LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign has hired a Kentucky teenager known for his viral encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial last year.

Nick Sandmann landed a paid position as grassroots director for McConnell’s reelection effort in Kentucky, the senator’s campaign said Friday. Sandmann started his new role this month, and McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden said they’re “excited” to have him on board.

As grassroots director, Sandmann will assist in developing field operations and building coalitions.

“Along with our already strong team, his efforts to bring people together all across Kentucky will be critical to Senator McConnell’s victory this November,” Golden said in a statement.

Sandmann, a Transylvania University student, tweeted Thursday: “finally got to add more to my bio than just my schools.”

McConnell, the top congressional ally to President Donald Trump, is seeking a seventh term. His Democratic challenger is Amy McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot who has raised huge amounts of campaign cash but faces an uphill fight against McConnell in conservative-leaning Kentucky.

Sandmann was in the national spotlight again at this week’s Republican National Convention. He gave a speech accusing news outlets of being driven by “anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-Donald Trump” bias in reporting on his encounter at the Lincoln Memorial.

Sandmann was among students from a northern Kentucky high school who participated in an anti-abortion march in Washington in early 2019.

Video widely shared online showed Sandmann and Nathan Phillips standing close to each other, with Sandmann staring and at times smiling at Phillips as Phillips played on a drum. Sandmann was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap. Both Sandmann and Phillips later said they were trying to defuse tensions among groups that had held competing demonstrations.

BOONE COUNTY, Ky. —

A jury has reached a verdict in the rape trial of a former Covington Catholic basketball star.

On Friday evening, the judge read the decision for the charges against Jacob Walter, who was accused of assaulting a woman he met on a dating app in 2018.

The jury found Walter not guilty of sodomy. The judge declared a mistrial on the other two charges of rape and sodomy after the jury deadlocked.

Testimony began in the trial earlier in the week.

Tuesday was technical and anatomical. Officials listed evidence and what markings were found on the alleged victim's body.

Walter towers in the courtroom. The 7-foot-tall former athlete was charged with one count of rape and two counts of sodomy. He was surrounded by his attorneys as his trial began.

Boone County Detective Brian Cochran gathered physical and DNA evidence in the case.

"The remaining profile matches Jacob Walter. The estimated frequency of this profile is one person in 4.3 decillion random unrelated individuals," Cochran said.

Two detectives and a nurse answered rounds of questions from the prosecution and defense.

The defense built an argument the sex was consensual, citing the victim's family was home during the alleged assaults. It was after spending the full day with Walter that the victim reported the allegations.

The nurse who examined the victim said the neurobiology of trauma can affect a victim's recall.

"This might have happened to you but you might not remember every single moment as you're telling it to somebody," said Amanda Peel, a forensic nurse with St. Elizabeth.

The nurse detailed the exam starting at the victim's head and moving down her body, noting bruises to her breasts and lacerations to her buttocks.

"Pain, tenderness or injuries and it looks like I saw that on the mid-back. I saw it on the breasts, right arm, on the lower bilateral legs and on the thigh as well," Peel said.

The defense argued those could be due to diagnosed medical conditions of the victim.