Sunday Morning Quarterback

Thursday, April 13, 2006

THE RAP SHEET
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The week in eligibility-crippling issues - legal, academic, institutional and otherwise...

The Truth is Out There: Obvious lead crime...er, uh, "accident"...this week: Alabama booster Logan Young, found dead in an apparent "a mystery homicide" that included "quite a physical struggle" Tuesday, actually fell down some st airs and died from a gash in his head after wandering around the house bleeding, police said Thursday. Are you convinced:
"We treated it as a homicide, the most serious, and put the puzzle together," Police Director Larry Godwin said.

Hom icide Lt. Joe Scott said police believe Young tripped while carrying a salad and soft drink up a set of stairs and hit his head on an iron railing. The fall onto the railing opened a large gash across the top of Young's head and he dropped to the floor bleeding profusely, Scott said at a news conference.

After lying on the floor for some time, Young got up and walked bleeding through several rooms of his spacious, two-story house before ending up in his second-floor bedroom, Scott added. His housekeeper found the body beside his bed Tuesday morning.

"There was a lot of blood," Scott said.

Young, who was divorced and lived alone, apparently tried to slow the bleeding with towels from the kitchen downstairs and a bathroom upstairs, and two towels soaked with blood were found on the bed. He walked past several telephones but didn't place an emergency call, Scott said.
[...]
Scott said a preliminary report from the medical examiner backed up the crime scene work of his investigators, though police could no t say if Young died from blood loss, brain damage or some other cause. The medical examiner was expected to release a report late Thursday.

Police first described Young's death as a homicide because of the large amount of blood found throughout the house, Godwin said.

Authorities are still waiting for forensic test results and the investigation is classified as ongoing, though investigators are confident of their conclusions, Godwin said.

Scott said investigators began to alter their homicide theory wh en they could find no blood splatters consistent with an attacker swinging a club, knife or other weapon.

They found no signs of a break-in and money and other valuables in plain view were not disturbed, he said.
Hmmm...cover up? Magic bulle t? Have the salad and soda been analyzed? By who? Can they be trusted? Where was the umbrella man?

Also on the docket this week:

In Pennsylvania, a judge dismissed the sexual assault case against outgoing senior lineman Scott Paxson Thursday:
Centre County Judge Bradley Lunsford said Paxson could be tried on two lesser counts -- aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault -- in connection with an encounter between him and a woman at his campus apartment in December 2004.

The woman, a Penn State student at the time, said she went to the 23-year-old player's apartment on after meeting him online. She contends Paxson should have refrained from having sex with her, though she acknowledged she didn't say no or cry for help. [emphasis SMQ's]

So, what, is all heterosexual intercourse the pure, formalized expression of contempt for women's bodies here? Not that men are entitled to nookie sans an official rebuff - it's only a guess, but Paxson was probably a jerk on this night, at least - but the law does require some evidence his advances were, in fact, unwanted, and that he understood this, and the alleged victim did not even give her word to that effect in this case. Without more knowledge of the specifics, SMQ says the dismissal was the right call.

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Paxson: Not a rapist

UPDATE, of a previous Rap Sheet item from December: UCLA kicker Justin Medlock, hit then with a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in an accident that fractured vertebrae in UCLA golfer Hannah Jun’s neck, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty. Medlock initially faced two felony counts – not including one for hit-and-run, since he was found walking about a mile and a half away - but the guilty plea knocked the punishment down to three years’ probation.

Medlock was reinstated by Karl Dorrell; Jun is back with the golf team.

CLEARED! Louisiana Tech running back Mark Dillard, another survivor of non-stick rape allegations after a grand jury refused to indict last week. He’ll rejoin the Bulldogs in the fall, this time as a strong safety despite leading the team in rushing last season.

SENTENCED, former Central Michigan defensive tackle Desmond Petty, in the June 2004 beatdown outside a club that wound up killing its victim about three weeks later. Alleged instigator Petty gets between 40 months and 15 years, two days after ex-teammate and riot colleague Michael L. Thomas got the same deal following a no contest plea. That puts two down in the case, and seven more to go.

ABLAZE, the condo where Maurice Clarett was staying with his girlfriend last Sunday. No injuries, no char ges filed, eligibility questions long answered. Only the latest sad story in the sorry ongoing tale of one of the great wasted talents of the decade, who can’t st ay away from trouble.

Saddest line of the story, recorded after his girlfriend’s minor car accident on March 31: Clarett stayed in the car for more than an hour, hoping a TV news crew would leave. When he did get out of the car, he told the reporters, "D on't make me look bad on the news."

Hasn’t the man suffered enough, you all-consuming, 24-hour, drive-by villains? Give him some space! Er, until his armed rob bery trial, at least.
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10:27 PM

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