Police/Legal Blotter

[jimotis4heisman]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stor...ee_accused.sto

ND trustee accused of hurting wife

Duerson resigns following domestic battery charge.

By MARTI GOODLAD HELINE and MARGARET FOSMOE
Tribune Staff Writers

<TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=6 width=110 align=right bgColor=#ffffcc border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> <CENTER>Duerson</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

SOUTH BEND -- A former University of Notre Dame football player resigned from the school's board of trustees Monday after being charged with domestic battery on his wife.

A summons to appear in St. Joseph Superior Court was issued for David R. Duerson late Monday afternoon after misdemeanor charges were filed by the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office, Prosecutor Michael Dvorak said.

The charges -- two counts of battery and two counts of domestic violence battery -- stem from an incident that occurred early Thursday while Duerson and his wife, Alicia, were staying at the Morris Inn on the Notre Dame campus.

Duerson, of Highland Park, Ill., apparently was in town for board of trustee activities scheduled Thursday and Friday.

Duerson released the following statement Monday night through Mitch Rosen, who described himself as a family spokesman:

"As with all people, we, too, are less than perfect human beings. This is a family misunderstanding which occurred in private and has already been resolved in private. It has brought us even closer together. Our attorneys are working with local officials to address their concerns. We ask that you respect our privacy, particular Alicia and our children, and ask for your agreement with us in prayer. I offer my sincere apologies."

Employees of the Morris Inn contacted Notre Dame Security Police about 1:45 a.m. Thursday after receiving reports of a disturbance in the room Duerson was sharing with his wife, according to court documents with the criminal charges.

A night auditor for the Morris Inn reported to police he had received calls from the second floor about yelling and fighting coming from the Duersons' room.

When the employee approached the room, he saw a man, later identified as Duerson, "open the door and physically toss a woman, later identified as Alicia Duerson, out of the room and (she) hit the wall on the other side of the hallway," according to a probable cause affidavit signed by Lt. Pat Cottrell, a detective with Notre Dame Security Police.

The employee reported he gave his coat to Alicia Duerson and secured her in a room behind the front desk until officers arrived.

Alicia Duerson suffered cuts on her head and complained of dizziness and pain and was treated and released from a local hospital, the affidavit states.

<TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=6 width=240 align=right bgColor=#ffffcc border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TR><TD> Notre Dame officials released two statements Monday regarding Dave Duerson, but declined further comment.

"It is regrettable but proper that Dave Duerson has resigned as a member of the University's Board of Trustees. We are appreciative of his past service, but the circumstances in which he finds himself clearly make this the proper course of action. Our prayers are with Mrs. Duerson, Dave and the entire family."

Rev. Edward A. Malloy

University president

"In view of the serious matter now confronting Dave Duerson, he has voluntarily resigned from the University's Board of Trustees. We have accepted his resignation. Without prejudging any legal outcome, we believe this is the right decision, consistent with expectations for membership on the Board. Our thoughts are with everyone in the Duerson family during this difficult time."

Patrick McCartan

Chairman of the board of trustees

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Cottrell stated Alicia Duerson told officers her husband had become upset with her in the hotel room and began striking her on the head and body before she was thrown out into the hall.

Dvorak declined to release further details of the incident.

David Duerson is actually accused of only two incidents -- one alleging he choked or struck his wife in the room and one alleging he pushed her against a wall -- and could only be convicted of two charges.

Dvorak said the case was filed under two different theories of prosecution. The battery charges do not require the prosecutor to prove the victim is the defendant's spouse.

All charges are Class A misdemeanors that carry a sentence of up to one year in jail and a fine up to $5,000.

Duerson played football at Notre Dame from 1979-82, graduating in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He later earned a master's degree at Harvard University.

Duerson is president and chief executive officer of Duerson Foods, based in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.

He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1983 and played with that team until 1989. He started as a defensive back for the 1985 Bears Super Bowl championship team. He later played for the New York Giants and the Phoenix Cardinals.

Duerson's son, Tregg Duerson, is a Notre Dame freshman and reserve defensive back on the current Irish team.

David Duerson was elected to the board of trustees in May 2001.

He made headlines in December when, in a Chicago radio interview, he blasted the firing of Notre Dame head football coach Tyrone Willingham. He criticized the way the matter was handled and the search for a new coach, and said race played a role.

"I don't think race was a major determinant in terms of Ty (his firing), but would it have occurred if it had been another individual -- a white individual? I can't say it would have. But the one thing we know for certain, this is absolutely the first time this occurred."

He was referring to the fact that Willingham's ouster after three seasons was the first time Notre Dame broke its precedent of giving the head football coach the life of his first contract to establish himself.

Staff writer Marti Goodlad Heline:

[BB73]

Wow - that's shocking to see that about Duerson. He'd always been a pretty classy guy. ND's doing the right thing by getting him off the board.

I have zero respect for athletes that beat up women and toss them around.

[Misanthrope]

Originally Posted by ysubuck

I remember Corso, Herbstreit, and Tirico spending the last half of the second quarter of the Alamo bowl going over the indiscretions at Ohio State.

Actually, that's probably our own fault. If the Bucks weren't kicking the snot out of Oklahoma State - and the game was competitive - they wouldn't have had time to use their blowout material.

Fortunately, I was at the game and didn't have to listen to that BS.

[Dryden]

I've made a cursory attempt to try and validate and/or refute the claim that Kirk Ferentz's program has been worse off than Jim Tressel's ... so here we go.

I'm not going to spend man-years researching this, because frankly, I don't care enough. But a simple Google search combined with some searches of Iowa newspapers revealed the following.

Oh, and I'm not judging Ferentz or calling for his head or any some-such-nonsense, just like I wouldn't in Tressel's case. The bulk of the arrests parallel OSU, open container, public intox, disorderly conduct-type misdemeanors. Regardless, I'd like to hear Trev's opinion on his prima-donna coach now?!

July 2000 (http://128.255.60.56/cgi-bin/ArchiveIQue.acgi$rec=49739-171313)

[ 0] Maurice Brown -
[ 0] Fred Barr - plead guilty to a simple assault that they were charged for on July first of 2000.

OK - I'm not going to count them because this occurs in 2000, and I'm only looking to count players charged from 2001 onward, since the argument is comparison of Ferentz/Iowa and Tressel/OSU. The reason I am noting these two clowns though is that Mo Brown will make another appearance in the next group of players, and he still was never punished beyond a game or two suspension. In fact, it's obscene how many are repeat offenders who not only continued to start, but lettered and made All-American.

October 2001 (http://128.255.60.56/cgi-bin/ArchiveIQue.acgi$rec=57457-171313)

[??] Undisclosed number of players involved in a bar fight. [no notable disciplinary actions ultimately taken]

Fall 2001 - Spring 2002

[ 1] Bob Sanders - drunken driving offense.
[ 2] Maurice Brown - drunken driving offense.
[ 3] Siaka Massaquoi - drunken driving offense. [dismissed from the team]
[ 4] C.J. Jones - drunken driving offense.

(http://128.255.60.56/cgi-bin/ArchiveIQue.acgi$rec=111599-171313)

[ 5] Scott Boleyn - convicted on six charges between Sept. 1999 and April 2002. Four of those charges came from one night.
[ 6] Jacob Bowers - convicted three times for consumption/intoxication.

July 2002 (http://128.255.60.56/cgi-bin/ArchiveIQue.acgi$rec=64894-171313)

[ 7] Dereck Robinson - possession of marijuana.
[ 8] Mike Follett - possession of alcohol under the legal age.
[ 9] Blake Larsen - charged with possession of alcohol under the legal age.

August 2002 (http://www.press-citizen.com/opinion...edit080702.htm)

[10] Benny Sapp - charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public intoxication after police saw him push a woman into a building. [Sapp was later dismissed from the team].

September 2002

[11] C.J. Barkema - arrested for fourth-degree criminal mischief.

April 2003 (http://www.hawkcentral.com/teams/foo...040903bars.htm)

[12] Matt Roth - charged with public intoxication and using false identification at an Iowa City bar. Iowa City Police said Roth was involved in a fight with bar employees. [At the time of the incident, Roth was 20].
[13] Chris Smith - charged with disorderly conduct after Iowa City Police were called to a fight at the Union Bar.

August 2003

[14] Sam Aiello - disciplinary action taken, though no criminal charges were apperently ever filed.
[ 7] Dereck Robinson (two time nominee!) - Disciplinary action taken, though no criminal charges were apperently ever filed.

Iowa linemen Sam Aiello and Derreck Robinson were cited for "conduct detrimental to the team" and suspended for one and two games, respectively. According to Ferentz, both players violated team policy during the spring semester.

May 2004 (http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?...s&c=32,1027808)

[15] Marques Simmons - leading rusher in the Hawkeyes’ spring game, charged with drunken driving. University of Iowa police arrested Simmons near the Biology Building in downtown Iowa City.

February 2005

[16] Antwan Allen - charged for allegedly striking a man on the side of the head, breaking his jaw and knocking him unconscious in a Nov 28 incident, more than a month before he played in the Capital One Bowl.

[Steve19]

More stories on corrruption at Ohio State

IOWA

ADEL, Iowa (AP) -- Former Iowa basketball player Pierre Pierce was charged Wednesday with burglary and domestic assault and spent several hours in jail before he was released.

The junior guard from Westmont, Ill., also was charged with burglary, false imprisonment, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and criminal mischief. Pierce was released late Wednesday on his own recognizance.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

GEORGIA

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- A former Georgia point guard known for sparking an investigation into academic fraud at the school two years ago has been arrested again.

Tony Cole, who played basketball for Glen Oaks High School in Baton Rouge, is charged with violating his probation on a felony bad-check charge and was booked into the Clarke County Jail on Sunday. He was arrested after he was pulled over for a traffic violation in Oconee County.

The arrest is at least Cole's seventh in four years, including six times in Georgia.

Cole, 24, was sentenced to three years probation by a Clarke County Superior Court judge in September after he pleaded guilty to bouncing a $578 rent check to an Athens apartment complex in 2002. Authorities said a warrant was issued for Cole's arrest after he failed to show up for scheduled meetings with a probation officer and was $200 behind in paying off a fine.

Cole agreed to settle the debt in $50 monthly installments as a condition of his probation. He also faces misdemeanor charges in his native Louisiana related to the bad-check charge.

His short-lived career as a UGA basketball player ended in 2002 after he and two other UGA athletes were charged with raping a woman in Cole's room in a Georgia dormitory. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Cole, but he was kicked off the team.

In 2003, Cole's accusations during an ESPN interview that former Georgia coaches Jim Harrick and Jim Harrick Jr. paid his expenses and gave him credit for academic work he didn't do ended the Georgia careers of both Harricks and earned sanctions from the NCAA, including four years of probation and scholarship losses.

Cole will remain in jail until a hearing is set in the case.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

OREGON (stay tuned)

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon forward Ian Crosswhite was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday for violating team rules.

Coach Ernie Kent did not say which rules Crosswhite broke.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

GEORGIA (stay tuned)

ATLANTA (AP) -- Paul Hewitt on Wednesday disputed claims made in a book that former recruit Sebastian Telfair was offered $250,000 by a Georgia Tech supporter to sign with the Yellow Jackets.

In Ian O'Connor's book The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball, Telfair claims he was offered the money to attend a specific school.

In the book, Telfair says he was told by an unidentified man: "'If you come to this school, you'll get paid. I'm talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, $250,000.' And I was like, 'Oh yeah?"'

Telfair, now with the Portland Trail Blazers, never says in the book that the offer came from Georgia Tech. Instead, the book says "a person close to Telfair" said the offer came at a Georgia Tech game in Atlanta from a man who said he represented Tech.

Speaking before the Trail Blazers' game against the New Orleans Hornets Wednesday night, Telfair denied the claim. "Georgia Tech did not recruit me and never spoke to me. That's a false statement and I have no further comment," he said.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

[LightningRod]

Michigan's Daniel Horton pleads guilty to one count of domestic battery. Time for Michigan to get this kid some help.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

U-M's Horton pleads guilty

Guard could face 93 days in jail, $500 fine on domestic violence charge.

By Jim Spadafore / The Detroit News

Horton

Horton's future

Should Daniel Horton's suspension from the basketball team be lifted this season?
Yes
No, maybe next season.
No, and he shouldn't be allowed to ever return.

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ANN ARBOR - Michigan junior guard Daniel Horton pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor count of domestic violence. His return to the team is uncertain.

Horton appeared before District Circuit Court Judge Ann Mattson for his preliminary hearing in Washtenaw Circuit Court.

Horton was suspended indefinitely following a Dec. 10 incident. He hasn't played in the last six games and he hasn't been allowed to practice or travel with the team.

"The reason Daniel pleaded guilty is because Daniel is particularly concerned about the young lady in this case," said Gerald Evelyn, Horton's attorney. "He's still very close to her. He thinks that her welfare is more important than anything that's happened, including him, his rights to a trial and basketball. The most important thing to him right now is her.

"And when he learned that her name has been reported in some news reports and that she's been getting contacted by people's that's been threatening her life, he felt like her welfare was being threatened in a way that should have never happened."

Horton's sentencing is scheduled for March 9. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Kid needs help

Horton's return to the team probably unlikely for the remainder of this season, but one never knows.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

College basketball: Michigan

Horton return uncertain

Reeling Wolverines are eager to get their starting guard back into the lineup.

By Jim Spadafore / The Detroit News
Associated Press

Daniel Horton, left, listens to his attorney, Gerald Evelyn, in court in Ann Arbor on Monday.

Horton's future

Should Daniel Horton's suspension from the basketball team be lifted this season?
Yes
No, maybe next season.
No, and he shouldn't be allowed to ever return.

Get results and comments

Comment on this story
Send this story to a friend
Get Home Delivery

ANN ARBOR -- Daniel Horton sat in Washtenaw Circuit Court Monday in a black suit and tried to remain positive. When he'll rejoin the Michigan basketball team remains uncertain. It will be decided by University of Michigan officials.

"I'm in court on Valentine's Day and I should be planning a nice evening," Horton was overheard saying.

Horton, a junior guard, pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence against his girlfriend.

Horton was advised by his attorney, Gerald Evelyn, not to talk on the record to the media until things are resolved.

Horton was suspended indefinitely following the Dec. 10 incident. He has not been allowed to play in six games.

Evelyn said he thinks Horton will be placed on probation. Evelyn also said Horton would continue to receive counseling, like he has the past two months. Horton is not allowed to have any contact with the victim. If convicted, Horton faces a maximum penalty of 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Michigan Coach Tommy Amaker said he doesn't know when Horton will be reinstated. The Wolverines (12-13, 3-8 Big Ten), who are on an eight-game losing streak, play Wednesday at Wisconsin.

"It's certainly positive that things have proceeded forward," Amaker said. "We'll take things on advisement from this point forward.

"Every call here is the University of Michigan's call. And so when we get a chance to consult with the appropriate people we'll do that."

Horton not only hasn't played in the last six games, but he hasn't been allowed to practice with the team or travel with them for games. Horton has been working out on his own. Amaker said he can't wait until Horton is reinstated.

"He's a young man that I feel a great deal about and I'd like to feel I'm fairly close with," Amaker said. "And I'm disappointed that we haven't had him and we'll certainly welcome him back at some point. But whenever that takes place we'll certainly welcome him back with open arms."

Evelyn said his client pleaded guilty because the victim's name was mentioned in some news reports and Horton was concerned about her safety.

"While he's a basketball player and a person with a higher profile, and maybe he can expect this and maybe even deserve this, she doesn't deserve that," Evelyn said. "And as a result of that, he felt his right to a trial was less important than her best interests.

"He wants to get this behind him and go on with his life. Many people who have been accused of things a lot more serious than this have been allowed to continue their athletic careers. But he isn't concerned about that now. He's concerned about getting this behind him and he's most concerned about the young lady. Basketball will take care of itself."

The victim told police on Dec. 13, three days after the incident, that there was a heated argument and Horton "put her in a sleeper hold" and choked her into unconsciousness.

"Some of the stuff (on the police report) was exaggerated," Evelyn said.

Uncertain return