Frank Clark Pleads Guilty to Felony 2nd Degree Home Invasion
Title says it all. Sentencing is on Oct. 23. I wonder if this will further affect his playing status.
Link:
http://annarbor.com/mi/wolverines/2012/09/michigans_frank_clark_pleads_…
September 11th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^
i am. i think one game is a little light for what he did. though we still don't know the details. DPS is so horrible, this could've been something stupid as opposed to pre-meditated and we wouldn't know.
September 11th, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^
One game is too light? I guess Hoke called you up and told you all the other punishments Clark had to endure.
September 11th, 2012 at 5:17 PM ^
Well, the answer to your rhetorical question would be no. But I will return it with another rhetorical question... what did Hoke tell you? You're using a flawed argument here, as you are equally unknowing and taking just as big of a stab in the dark. Also, I don't think there was some secret football ritual where Clark was forced to swallow some burning hot ember or something to that effect.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:10 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 6:15 PM ^
Oh, I'm sure he did. Just stating a point. But I don't consider 'stairs' as an applicable punishment for a felony.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:30 PM ^
Not even like... a lot of stairs?
September 11th, 2012 at 8:13 PM ^
Isn't it a violation of NCAA rules to require an athlete to run stairs?
September 11th, 2012 at 6:12 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 6:13 PM ^
Flawed argument...that I believe Hoke and think he's not lying?
September 11th, 2012 at 6:20 PM ^
Yes, flawed argument. You know as much as anyone else what consisted of those punishments. I'm sure there was more, but the tone of your post insinuated that Hoke had taken some pretty heavy handed measures. You don't know that.
For the record, I'm pretty neutral as to how this punishment was approached. I do, however, have a huge problem with the hypocrisy of the board in regards to this compared to other teams which have undergone this same thing.
September 11th, 2012 at 8:20 PM ^
I only pointed out that you don't know if one game was not severe enough. My "tone" is something you read into the post.
September 11th, 2012 at 9:57 PM ^
I'll be hypocritical if it pleases me. What might my hypocrisy have to do with it though?
September 12th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^
I also can be as hypocritical as i want to be. Hell, as far as you know, I'm a convicted felon too. But i turned informant and only got 3yrs. Go Blue. Moral police, STFU
September 11th, 2012 at 10:59 PM ^
I think football is a secondary issue. If he really is a bad kid then he should be kicked out of school, not just the team. So, the question is whether he is a bad kid or a kid who made a mistake. The people in a position to know think the latter.
September 12th, 2012 at 9:38 AM ^
I'll admit, I didn't know that Mac's had a tracking system. Does that make me an idiot too? By the way, I just finished designing a bridge you probably drove over on the way to work this morning...
September 11th, 2012 at 4:16 PM ^
I obviously don't know what happened so I can't speculate as to if this was an overly harsh sentence or if he got off easy. But if he has no previous and stays outta trouble I wonder if he is getting it wiped out after completing his punishment? The press is going to have a field day with a guy having a felony that continues to play.
Example - when Glenn Winston was charged with beating that hockey player up he was pled down from a felony to a misdemeanor (high court) and had to do months in jail.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:18 PM ^
Clark will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 -- the same day and time as teammate Fitz Toussaint (DUI) -- and faces a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison and a $3,000 fine. He will be sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows him to have the charge expunged if he successfully completes probation.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:22 PM ^
Now he can complete his degree, stay outta trouble and start over with a clean slate when he moves on into the career field after he leaves school.
September 11th, 2012 at 11:04 PM ^
A court can put a guy in jail despite the HYTA sentence, and he just might. However, the entire point of a HYTA sentence is to give the young person (age 17-21 at time of crime) the ability to show the court genuine remorse and avoid life-changing consequences of an isolated criminal act. It is what I commonly call their 'one free stupid act', but it's not quite free. Can be accessed by law enforcement and the feds, and in this information day and age, the benefits of having the case dismissed if probation is successfully completed are frequently lost because one or more private data bases pick it up and are not affected by the dismissal.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:21 PM ^
According to the article, as long as he completes probation it will be off his record. Also, sentencing won't happen until Oct 23, so we don't know for sure what the exact sentence will be until then.
"He will be sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows him to have the charge expunged if he successfully completes probation."
September 11th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
Expect a Stonum Like Suspension...
September 11th, 2012 at 4:20 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 4:23 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 4:42 PM ^
Yeah, you're probably right!
September 11th, 2012 at 4:22 PM ^
He has to be out for a while. College kids do stupid shit. Drunk college kids do stupider shit. I get how Fitz ends up doing what he did, I don't condone it, but I get it. This is premeditated and especially absurd when the school is giving you a stipend to buy your own gd laptop. I understand a one game suspension as a temporary measure before he's been convicted, but now you have to come down hard.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
The kid made a mistake. He has been punished by Hoke, will be punished by the state, and he will pay his dues. He knows full well that any more problems and he's gone.
September 11th, 2012 at 5:41 PM ^
Dion Sims made a mistake. Dion Sims has been punished by Dantonio, will be punished by the state, and he will pay his dues. He knows full well that any more problems and he's gone.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:09 PM ^
Who are you making a point to exactly?
September 11th, 2012 at 6:37 PM ^
Everyone who mocks other fanbases for their lack of integrity, then turns around and shields any criticism for our team. Not specifically you, as I have no idea how you felt about Dion Sims, et al.
I have NO problem with having high standards. I have a huge problem with professing high standards, then abandoning them when they are inconvenient. That makes us Notre Dame.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^
Gotcha. I really only care what Michigan does for the record. I might shake my head in silence at what Notre Dame, Michigan State, or any other program does, but at the end of the day I really only care about Michigan.
Also, every situation is different and we never really have all the details. The coaches have all the facts that we aren't privy to. We have to trust that what they are doing is in the best interest of the player and the school. How other schools handle these situations is not something I have a vested interest in.
September 11th, 2012 at 7:09 PM ^
Standards. I'm against 'em. They have no place with me. That's like saying that process matters more than outcome, or procedural law matters more than substantive law, or that I should have showed my work in grade school math class instead of just putting the answer discerned by the smart dick next to me. And the teacher! She was always trying to see how I got there - "show your work!" - but I'd match her tone and scream at her 'it's none of your goddamn biz-ness bitch - it's right, and I'll take my A.' I even picked what words and syllables to stress to assert my dominance. I had read my Machiavelli. She gave her recognition.
But if she really started mouthing off I'd lean really close and calmly tell her 'I'll take the fish, I don't need a lesson.' Like a boss. Villainry, deceit, and belgian waffles are the tickets to success, I thought [knew]. Then, satisfied with my nascent genius, I'd rub my hand over my imaginary beard pretending as though there was a reason to shave against the grain. Or with it for that matter.
September 11th, 2012 at 8:25 PM ^
I appreciate your convictions to your stance, but you are saying that everyone had issues with what Dion Sims did and they compare to what Grant Winston and Chris Rucker did. The Dion Sims case and the Frank Clark cases are similar, but that is where the comparison between what Dantonio did and what Hoke is doing. Did Clark assault anybody like Winston did? As far as we know, Clark did not violate probation and break a court order like Chris Rucker did. I guess if you think bashing in someone's skull and almost killing them because you got angry with said person's room mate over a women at the bar is the same as stealing a laptop, than you have a point. Otherwise, the complaints should stop there.
As to what the board says, who the hell cares. There are dumbasses everywhere you go. There are hypocritical dumbasses on this board. There are hypocritical dumbasses in politics, business, universities, football programs and yes, even in fans of college football teams. In fact, I would much rather have UM football fans in general, and MGoBlog board members in particular be hypocrites than some politician. I've been a hypocrite before (and probably will again). My guess is that your hands aren't completely clean on hypocrisy as well. If you've never been a hypocrite, than you're a better man than I.
September 12th, 2012 at 6:32 AM ^
"The kid made a mistake."
He's not a child, he's old enough to know what he was doing. He deliberately stole a laptop. In doing so he probably ruined the school year (career, or life) for someone else, not just stole a few hundred bucks of electronics.
I'm not going to say kick him off the team, I'll leave that up to Hoke, but I am getting tired of people talking about college students as if they're 7 year olds. Stop it.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
This is not nearly as bad. He stole a laptop. That is shameful, but that still pales in comparison to a DUI.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 7:04 PM ^
It is always easier to presume the most nefarious intentions for everything. That conspiratorial fervor is what fuels the internet.
September 11th, 2012 at 7:07 PM ^
September 12th, 2012 at 2:47 AM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 5:50 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 8:57 PM ^
That's true, but since most states use the .08 standard and a breathalyzer that may or may not be accurate, even a perfectly sober person could theoretically get an OVI if they have bad luck. Many breathalyzers will return a false positive if the person can't blow hard enough or long enough, so if a person has emphysema or a bad cold, they're getting ticketed.
September 11th, 2012 at 11:01 PM ^
This is premeditated...With all due respect, you have no idea whether or not the act was premeditated, nor whether Frank did, in fact, possess the necessary mental state, i.e., intent to commit larceny, to make him actually guilty of 2nd Degree Home Invasion. All you, or anyone outside the case, know is that he plead guilty to the offense. It is possible that it wasn't premeditated, he didn't have the requisite intent, but he's just not willing to risk getting sent to prison and coped a plea with the prosecutor in exchange for probation and a fine. One has to remember that the CJS does not look kindly upon defendants that exercise their right to trial -- it costs the system time and money. It is naive to think that only people that are actually guilty plead as such. If you're facing a possible 15 years in prison upon conviction, and you can get a lesser sentence if you plea out, why in the world would you risk it? Fact is, you wouldn't. So many people have this completely unrealistic idea of how the system actually functions. For example, I have a close friend whose company was taken down by a Federal Prosecutor trying to make a name for himself by getting my friend's boss on a variety of charge. My friend was charged despite having no knowledge of the fraud that was committed -- he was a mortgage broker, and the boss was scamming everyone. He face something like 30 years in prison because of the multiple counts. His lawyer told him that the Feds had no case at all against him. But, it wasn't worth the chance because in Federal Court the defendant is convicted like 98% of the time. Although totally innocent and certain the Fed's had no case, he plead guilty, and was sentenced to 6 months in a minimum security prison, 6 months in a half-way-house, and 3 or years of probation. The whole ordeal nearly bankrupted him, but it pales in comparison to spending even 10 year in prison.
September 12th, 2012 at 1:08 AM ^
You seem to be implying that drunk driving is more acceptable than stealing a laptop.
Drunk driving kills people. A laptop is a piece of technology. I don't get how you can have those standards. The potential implications of drunk driving are much larger and much, much worse.
The truth is nobody here knows what happened in this case. Hoke probably does and decided a 1 game suspension is enough. This is a guy who's made it pretty clear he's not going to let players skate because they're important on the field. I think we should give Hoke enough respect to trust that he made the right call (and that he didn't forgot his moral compass to play Clark against Air Force and UMass) in this situation.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
I can only imagine what this board would look like if Brian Kelly, Mark Dantonio or God Forbid, Urban Meyer, had a player who plead guilty to 2nd degree home invasion and did NOT get kicked off the team.
I'm not saying Black should be - I'm just asking for a bit of glass house rememberence the next time one of our rivals players gets in trouble and doesnt get the boot.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:39 PM ^
If all those programs hold true to their recent history, you shouldn't have to wait too long lol...
September 11th, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^
be kicked off the team, but put me in the camp that thinks a one game suspension is a bit light for a felony level crime. In general, I like the way Hoke has handled discipline (suspending Fitz against Alabama,etc.), but I do think a multi-game suspension, until conference play started, would have been more appropriate in this case.
September 11th, 2012 at 5:14 PM ^
So missing games is the only form of punishment? Good to know.
September 11th, 2012 at 4:57 PM ^
You're right. Part of that is homerism and part of that is track record. The police record of the guys at Florida speaks for itself, Dantonio handling of Winston and Rucker was....not great, and Kelly probably gets more crap than he deserves. Plus, they're all pretty douchy. How else should Michigan fans react?