[3yardsandacloud]

Columbus Dispatch
Charge against Holmes expected to be dropped
Wednesday, March 31, 2004



A disorderly conduct charge against Ohio State receiver Santonio Holmes is expected to be dropped today, according to an assistant city prosecutor.

The prosecution’s witnesses could not identify Holmes as having been involved in the November fight outside Morrill Tower, a campus dorm, said Robert Tobias, an assistant city prosecutor.

Ohio State backup quarterback Troy Smith, 19, was fined $100 yesterday after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct during the fight.

The dispute involved several women, including Smith’s girlfriend Ashley Evans, Tobias said. The women began fighting elsewhere and continued after they returned to campus. In a loading dock near Morrill Tower, the fight turned physical, said Holmes’ attorney, Christopher Cicero.

Evans had called Smith, who showed up in a van with Holmes and a football recruit.

Holmes, 20, was trying to break up the fight, Cicero said. "There were several people trying to break up the fight," he said.

A campus police report said that four female students were assaulted, but they suffered only minor injuries, Tobias said.

Holmes, a redshirt freshman, became a starter midway through the season. Several days after being charged, he was held out of the starting lineup in the Buckeyes’ 35-21 loss to Michigan.