Grant Perry Pleads Guilty to Felony Resisting Arrest - Assault Charges Dropped
[I took out my commentary because I'm not going to pretend to know how Harbaugh will handle this situation.]
h/t Ace Anbender
Just in: UM football player Grant Perry pleads to felony; sex assault charges dropped https://t.co/MKaux4SDfa
— Chris Haxel (@ChrisHaxel) June 28, 2017
EDIT: According to the article, he might be put into a diversion program which would set aside the conviction if he follows the rules.
Both crimes fall into spectrums but the fact of the matter is a DUI can potentially hurt/kill someone whereas resisting arrest is only going to hurt the perpetrator unless he is trying to harm the cops but I don't think that was the case here
Tough call. I'm all for second chances but I don't think Grant necessarily deserves one at Michigan. Any idea on how long the diversion program is? If he successfully completes that I'd be open to his return.
Well it's a chicken/egg situation for me.
If you're arrested (and you resist)... for something that is determined not to have actually been a crime worth processing, then I think the actual arrest comes into question.
It's not like "poisoned" evidence that comes in, e.g., from an illegal search. This is someone doing something while he is being arrested--whether the arrest was warranted or not isn't really relevant. For example, if I mistakenly believe that I'm about to be fired, and I punch my boss, the fact that I was mistaken about the situation doesn't mitigate the fact that I punched my boss.
Also, in this case, this was a plea bargain. Doesn't mean he didn't do other acts for which he was arrested, just that the DA determined that the public was sufficiently protected in reaching this outcome and saves trial, risk of non-conviction, etc.
They didn't determine it was "not ...a crime worth processing".
They made a deal to ignore that crime in exchange for a guilty plea in another crime.
Personally, I think the kid should be gone regardless of the deferment. Every time we have a crime thread someone always says "what 20-year-old didn't do ___" I must be the only kid that didn't commit a felony growing up.
If true, then you are one of the few. Most kids do, not many get caught.
They might as well lock me up and throw away the key
Here are the crimes I committed as a teenager:
Took out the car at age 13 and got into an accident (was never found out -- hit a parked car)
Shoplifted eyeshadow
Did drugs (but never sold any)
Drove drunk and high
I'm very thankful that my kids have so far not gone down the same criminal path.
I could add mailbox baseball to that list
Speaking of mailboxes, I had some friends who drove around to mailboxes around Christmas, and pulled out envelopes that were overflowing, opened the ones that looked like they had money, and took the money. That's not just a felony, it's a federal offense. That was way beyond my criminal pay grade.
We would drive around in the country looking for full herby curbies and have the passenger hang out of the window, esentially towing them down the road. When we hit a good speed, usually around 30 mph the full garbage was shoved into a mailbox. The impact was enough to snap the post off at ground level and send garbage flying everywhere.
Geez. At Christmas time my friends and I would go around the neighborhood and loosen ornament lights so the strand would go out. We were a gang and everything.
That was a long time ago. We were in the 15-17 age range and a bunch of hooligans. I'm glad I made it out of that stage with a clean record.
A friend of mine set a parade float on fire when he was in high school. Didn't get caught, though his father suspected it was him.
Who among us has NOT shoplifted eyeshadow? I mean that's just what you do when you are in college...
In my own defense, everything I did was in high school. I got it all out of my system by college. Except for underage drinking. And having a fake ID.
Plus we did a bit of "garage hopping" as teens - stealing returnables out of open garages to raise money for beer.
I do sincerely hope that kids are smarter/better equipped to avoid drinking and driving these days. I look back on too many occasions that I endangered myself and others doing that during High School and college.
I don't think Perry's legal punishment is any different than a non-FB player would have gotten and I have faith that JH will assess additional punishment if he deems it necessary. Harbaugh has shown he is not afraid to eject players in positions of higher need (or of higher talent) if he feels it is the correct move.
how do you really know what your kids are getting away with?
Should I ever be in this position, I just hope my kids are smart enough to get away with everything and let their old man just happily conclude he raised perfect kiddos.
Citation or it never happened.
Not everybody can be you, though I'm sure we all trydaily. Go buy yourself a nice seltzer water, from me!
but I also want to believe in redemption. Not because Grant Perry plays football, but because redemption is the ONLY means by which bad people turn into good people. I realize it's a deeply unpopular notion in this country, call me a sucker but I do find it appealing that there's any possibility we can reduce the number of bad people in society by a means other than locking them up or ending their lives.
Where this "what 20-year-old DIDN'T fark up" crap goes wrong is the elimination of redemption from the equation. You don't go, "Oh, he was young & stupid, he'll grow up." That's not redemption; that's coddling. And it doesn't lead to growing up.
I don't think Grant should be off the team, and I really don't have any requirement for him staying in the doghouse. However, he should:
1) realize and acknolwedge he did wrong
2) apologize for it, publicly if necessary
3) alter his mindset to ensure it won't happen again
4) if possible, atone for his actions
5) admonish anyone who tries to justify his crime or similar
That's growing up. Do all that and you're fine in my book, and it's not asking for much really. Other players have been kicked off the team for crimes that display a sense of entitlement or malice. Perry's problem seems to be very poor impulse control. If he can fix that he'll have far less likelihood of recidivism, but his football career should be hanging by a thread. That is the path I hope Harbaugh put Perry on, and if he shows any lack of remorse or maturity in the matter. . . snip.
Kids (and adults) deserve second chances in these situations (IMO - a far different situation than LTT). But they need to suffer consequences for their actions too. The police/prosecutor weren't going to let him off of everything, and the sexual assault charge was by far the more serious one that he (and UM) wouldn't want to stick. Yet, they also weren't going to let the episode go unpunished (correctly so IMO). Hence the scenario, "we'll drop the felony assault charge, but you have to plead guilty to the resisting arrest charge - take it or leave it." A more than fair outcome for Grant Perry IMO, and one which offers him a chance to learn a hard lesson with minimal long-term consequences, assuming he does what he's supposed to. I'm sure Harbaugh will get his "pound of flesh" from Grant somewhere in the final resolution. In fact, Harbaugh's restitution requirements might end up being the toughest peice of this for Grant to deal with.
You think a kid should be kicked out of school because he tried to cut in line outside a bar?
Either way so that Perry and the team can move forward and focus on the future. The team, the team, the team.
GO BLUE!
Perry was suspended indefinitely 6 months ago.
On June 3rd, Harbaugh confirmed Perry was back practicing with the team and will be with them in the fall.
They knew this result was coming. It's not a surprise. It's over and they're moving forward with Grant Perry on the team.
6 game suspension
My suspicion is that before Perry decided to plead, he also had talks with members of the UM coaching staff and that he has a pretty good idea of what's going to happen. I also think that when he was allowed to start working out again, the coaching staff had a pretty good idea that this plea was in the works. If I had to guess, he'll be back, but you won't see him on the field before the Purdue game.
We will know more in fall camp.
to handle this with just game suspensions - no matter whether its 3 games, 6 games, or whatever. I would be very surprised if Grant's restitution for playing at UM again didn't have more built into it than that. Likely, stuff like community service hours, attending programs and/or even teaching classes to high school kids about how to treat women, etc. This is Harbaugh's opportunity to show the team that he has your back and you can get a second chance if you screw up, but the road back will be painful. Hence, better to stay out of trouble AND better to keep each other out of trouble.
It may be overblown to ask for this kid to get kicked off the team. According to Land of 10 he and a friend cut in line, got into an altercation with some women over cutting in line, and fled the scene when addressed by the police. And an underage drinking charge on top of it.
I don't see this being an epidemic, or not worthy of a 2nd chance. 90% of my college buddies would have done the same. Not that it makes it right, but as a college kid, the last thing in the world you want to deal with is cops, especially while underage drinking.
Whether the groping occured or not is anyones guess now that the charges are dropped. And he didn't take a swing at the cops. It's a lesson to learn. And he is on his way learning it. He has been suspended for four games already, was suspended for spring practice. My guess is that he has some more punishment upcoming.
That perspective has a complete lack of nuance. There is literally no college football team in the country who has never had players do stupid things around alcohol. Nobody acts like MSU or OSU's programs are out of control because they had a drunk kid do something stupid outside a bar. There's an enormous difference between something like this and things like rape, battery, and hard drugs.
Someone pee in your Cheerios this morning?
I'll comment on whatever I please, until the mods see otherwise.
EDIT: Go yell at Brian on the front page too. I can look at the charges against players from MSU and OSU with the same measured response. I'm all for players getting a second chance when the severity of the crime allows for it.
The kid commited to Michigan, but Michigan and Jim Harbaugh also commited to Grant and his family. In the grand scheme of things, this incident is not all that terrible. I think it is more than enough to suspend him, and stand by his side while he pays for his actions. No need to ruin this kids future.
It's a deal and it's being dealt with. He has already been punished above and beyond the law by 3 games + spring practice. He may or may not be punished more.
No one deserves to be kicked out of school for this crime.
I don't believe I ever talked "smack" about substantially most legal and disciplinary issues at other schools with the exception of PSU and Sandusky.
Also, how is supporting a second chance in this situation akin to being a "head in the sand homer"? From a roster perspective, Grant Perry is expendable. It is not someone for whom the coaches would even remotely want to fall on the proverbial sword.
I am fairly certain if this happened to a regular student, the student wouldn't be dismissed from school. Admittedly, he or she is not on scholarship, but that's essentially what would happen if Grant Perry were kicked off the team.
Football players are held to a higher standard and should be. At the same time, kids do stupid things all the time and kicking them out of school for something like this seems excessive.
If this happened at OSU I would call for the death penalty for the program.
Since it's at UM I am ok with the outcome. As someone else said Harbaugh has kicked kids off the team for other things - no second chance at all. Unlike Mork who will drive you from jail with a bunch of tin cans behind the car and the "Just Released" sign on the back of his Yugo.
What are you assuming? The victim alleged that he groped her between her legs. Perry plead that he pushed her out of his way after a verbal argument that stemmed from cutting in line in front of the woman. The charges are dropped.