Nope, not that four Alabama players were arrested on charges of second degree robbery yesterday, but that news of the arrests was made public.
Of course, for every door that closes on the team discipline front, another opens on the roster management side.
Filed under Crime and Punishment, Nick Saban Rules
I don’t know about you, but Oliver Stone would have been my first pick for this project. Some paranoid conspiracy vibes could add just the right touch to the story. Plus, football is a familiar subject for Stone and Pacino.
On the other hand, the movie gives De Palma the chance to bring an entirely new context to the phrase “say hello to my little friend“.
Filed under Crime and Punishment
It looks like Deion Bonner won’t be packing his bags for Alabama State after all.
No charges will be brought against Tennessee freshman cornerback Deion Bonner in connection with a cellphone theft on campus last week.
The case will drop to inactive status, UT spokesperson Margie Nichols said Thursday, and the alleged victim in the case does not wish to pursue charges.
Perhaps it’s best to look at the seamy side of Tennessee football as a continuing episode of Law and Order where Jack McCoy’s witnesses keep getting amnesia.
It’s almost too easy to mock SOD for the news that Deion Bonner is the sole suspect in a campus theft of a cell phone.
“Deion, we did a lot of diligence on the situation. Deion was incredibly truthful, he was incredibly remorseful and I don’t know of a high school player who had to pay the piper more for what they did than what he had to go through. Had an absolute public disparagement.
“Everybody stopped recruiting him, and it was tough. It was incredible the maturity level that he showed. I believe that he can come in and represent Tennessee the right way and learn from his mistakes and be a great example.
“Certainly, it’s not the norm, but we felt like given the diligence that we did on him and, of course, he’s a good football player. Let’s don’t deny that at a key position. We felt willing to take the risk.”
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, though. Should be another feather in SOD’s cap when he sits down with Dave Hart for his postseason evaluation.
Oh, and expect Bonner to go if the suspicions have legs. He’s not playing on defense. I suspect Alabama State’s about to get itself another refugee.
What more do you need to hear than this?
A man who stole $756 worth of goods from Walmart yesterday said he did so to pay off a bet he lost on Saturday’s UT football game.
Too bad for him he’s not a football player.
(h/t MrSEC.com)
Athens-Clarke police announce plan to “house check” football players’ home when team is on the road.
But University of Georgia Police Chief Jimmy Williamson never heard of fans taking out frustrations on players before.
“You hear about it at the high school level, but never at the collegiate level,” Williamson said. “It makes you wonder if it might have been young people showing their immaturity and stupidity.”
It’s no easy feat to make Jimmy Williamson come off as the Reasonable Man, so congrats for that, morons.
Filed under Crime and Punishment, Georgia Football
Is this the most South Carolina lede ever?
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Deputies are looking for a gun toting woman with a goatee who stole hundreds of dollars of Gamecock merchandise from a K-Mart in Lexington County recently.
If the goatee turns out to be a disguise, I’m going to be disappointed.
Also, I can’t stop laughing over the “Related” box.
Filed under 'Cock Envy, Crime and Punishment
Jax St starting RB Washaun Ealey arrested on drug charges, out for Saturday's game.—
Bob Mulkey (@gomocs57) September 05, 2012
C’mon, Mark Bradley, you know you want to go there.
Filed under Crime and Punishment, Georgia Football
Commence noshing.
I don’t know if you caught Oliver’s hissy fit on Twitter over Branden Smith’s non-suspension, but if you didn’t, here’s the gist of it:
Whenever Mark Richt, his employers or supporters wonder why he has the reputation of being soft on discipline, they should simply look at his handling of the non-suspension of CB Brandon Smith.
Fact: Smith was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana.
Fact: Smith pled guilty, during pre-trial intervention. [Emphasis added.]
Fact: UGA’s policy is that being guilty of misdemeanor results in the student being suspended for one game (if he’s a football player, other lengths for other sports).
Fact: Mark Richt instead said, “Nah, we’ll let him play.”
Pretty cut and dried, eh? Well, maybe not so much.
Branden Smith – Does UGA policy mandate one game suspension for misdemeanor arrest? Some think so, I can’t find it.
- David GrierThe short answer is no: In the case of a misdemeanor arrest, it is normally left to the coaches’ discretion as to discipline. A felony arrest triggers automatic penalties.
The UGA drug policy, revised as of June (without any major changes), does still call for a suspension of 10 percent of a season for a first offense of the drug policy. But I’ve looked through it, and at no point do I see any automatic punishment for a drug-related arrest, regardless of the outcome of the trial. Essentially, while Smith agreed to pre-trial intervention (which technically is not an admission of guilt) [Emphasis added], UGA took into account that he passed drug tests through the court and the school. So it was determined he had in fact not committed an offense of the drug policy.
That’s a big difference, is it not? In fact, given that it’s clear, as even Oliver concedes, that there was no evidence of usage, it’s the whole story here.
So who’s right? Logic suggests that Emerson is. Besides that, take a look at some of the key language from the Alabama Code on pre-trial intervention. First, about the agreement into which the parties must enter:
If as part of the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, the offender agrees to plead guilty to a particular offense and receive a specific sentence, this agreement concerning the offense and sentence shall be approved by an appropriate circuit or district judge of the Twenty-eighth Judicial Circuit prior to admission of the offender in the Pre-Trial Intervention Program. [Emphasis added.]
Sure sounds to me as if a guilty plea isn’t automatic in PTI. And from the violations section, there’s this:
(a) If the offender violates the conditions of the Pre-Trial Intervention Program agreed to in writing by the offender and the district attorney, the district attorney may terminate the participation of the offender in the program and pursue criminal charges against the offender.
Again, if you’ve already got a guilty plea in your pocket, there’s no need to pursue criminal charges – you’re simply going to haul the offender in and move directly to the punishment stage.
Now while I am an attorney, I don’t practice criminal law and I don’t practice in Alabama. So I don’t want to say anything here with any sort of absolute authority. But I’m also not the one making a factual assertion that a guilty plea exists. The relevant law doesn’t mandate one and I’ve never heard Smith or anyone representing him state for the record that he pled guilty to a criminal charge. Maybe Oliver is privy to some inside information on the matter. If that’s the case, it seems like he should make that information public in support of his “fact”. Otherwise, somebody owes somebody an apology.
