecutors offered a No Contest plea, 8 years deferred adjudication and life on the Sex registry. When Mr. Daniels pleaded “No contest” Judge Clark said..”I am not accepting a no contest.
Not in my court. It’s either guilty or not guilty, and if it’s not guilty I’m calling the Jury in and the trial begins.” The defendants quickly left the courtroom for the second time. After returning, Mr. Daniels and Mr. Walters pled guilty. The Judge deferred adjudication and if the defendants honor the rules of probation, the case is dismissed with no presumption of guilt. Because of the deferred adjudication, the defendants will have no record. They will, however, be on the sex registry for life. At least in Texas. This is my true account of the proceedings.
‘The Judge deferred adjudication and if the defendants honor the rules of probation, the case is dismissed with no presumption of guilt’
Except to most ears, that’s a bizarre illogicality when a defendant has already plead guilty and since it stays on your record, most States will still consider it to be a conviction for that very reason.
You are presuming that in 8 years during probation the Danielses won’t rape again.
Thanks for your report: I wish that, one day, you can tell us what was the “there is more to this story” was…it sounds creepy and beyond depraved, really….
I am sure that all of the facts about the case are not known (yet), despite the commentary. Will a civil trial yield more details than a criminal trial? Time may tell. However, the fact that a prosecutor would offer probation in exchange for a guilty plea for 2nd degree felony charge is very telling. Not knowing the prosecutor in this case, it is hard to tell if it is a reluctance to take them to trial because he felt that his case was bad, or he felt a jury might actually believe the “celebrity” and his husband. We saw recently that Kevin Spacey was very convincing to a jury. Perhaps the prosecutor thought that David and his husband would make better witnesses than the victim of the crime. It would appear that the only winner in this case was the prosecutor, who got to notch another conviction – and I suspect did not want to try this case. The victim did not get his day in court (yet) and David/husband are now convicted sex offenders but spend no more time in jail.
The days of “celebrities” being treated specially by juries, somehow sympathetically, are gone. It may be necessary to consider that the reason why Spacey was not convicted after jury trials is that there was insufficient evidence and that the cases might have been brought for the gamble of a high-profile payout. This doesn’t mean he didn’t conduct himself like don giovanni (or worse), but it has to say something about the vast difference between pre-trial publicity and accusations and the actual evidence. Cases are tried in the media now and the procedural discipline is not there.
It is also highly doubtful that, outside of slippedisc and parterre, David Daniels could be considered much of a celebrity. Nor do I think any jury outside an opera capital would find a countertenor accused of drugging a younger person “sympathetic.” I would think the opposite would be true.
It is a very sad situation and we will never know all the facts.
I read that a friend of Mr Schultz mentioned that he is a troubled man, had a problem with alcohol and depression because he was taken to “conversión therapies” by his parents…
He sued (and got $300,000) a Cruise ship and then got notoriety by showing a Domingo document that offered $500,000 to clear his name somewhere…
VERY odd person, to say the least…
We never had this problem with the castrati.
Underrated comment.
Maybe it’s time to bring back chemical castration as part of plea bargaining for sex offenders in Texas.
It’s still legal in 7 states, including California, Florida, Georgia, where Daniels and his husband currently reside as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
12 years ago? No physical evidence?
A probation-only plea deal for such a serious charge suggests some doubt on the prosecutors’ part that they would get a conviction in a jury trial.
The registered sex offender part will be quite onerous. There will be numerous public events they can no longer attend and large chunks of cities they can no longer live in. Most apartments above the fleabag level will not rent to them.
A Texas jury is hard to predict, would their conservatism be hostile to any and all #MeToo claims, or would their homophobia overcome their hostility to #MeToo and convict, as they see it, just two gay guys?
I came across this interesting passage in Germania by the Roman historian, Tacitus concerning criminal charges and punishments meted out by the various German tribes. Sodomites are pressed down under a wicker hurdle into the slimy mud of a bog. This distinction in the punishments is based on the idea that offenders against the state should be made a public example of, whereas deeds of shame should be buried out of men’s sight.
And in Leviticus XX, 13 it says, If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Yes Tacitus and the Old Testament, pity they have not heard about either of them over in the Americas. They seem to practice anything goes over there. Even the rule of law is a sham.
I recall a famous Dublin raconteur, David Tynan O’Mahony (aka Dave Allen) made an interesting observation many decades ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h82D5ZvcALM
I’m going before they make it compulsory. That is so true.
They would have got 20 years at least in UK/Ireland for this.
I’m glad Daniels pled guilty before the world without a trial like a scared, red-handed villain. He knew he was guilty and was afraid of going to jail. Daniels was tolerated and given preferential treatment by the old guard of the opera business for too long, in-spite of being an infamous degenerate with no legitimate, feasible voice left.
Colleagues in the industry have made me privy to gut wrenching stories of Daniels’ degenerate escapades and sexual harassment of young singers in particular, many in number beyond that of Mr. Schultz’ rape. A talented colleague of mine now in his early 30s working in Europe told me personally how during his undergraduate studies, Daniels, whom he had never met but shared a small number of mutual friends on Facebook, stalked him online, then somehow found and messaged him over Skype, lusting over his “beautiful blue eyes” and sent pictures of himself masturbating.
Any person who demonstrates such sickening and pathological behavior obviously might be tempted to commit a similarly impulsive but far more heinous act in spiking the drink of a young singer to render him unconscious or so high that he would go along with anything. Such a depraved, evil perpetrator like Daniels deserves every legal consequence of his actions.
These countertenors who all sound like “Nancy boys”, have displaced the contraltos. I much prefer hearing them, but now there is a dearth of them.
I am a Priest. My duty as such is to pray for people, not judge them. I pray for the redemption and rehabilitation of one of the finest countertenors on the opera stage and in the recital hall. I also pray for those who engage in ths unforgiving cancel culture. And finally, I pray for the healing of Mr. Schultz. Mr. Daniels is welcome to sing at my church, Saint Cecilia Catholic Community, a parish of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, if he ever visits Palm Springs, California.