OTC: Is Derrick Washington Getting A Fair Boot?
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Greg,
Where have you “heard a number of voices on radio…calling Mizzou
Johnny Utah
whenever someone is accused of a crime, I pay attention to what’s NOT said by the accused or his lawyer.
when they don’t say “I’m innocent” “This did not happen” or “These accusations are lies” I tend to think they’re guilty.
remember the duke lacrosse players? They all vehemenly denied the accusations. they didn’t say “we’ll have our day in court” or “we’re confident we will not be convicted.”
how did that turn out?
Gavin
So, without knowing any of the facts beyond what has been reported, you want Washington to deny everything? What if it’s true? Does a denial help him? What if his story is different than the story told by his accuser? What if it’s different bewteen the first and second times he tells it? He now officially has a criminal defense to worry about and teling his story publicly (and then maybe having to retell it on the stand) is only going to hurt that defense. Dude tells the story for TV and then he tells the story on the witness stand and every slightly different detail is going to get picked at and if a jury thinks he is lying, he is screwed.
He may have lost his scholarship, but he has a lot more that he could still lose (like, 2-5 years, I think) if he isn’t careful.
What you want, Greg (an un-lawyered complete denial), is pretty immaterial to Washington and he doesn’t owe you the time of day, let alone his version of the story. He’s doing the right thing to either try and get an acquittal or a good plea bargain and, once he accomplishes that, he can go to some other school where there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over how Big State University can possibly admit this known sex offender while Head Coach Dallas Birmingham says (in his enahanced southern drawl) “I’ll tell you what. I would never let a young man join this team unless we had assurances that he is a good young man, interested in his education and who is able to learn from his mistakes. I wouldn’t let him on my team unless I’d let him spend time with my family and I’ve already had him over for dinner. We’ve all made mistakes and he’s learned from his and we’re going to put him in the right environment to maximize his god-given talents and help him get his degree.” Big State U’s rival, Self-Adoring Elite University, will, of course, rail against how BSU will allow any criminal on the team as long as he can run a 4.4 forty and can maintain his eligibility through 47 course hours of internet-based correspondence school. Meanwhile, Big State A&M will ask “why didn’t we try and get Derrick Washington? If you put him in our system, he’d be a top-ten pick for sure but our doddering coach refuses to see the benefit of having him on the team.”
But this can only happen if Washington is acquitted or gets a good deal and that is not a possibility if he doesn’t follow his lawyer’s advice and keep his mouth shut. I wish I had more clients like him. My life would be much easier.
smartman
Best thing for Derrick and his mom to do is shut up and let their lawyer handle this. You never have to backtrack or apologize for something you didn’t say. We don’t have all the facts. As Don Rumsfeld said, you don’t know what you don’t know until you know you don’t know it. Enough with all the rush to judgement stuff in order to beat a deadline.
Coach Vermes is a putz. How about an apology for showing bad judgement you expired piece of dick-cheese.
At this point in the game I’d like Larry Moore, more if I saw him less. Guy has done great charity work, great human being, but he is the perfect stereotype of the Talking Head. You could shove Green Eggs and Ham on the teleprompter and he wouldn’t know the difference.
Jip
I agree. Sam’s column was a decent effort, but I doubt Washington would’ve gotten the boot if he was giving Mizzou brass a convincing argument that he was completely innocent.
The public hasn’t been given on the dots, so I don’t think Sam should’ve tried to connect them here.
MoCrash
I have to agree with Gavin and Smartman. I recall what famed Texas criminal defense attorney Richard “Racehorse” Haynes told me when I was covering a high-profile case of his: “The more my client talks, the more it hurts my case.” Washington’s problems extend far beyond football and PR; even if acquitted, his life will never be the same.
There is really no such thing as “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” for anyone in the public eye — and hardly any for the rest of us. Nobody really knows what went on except Washington and the victim, and since charges have been filed nothing Washington says publicly — no matter how loud his protestations of innocent — are going to stop the process, much less get him back on the football field. That part’s done — certainly an injustice if he’s innocent — his priority is now to stay out of the pen. And that’s only going to happen after a long, costly judicial process, not a PR campaign.
With the Missouri football program, just as it is in many facets of life, the accused are penalized on the sole basis the accusation. Someone charged with dealing drugs loses his house or car; if acquitted, it’s a struggle to get them back, and the falsely accused is never made whole. Mellinger is right, but the injustice is only avoidable if the policy is changed so that a player’s status on the Tigers is not effected until the accused is convicted — and that means an unwanted, recurring issue until the long legal process is resolved.
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GH: My point is that too many people involved in this incident are allowing their actions to be dictated by what’s good for their legal case. Every lawyer spouts innocence for his client. I applaud Mizzou for not worrying about what could happen in a court of law. They appear to be more concerned with doing what is right. It was a tough choice — the toughest choice — but in their minds the right one.
MoCrash
@Jip: “…I doubt Washington would
Gavin
“My point is that too many people involved in this incident are allowing their actions to be dictated by what
Dexter Morgan
Oh no! A dui? Off with his head!
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GH: Or we could wait until he offs some innocent person’s head while driving through beer goggles. Just because DUIs are everywhere and everyone knows one, doesn’t mean they aren’t deadly, life-alerting crimes for both the criminal and the victims.
Ptolemy
I doubt Washington spilled anything to Pinkel or Alden. That would make them subpoenable witnesses that I’m sure her legal counsel would be more than eager to exploit.
Take it easy on the soccer coach. If your life was being a soccer coach, you’d bury yourself in a bottle too.
Dexter Morgan
Greg, 95% of all DUIs are like blown Chiefs draft picks. All you really have at the end of the day is a pointless conversation about what might have happened.