Jabaal Sheard’s preliminary court appearance is set for July 28. That means at least a week before we can expect any initial plea and if any additional information is revealed.
Details at this point are entirely from the police report and officer’s affidavit. The motives and reasons for Sheard going Barkley on the guy are unknown at this point.
Sheard’s high school coach is at a loss for the actions.
[Al] Lang believes Sheard’s actions are not indicative of his character.
“He had every opportunity to get into trouble down here, and he kept his nose clean,” Lang said. “He did a great job, and I think this is a one-time thing.”
At the moment the charges are aggravated assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. It remains to be seen what other charges might be added or subtracted.
Bob Smizik posts about the issue of punishment from Pitt and Coach Wannstedt. He rightly points out that there is no clear answer at the moment.
I doubt Sheard will get off that easy, although his case sounds no more serious than [Penn State QB Rahsard] Casey’s was.
I’m opposed to suspending Sheard for the season, as some have suggested. He made a big mistake. That’s no reason to possibly ruin his life.
Still, a serious suspension would appear to be in order. Two of Pitt’s most difficult games are among the first three — Utah and Miami. A suitable punishment would be for Sheard to miss those first three games and then be returned to the team.
If Wannstedt chooses less or more that’s his choice. Although Sheard faces possible punishment from the criminal justice system, as far as Pitt is concerned Wannstedt is judge and jury.
Clearly more information is still needed. We don’t know anything beyond the police report and there is a broken door.
I expect that Sheard will have to be suspended for the season opener. Beyond that, I don’t know.
I have heard from a few friends who were there that he originally got involved in the fight because he was breaking it up and someone hit him. They said the cops just ran in and started clubbing each of the men and everyone was shoving them into the doorway which is how it got broken.
Not saying he was in the right at all, but remember this is just one side of the story. I expect him to receive community service both from pitt and from the judge to go along with a hefty fine for the misdemeanors and he will get suspended anywhere from 1-4 games.
when i was at pitt i was charged with similiar charges.
-felony aggravated assault
-criminal michief
-disorderly conduct
what did i do that was so menacing? well at football games(the old pitt stadium then) everytime we scored, we launched someone from up on the bleachers ~10 rows down into a group of people who caught him.
even the mascot did this a few times.
when i did it, i jumped off the ‘throwers’ arms a bit too hard, and went about 12 rows, knocking over the people catching me, and landing on a group of other students. One decided to sue pitt (and me) so a few days later i was informed and turned myself in on these charges.
did they stick, who really cares its not important but thats what i was charged with. time to tattoo FELON on my gut.
And then to say “did they stick, who really cares its not important…” is amazing because that is the whole supposed argument of the story you wrote above – and it is the singular most important question in Jabaal Sheard’s life (and his Mother’s) right now I’m sure.
its just what they file because, so to speak, its hard to get in the door once its closed. ill be back in a couple days if you need the meaning of that spelled out for you as well.
I’m not sure anyone would be surprised if these charges are minimized or even dropped altogether. Any adult with any comprehension knows that that is what happens in almost all of the cases that are reported in the media.
But, again, I’ll state that your example and the Sheard incident are rather ridiculous comparisons as they have virtually no basis in common. Yours was a stupid and selfish prank and his was a fight where there was aggression and violence on at least one person’s part, in addition to police involvement and high level of force being used resulting in an on the spot arrest.
And we should also remember that if one side of this story is exaggerated, as often happens, most likely the other side of the story is too. The truth most probably lies somewhere in between.
For example since last week I’ve read that Sheard was…
1) Defending his girlfriend or
2) Defending a teammate or
3) Hit randomly from behind or….
You get the idea. Most probably two drunk men started jawing at each other and a fight broke out.
However, another clear difference between this case and yours is that your example only dealt with the judicial system where the Sheard incident has PITT football fans wondering about what Dave Wannstedt will do to Sheard aside from the legal system.
Your cases doesn’t have that component at all.
