I am curious how Penn State will handle this. They paid the kid a lot of money to play there. One outcome, they say, is that he was only charged, not convicted, so nothing will happen until the court rules or there is a final outcome. They only need a couplle months to finish out the season. And presumably, he plays in the final four. I can't imagine an American school has a code of conduct that would suspend a player for being charged. That assumes guilt, which is bad. Then they slow-play the trial, if there even is one, until April and hope for a quick resolution before the draft.
Alternatively, the defence lawyers put on a full-court press to have the charges thrown out asap, or push for an expedited trial if they think they can make out a defence of self-defence for themselves or others. Or, ITA again, they say they will plead out to whatever misdemeanour on the books that will not follow him forever.
We also need to remember that cops always charge high, so there is room to come down if the investigation turns up something else. I am stunned that no videos have been released yet showing the altercations with this guy. We will see what turns up. I wonder if the cops even asked for the video from the bar? I bet his counsel has already, which may show more details.
Interesting to see how this plays out.
|