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Dispatch
Potential jurors likely biased against Clarett, lawyers say
Poll sought before aggravated-robbery trial
Friday, September 01, 2006
Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Maurice Clarett is accused of robbing two people at gunpoint on Jan. 1 outside a Downtown bar. His trial is set for Sept. 18.
Before he escaped from the Ross County jail, few people knew much about John W. Parsons except that he was accused of shooting and killing a Chillicothe police officer.
Turns out that lots of people knew about Officer Larry Cox — so many, according to a publicopinion poll, that a judge agreed to move the murder trial somewhere else.
"Sixty-three percent of those polled said they either knew or loved Larry Cox," said Gerald Simmons, one of Parsons’ attorneys. "The judge gave us $10,000 (to conduct the poll) and granted a change of venue."
Parsons escaped July 29 and remains at large.
Now, attorneys for Maurice Clarett are saying that a fair, impartial jury for his aggravated-robbery trial will be hard to find in Franklin County. For proof, the attorneys want to conduct a similar public-opinion poll and have filed a motion in Common Pleas Court.
Judge David W. Fais has set a hearing for next Friday to discuss pending motions and jury selection. Clarett’s trial is set for Sept. 18.
"Mr. Clarett is being held in jail without bail and is without sufficient financial resources to privately engage the services of a reputable public-opinion polling and research firm," attorney Michael C. Hoague wrote in the motion.
"The need arises because of the unrelenting barrage of negative media coverage surrounding this case and the defendant in general."
An informal poll by the defense "resulted in an almost universal response indicative of a negative and intractable mindset against Maurice Clarett," Hoague said.
Hogwash, County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said yesterday.
"We’re going to respond negatively to that (motion) because first, it’s not something the taxpayers should have to foot the bill for, and secondly because it’s not relevant," O’Brien said.
"I’m not aware of it ever being used in this county."
Simmons said he contacted Ohio University for the telephone poll of 84 registered voters in Ross County. Potential jurors come from the list of registered voters.
Even though it was a small sample, two psychologists testified to respondents having extreme bias against Parsons because of a sympathetic victim, Judge William J. Corzine wrote in his July decision to change the location of the trial. The location had not been decided as of yesterday.
Prosecutors objected but were overruled, Assistant Ross County Prosecutor Michael Ater said.
"We objected that the results were flawed and shouldn’t be relied on," Ater said.
Ross County has an estimated population of 75,197, compared with 1.1 million in Franklin County.
"Even if 90 percent of the people thought they knew something about the case, there’s still 10 percent who don’t," O’Brien said.
A change of venue is rarely granted in Franklin County. Traditionally, judges try to seat a jury before ruling on a motion for a change.
Clarett is accused of showing a gun to rob two people of a cell phone on Jan. 1 outside a Downtown bar. Clarett was free on bond when he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon during a police chase on Aug. 9.
Evidence from that arrest is expected to be presented to a grand jury next week.
In a second motion, Hoague requested that Fais privately review the court-ordered psychological evaluation of Clarett before deciding whether to show it to prosecutors.
Psychologist Kristen Haskins interviewed Clarett in jail on Aug. 14, according to court papers.
Dispatch reporter Kelly Hassett contributed to this story.
[email protected]
Potential jurors likely biased against Clarett, lawyers say
Poll sought before aggravated-robbery trial
Friday, September 01, 2006
Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Before he escaped from the Ross County jail, few people knew much about John W. Parsons except that he was accused of shooting and killing a Chillicothe police officer.
Turns out that lots of people knew about Officer Larry Cox — so many, according to a publicopinion poll, that a judge agreed to move the murder trial somewhere else.
"Sixty-three percent of those polled said they either knew or loved Larry Cox," said Gerald Simmons, one of Parsons’ attorneys. "The judge gave us $10,000 (to conduct the poll) and granted a change of venue."
Parsons escaped July 29 and remains at large.
Now, attorneys for Maurice Clarett are saying that a fair, impartial jury for his aggravated-robbery trial will be hard to find in Franklin County. For proof, the attorneys want to conduct a similar public-opinion poll and have filed a motion in Common Pleas Court.
Judge David W. Fais has set a hearing for next Friday to discuss pending motions and jury selection. Clarett’s trial is set for Sept. 18.
"Mr. Clarett is being held in jail without bail and is without sufficient financial resources to privately engage the services of a reputable public-opinion polling and research firm," attorney Michael C. Hoague wrote in the motion.
"The need arises because of the unrelenting barrage of negative media coverage surrounding this case and the defendant in general."
An informal poll by the defense "resulted in an almost universal response indicative of a negative and intractable mindset against Maurice Clarett," Hoague said.
Hogwash, County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said yesterday.
"We’re going to respond negatively to that (motion) because first, it’s not something the taxpayers should have to foot the bill for, and secondly because it’s not relevant," O’Brien said.
"I’m not aware of it ever being used in this county."
Simmons said he contacted Ohio University for the telephone poll of 84 registered voters in Ross County. Potential jurors come from the list of registered voters.
Even though it was a small sample, two psychologists testified to respondents having extreme bias against Parsons because of a sympathetic victim, Judge William J. Corzine wrote in his July decision to change the location of the trial. The location had not been decided as of yesterday.
Prosecutors objected but were overruled, Assistant Ross County Prosecutor Michael Ater said.
"We objected that the results were flawed and shouldn’t be relied on," Ater said.
Ross County has an estimated population of 75,197, compared with 1.1 million in Franklin County.
"Even if 90 percent of the people thought they knew something about the case, there’s still 10 percent who don’t," O’Brien said.
A change of venue is rarely granted in Franklin County. Traditionally, judges try to seat a jury before ruling on a motion for a change.
Clarett is accused of showing a gun to rob two people of a cell phone on Jan. 1 outside a Downtown bar. Clarett was free on bond when he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon during a police chase on Aug. 9.
Evidence from that arrest is expected to be presented to a grand jury next week.
In a second motion, Hoague requested that Fais privately review the court-ordered psychological evaluation of Clarett before deciding whether to show it to prosecutors.
Psychologist Kristen Haskins interviewed Clarett in jail on Aug. 14, according to court papers.
Dispatch reporter Kelly Hassett contributed to this story.
[email protected]
Upvote
0
Here is the weakness of this argument. Research has shown that for questions about attitudes (i.e., toward Clarett) to be able to accuately predict behavior (i.e., unfair judgement of the evidence), the questions must be matched to the action (fairly assessing the evidence without prejudice), target (Clarett's guilt), timing (during the trial), and context (these specific offenses).
Action, target, timing, and context.
Just because people knew or liked the officer, there is no evidence that this would cause them to be biased against Parsons. In fact, another stream of research in social identity would suggest that even if they were biased, it would be in favor of the officer but not against Parsons.
Moreover, this is what jury selection is all about, isn't it?
So, the previous judge erred in his interpretation of the findings and the current judge would be wise in this case to ignore this obvious red herring.
Action, target, timing, and context.
Just because people knew or liked the officer, there is no evidence that this would cause them to be biased against Parsons. In fact, another stream of research in social identity would suggest that even if they were biased, it would be in favor of the officer but not against Parsons.
Moreover, this is what jury selection is all about, isn't it?
So, the previous judge erred in his interpretation of the findings and the current judge would be wise in this case to ignore this obvious red herring.
Upvote
0
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[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett's story always about two routes
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]September 3, 2006[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]BY NANCY ARMOUR [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- For years, there were plenty of people eager to adore Maurice Clarett.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Thousands cheered him as he juked and slashed his way through high school in football-mad northeast Ohio. The roars grew deafening when he took his show down the road to Ohio State, rumbling through Big Ten defenses.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The Buckeyes are still hearing those cheers, starting the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. For Clarett, though, there is disappointed silence, and the heavy thud of a cell door closing.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Everybody, you know what they say?'' asked Jim Roland, who has lived across the street from the Claretts since Maurice was barely old enough to cradle a football. ''They say our friend let us down.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Less than four years after leading the Buckeyes to their first national title in 34 years, the former running back sits locked in a jail cell. What began with robbery and weapons charges in a New Year's Day incident escalated three weeks ago when police stopped Clarett near the home of a potential witness and found him wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying three semiautomatic handguns and an automatic rifle -- all loaded -- in his SUV.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Two very different paths, two very different lives.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He could be charming, funny, engaging,'' said former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger. ''He was bright in many ways. But I also felt he was flawed in understanding the difference between right and wrong, and not having any willingness or even recognition of living life by the rules.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He always seemed to have one foot in the place you wanted him to go, but you could never get the second foot there.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18, pending a psychiatric evaluation, and is barred from talking to the media. His mother, Michelle, did not return several phone calls from the Associated Press, and no one answered the door at the family home in Youngstown. His attorneys, Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, also did not return repeated phone calls.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He's a good guy who's had bad guidance and listens sometimes to the wrong people,'' said Denver Broncos safety Tyler Everett, a friend of Clarett since they were 12, and his teammate at Ohio State.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Made for the running game[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett was born with a gift for creating holes and slithering through them. Big and strong at 6 feet, 230 pounds, he made even the toughest defenses look silly. If he didn't run by you, he'd run over you. If he didn't see a hole, he'd make one.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]He piled up 4,119 rushing yards and 52 touchdowns in three years at Warren Harding High School in Warren, Ohio -- despite missing part of his junior season with an ankle injury. His senior year alone, he carried for 2,194 yards and 38 touchdowns, and was named Ohio's Mr. Football and USA Today's national offensive player of the year.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At Ohio State, he missed all or part of five games because of injuries, yet still set freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Without him, the gleaming 2002 national title trophies likely would be in Coral Gables, Fla., not Columbus.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At the Fiesta Bowl against Miami in a second overtime, Clarett cut through the Hurricanes' defense and dived into the end zone for the winning, five-yard touchdown. He also made the most memorable play of the game, stripping the ball from a Miami defender after an interception.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Anyone that had been there his freshman year in that stadium, I mean, he was everything, to everybody -- from Game 1,'' said Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, a teammate at Ohio State. ''People chanted his name the whole time, and he had a great year.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But football was more than an ego boost for Clarett. It was his way out.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett grew up in gritty Youngstown, in a neighborhood on the hard and unforgiving south side. The steel mills and factories that once provided jobs for generations of families are long gone, and little good has replaced them. His mother tried to keep her three sons away from temptation, but it was never far off.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett once said he'd been to 10 funerals by the time he left for Ohio State. He knew at least three people who'd been shot, one of whom bled to death before his eyes. His oldest brother, Michael, is serving a 41/2-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, possession and assault.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Maurice required a lot of attention keeping him on the right track, keeping him focused,'' said Paul Trina, the athletic director at Warren Harding, where Clarett transferred after his freshman year.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''We felt good here. We got him through high school and got him into college. You'd have hoped he had it figured out by that time.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Straight and narrow[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Much of the time, it seemed as if he had.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett -- known as ''Reece'' or ''Reecie'' by friends back home -- was a workout fiend, the first to show up in the weight room and the last to leave. He didn't drink soda and was careful about everything he ate. If a classmate had a party, it was a good bet he wouldn't be at it.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''I never saw the kid with a drink to his lips. The kid drank me out of house and home in orange juice,'' said Nick Frankos, whose Buena Vista Cafe is down the street from Warren Harding and is a hangout for the school's athletes.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''You know how kids are -- kids talk. I'd say, 'Who was at that party?''' Frankos said. ''Reece would go home at night. The kids said he never touched a drug, never touched alcohol.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A B-average student and something of a loner, he took summer school and graduated a semester early so he could jump-start his career at Ohio State.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But for everything good that came Clarett's way, he seemed to find a bad. He had a pair of touchdowns and his fourth straight 100-yard game against Northwestern. He also had a heated exchange on the sidelines with his position coach.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]He landed on the cover of ESPN Magazine but angered the Ohio State faithful by hinting that he might leave early and challenge the NFL's rule on underclassmen.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Even the Fiesta Bowl experience was tainted. Four days before the title game, he sparked a controversy when he criticized Ohio State for not getting him home for the funeral of a childhood friend who'd been shot. The next day, after Geiger said the school couldn't help because Clarett had failed to fill out the right forms, the freshman accused school officials of lying.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''After the Fiesta Bowl, we won the national championship game in overtime -- an incredible experience. I was elated for about 10 minutes, and that's it. Then I was just relieved,'' said Geiger, who retired last June.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett's disruptions were forgotten, or at least forgiven, in the euphoria of the national championship. He was anointed the Heisman Trophy front-runner for what would be his sophomore season, and he already was projected as a top NFL draft pick whenever he came out. All he had to do was keep out of trouble.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]On Sept. 10, 2003, Ohio State suspended Clarett for his sophomore season after determining he'd accepted thousands of dollars in improper benefits and then lied to NCAA and school investigators.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Two weeks after his suspension, Clarett sued the NFL for the right to enter the draft early. Though he won the initial decision, he lost on appeals, leaving him in limbo until the spring of 2005.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Though Clarett's NFL stock had dropped because of personal issues and poor showings at the 2004 and 2005 combines, the Denver Broncos still made him a third-round pick in the 2005 draft.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Four months later, they cut him. And once again, it seemed as if Clarett was getting in his own way.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Our players really tried to take care of this guy, and he wanted no part of it,'' Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. ''That was one of the reasons why he didn't make our football team. I don't think I've ever been around a bunch of guys [who] reached out to a guy more than Maurice, trying to help him, and a guy not wanting that help. That's a shame.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Back where he began[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]With no other NFL teams interested, Clarett went home to Ohio. The path that was supposed to be his way out had led him right back where he started.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett was accused of robbing two people at gunpoint in an alley behind a Columbus bar, coming away with only a cell phone, on New Year's Day. He was indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery, four lesser robbery charges and a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. That trial is scheduled to start Sept. 18.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But Clarett seemed to be getting his life on the right track over the summer. Though his daughter was born prematurely in July, friends said she was doing well and Clarett was delighted to be a father.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]He also was going to play football again, signing on with the Mahoning Valley Hitmen of the Eastern Indoor Football League.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Then, three weeks ago, he was arrested following a highway chase. Clarett was wearing a bulletproof vest, and police had to use pepper spray to subdue him. In addition to the weapons, police found a bottle of Grey Goose vodka in the SUV.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Prosecutors said Clarett had only been blocks away from the home of a woman who was supposed to testify against him in the robbery case.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe, a few blocks south of campus, Clarett is absent from the lighted montage honoring the 2002 champions.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''We just failed,'' Geiger said. ''I'll never stop trying to analyze and think through all of our conversations and all the things we went through to think, 'How could I have or how could we have as an organization gotten him to pay attention?'[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He was there sometimes, and he was like in another world sometimes. That's the enigmatic part of Maurice Clarett.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett's story always about two routes
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]September 3, 2006[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]BY NANCY ARMOUR [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- For years, there were plenty of people eager to adore Maurice Clarett.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Thousands cheered him as he juked and slashed his way through high school in football-mad northeast Ohio. The roars grew deafening when he took his show down the road to Ohio State, rumbling through Big Ten defenses.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The Buckeyes are still hearing those cheers, starting the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. For Clarett, though, there is disappointed silence, and the heavy thud of a cell door closing.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Everybody, you know what they say?'' asked Jim Roland, who has lived across the street from the Claretts since Maurice was barely old enough to cradle a football. ''They say our friend let us down.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Less than four years after leading the Buckeyes to their first national title in 34 years, the former running back sits locked in a jail cell. What began with robbery and weapons charges in a New Year's Day incident escalated three weeks ago when police stopped Clarett near the home of a potential witness and found him wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying three semiautomatic handguns and an automatic rifle -- all loaded -- in his SUV.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Two very different paths, two very different lives.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He could be charming, funny, engaging,'' said former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger. ''He was bright in many ways. But I also felt he was flawed in understanding the difference between right and wrong, and not having any willingness or even recognition of living life by the rules.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He always seemed to have one foot in the place you wanted him to go, but you could never get the second foot there.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18, pending a psychiatric evaluation, and is barred from talking to the media. His mother, Michelle, did not return several phone calls from the Associated Press, and no one answered the door at the family home in Youngstown. His attorneys, Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, also did not return repeated phone calls.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He's a good guy who's had bad guidance and listens sometimes to the wrong people,'' said Denver Broncos safety Tyler Everett, a friend of Clarett since they were 12, and his teammate at Ohio State.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Made for the running game[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett was born with a gift for creating holes and slithering through them. Big and strong at 6 feet, 230 pounds, he made even the toughest defenses look silly. If he didn't run by you, he'd run over you. If he didn't see a hole, he'd make one.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]He piled up 4,119 rushing yards and 52 touchdowns in three years at Warren Harding High School in Warren, Ohio -- despite missing part of his junior season with an ankle injury. His senior year alone, he carried for 2,194 yards and 38 touchdowns, and was named Ohio's Mr. Football and USA Today's national offensive player of the year.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At Ohio State, he missed all or part of five games because of injuries, yet still set freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Without him, the gleaming 2002 national title trophies likely would be in Coral Gables, Fla., not Columbus.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At the Fiesta Bowl against Miami in a second overtime, Clarett cut through the Hurricanes' defense and dived into the end zone for the winning, five-yard touchdown. He also made the most memorable play of the game, stripping the ball from a Miami defender after an interception.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Anyone that had been there his freshman year in that stadium, I mean, he was everything, to everybody -- from Game 1,'' said Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, a teammate at Ohio State. ''People chanted his name the whole time, and he had a great year.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But football was more than an ego boost for Clarett. It was his way out.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett grew up in gritty Youngstown, in a neighborhood on the hard and unforgiving south side. The steel mills and factories that once provided jobs for generations of families are long gone, and little good has replaced them. His mother tried to keep her three sons away from temptation, but it was never far off.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett once said he'd been to 10 funerals by the time he left for Ohio State. He knew at least three people who'd been shot, one of whom bled to death before his eyes. His oldest brother, Michael, is serving a 41/2-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, possession and assault.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Maurice required a lot of attention keeping him on the right track, keeping him focused,'' said Paul Trina, the athletic director at Warren Harding, where Clarett transferred after his freshman year.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''We felt good here. We got him through high school and got him into college. You'd have hoped he had it figured out by that time.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Straight and narrow[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Much of the time, it seemed as if he had.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett -- known as ''Reece'' or ''Reecie'' by friends back home -- was a workout fiend, the first to show up in the weight room and the last to leave. He didn't drink soda and was careful about everything he ate. If a classmate had a party, it was a good bet he wouldn't be at it.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''I never saw the kid with a drink to his lips. The kid drank me out of house and home in orange juice,'' said Nick Frankos, whose Buena Vista Cafe is down the street from Warren Harding and is a hangout for the school's athletes.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''You know how kids are -- kids talk. I'd say, 'Who was at that party?''' Frankos said. ''Reece would go home at night. The kids said he never touched a drug, never touched alcohol.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A B-average student and something of a loner, he took summer school and graduated a semester early so he could jump-start his career at Ohio State.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But for everything good that came Clarett's way, he seemed to find a bad. He had a pair of touchdowns and his fourth straight 100-yard game against Northwestern. He also had a heated exchange on the sidelines with his position coach.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]He landed on the cover of ESPN Magazine but angered the Ohio State faithful by hinting that he might leave early and challenge the NFL's rule on underclassmen.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Even the Fiesta Bowl experience was tainted. Four days before the title game, he sparked a controversy when he criticized Ohio State for not getting him home for the funeral of a childhood friend who'd been shot. The next day, after Geiger said the school couldn't help because Clarett had failed to fill out the right forms, the freshman accused school officials of lying.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''After the Fiesta Bowl, we won the national championship game in overtime -- an incredible experience. I was elated for about 10 minutes, and that's it. Then I was just relieved,'' said Geiger, who retired last June.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett's disruptions were forgotten, or at least forgiven, in the euphoria of the national championship. He was anointed the Heisman Trophy front-runner for what would be his sophomore season, and he already was projected as a top NFL draft pick whenever he came out. All he had to do was keep out of trouble.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]On Sept. 10, 2003, Ohio State suspended Clarett for his sophomore season after determining he'd accepted thousands of dollars in improper benefits and then lied to NCAA and school investigators.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Two weeks after his suspension, Clarett sued the NFL for the right to enter the draft early. Though he won the initial decision, he lost on appeals, leaving him in limbo until the spring of 2005.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Though Clarett's NFL stock had dropped because of personal issues and poor showings at the 2004 and 2005 combines, the Denver Broncos still made him a third-round pick in the 2005 draft.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Four months later, they cut him. And once again, it seemed as if Clarett was getting in his own way.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''Our players really tried to take care of this guy, and he wanted no part of it,'' Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. ''That was one of the reasons why he didn't make our football team. I don't think I've ever been around a bunch of guys [who] reached out to a guy more than Maurice, trying to help him, and a guy not wanting that help. That's a shame.''[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Back where he began[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]With no other NFL teams interested, Clarett went home to Ohio. The path that was supposed to be his way out had led him right back where he started.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett was accused of robbing two people at gunpoint in an alley behind a Columbus bar, coming away with only a cell phone, on New Year's Day. He was indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery, four lesser robbery charges and a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. That trial is scheduled to start Sept. 18.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But Clarett seemed to be getting his life on the right track over the summer. Though his daughter was born prematurely in July, friends said she was doing well and Clarett was delighted to be a father.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]He also was going to play football again, signing on with the Mahoning Valley Hitmen of the Eastern Indoor Football League.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Then, three weeks ago, he was arrested following a highway chase. Clarett was wearing a bulletproof vest, and police had to use pepper spray to subdue him. In addition to the weapons, police found a bottle of Grey Goose vodka in the SUV.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Prosecutors said Clarett had only been blocks away from the home of a woman who was supposed to testify against him in the robbery case.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]At the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe, a few blocks south of campus, Clarett is absent from the lighted montage honoring the 2002 champions.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''We just failed,'' Geiger said. ''I'll never stop trying to analyze and think through all of our conversations and all the things we went through to think, 'How could I have or how could we have as an organization gotten him to pay attention?'[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]''He was there sometimes, and he was like in another world sometimes. That's the enigmatic part of Maurice Clarett.''[/FONT]
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Clarett’s struggle takes him to jail
When cheers ended, troubles began for former Buckeye star
By Nancy Armour
Associated Press
Associated Press photos
Former Ohio State football standout Maurice Clarett, listens to a judge during a hearing Aug. 25, in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in Columbus, Ohio.
At Ohio State, Clarett missed all or part of five games because of injuries, yet still set freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. But he was suspended from the team before in 2003 for accepting improper benefits.
Associated Press
Maurice Clarett is nowhere to be found in the 2002 national championship mural at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe in Columbus.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – For years, there were plenty of people eager to adore Maurice Clarett.
Thousands cheered him as he juked and slashed his way through high school in football-mad northeast Ohio. The roars grew deafening when he took his show down the road to Ohio State, rocking the Horseshoe as he rumbled through Big Ten defenses.
The Buckeyes are still hearing those cheers, starting the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. For Clarett, though, there is disappointed silence, and the heavy thud of a cell door closing.
“Everybody, you know what they say?” asked Jim Roland, who has lived across the street from the Claretts since Maurice Clarett was barely old enough to cradle a football.
“They say our friend let us down.”
Less than four years after leading the Buckeyes to their first national title in 34 years, the former running back sits locked in a jail cell. What began with robbery and weapon charges in a New Year’s Day incident escalated three weeks ago when police stopped Clarett near the home of a potential witness and found him wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying three semiautomatic handguns and an automatic rifle – all loaded – in his SUV.
Two very different paths, two very different lives.
“He could be charming, funny, engaging. He was bright in many ways. But I also felt he was flawed in understanding the difference between right and wrong, and not having any willingness or even recognition of living life by the rules,” said former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger.
“He always seemed to have one foot in the place you wanted him to go, but you could never get the second foot there.”
Clarett is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18, pending a psychiatric evaluation, and is barred from talking to the media. His mother, Michelle, did not return several phone calls from The Associated Press, and no one answered the door at the family home in Youngstown. His attorneys, Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, also did not return repeated phone calls.
“He’s a good guy who’s had bad guidance and listens sometimes to the wrong people,” said Denver Broncos safety Tyler Everett, a friend of Clarett’s since they were 12 years old and a teammate at Ohio State.
Clarett was born with a gift for creating holes and slithering through them. Big and strong at 6-foot, 230 pounds, he made even the toughest defenses look silly. If he didn’t run by you, he’d run over you. If he didn’t see a hole, he’d make one.
He piled up 4,119 yards rushing and 52 touchdowns in three years at Warren Harding High School in Warren, Ohio – despite missing part of his junior season with an ankle injury. His senior year alone he carried for 2,194 yards and 38 touchdowns, and was named Ohio’s Mr. Football and USA Today’s national offensive player of the year.
At Ohio State, he missed all or part of five games because of injuries, yet still set freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Without him, the gleaming 2002 national championship trophies likely would be in Coral Gables, Fla., not Columbus.
At the Fiesta Bowl against Miami in a second overtime, Clarett cut through the Hurricane defense and dived into the end zone for the winning, 5-yard touchdown. He also made the most memorable play of the game, stripping the ball from a Miami defender after an interception.
“Anyone that had been there his freshman year in that stadium, I mean, he was everything. To everybody. From game one,” said Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, a teammate at Ohio State. “People chanted his name the whole time, and he had a great year.”
But football was more than an ego boost for Clarett. It was his way out.
Clarett grew up in gritty Youngstown, in a neighborhood on the hard and unforgiving south side. The steel mills and factories that once provided jobs for generations of families are long gone, and little good has replaced them. His mother, Michelle, tried to keep her three sons away from temptation, but it was never far off.
Clarett once said he’d been to 10 funerals by the time he left for Ohio State. He knew at least three people who’d been shot, one of whom bled to death before his eyes. His oldest brother, Michael, is serving a 4 1/2 -year prison sentence for drug trafficking, possession and assault.
“Maurice required a lot of attention keeping him on the right track, keeping him focused,” said Paul Trina, the athletic director at Warren Harding, where Clarett transferred after his freshman year.
“We felt good here. We got him through high school and got him into college. You’d have hoped he had it figured out by that time.”
Much of the time, it seemed as if he had.
Clarett – known as “Reece” or “Reecie” by friends back home – was a workout fiend, the first to show up in the weight room and the last to leave. He didn’t drink soda and was careful about everything he ate. If a classmate had a party, it was a good bet he wouldn’t be at it.
“I never saw the kid with a drink to his lips. The kid drank me out of house and home in orange juice,” said Nick Frankos, whose Buena Vista Cafe is down the street from Warren Harding and is a hangout for the school’s athletes.
“You know how kids are, kids talk. I’d say, ‘Who was at that party?’ ” Frankos said. “Reece would go home at night. The kids said he never touched a drug, never touched alcohol.”
A B-average student and something of a loner, he took summer school and graduated a semester early so he could jump-start his career at Ohio State.
Freedom is a funny thing, though. While its beauty lies in the infinite possibilities it presents, so, too, does its curse. After so many years of chasing one goal, all of those choices can spin you around like a 300-pound linebacker.
“He was in a hurry to get to college, he was in a hurry to get to the NFL. ... He wanted things before his time,” Trina said. “As much as we’re trying to get him to say, ‘Take it one day at a time,’ I’m sure there were other people saying, ‘Man, you don’t need that.’ ”
For everything good that came Clarett’s way, he seemed to find an accompanying bad. He had a pair of touchdowns and his fourth straight 100-yard game against Northwestern. He also had a heated exchange on the sidelines with his position coach.
He landed on the cover of ESPN the Magazine, but angered the Ohio State faithful by hinting that he might leave early and challenge the NFL’s rule on underclassmen.
Even the Fiesta Bowl experience was tainted. Four days before the title game, he sparked a controversy when he criticized Ohio State for not getting him home for the funeral of a childhood friend who’d been shot. The next day, after Geiger said the school couldn’t help because Clarett had failed to fill out the right forms, the freshman accused school officials of lying.
Clarett’s disruptions were forgotten, or at least forgiven, in the euphoria of the national championship. He was anointed the Heisman Trophy front-runner for what would be his sophomore season, and he already was projected as a top NFL draft pick whenever he came out. All he had to do was keep out of trouble.
Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel met frequently with Clarett. Geiger said he suggested counseling, a recommendation Clarett declined. Tressel also gave all of his players a handbook based on his “Block ‘O’ of Life” philosophy, designed to teach the players responsibility, leadership and the pillars of success.
But whether Clarett was getting bad advice or he was simply making bad choices, the right thing seemed harder and harder to come by. By summertime, the Columbus police, Ohio State and NCAA all were investigating one transgression or another.
On Sept. 10, 2003, Ohio State suspended Clarett for his sophomore season after determining he’d accepted thousands of dollars in improper benefits and then lied to NCAA and school investigators.
“When you review in your mind the conversations you’ve had and the lessons you’ve tried to share, yes, anytime we don’t succeed, whether socially or academically ... it’s disappointing,” Tressel said after Clarett’s most recent arrest. He declined additional comment for this story through Ohio State’s sports information department.
Two weeks after his suspension, Clarett sued the NFL for the right to enter the draft early. Though he won the initial decision, he lost on appeals, leaving him in limbo until the spring of 2005.
“I think somebody was in his corner telling him what to do that wasn’t the right thing to do,” Frankos said. “You hear people say there’s not any good people around him. There are plenty of people Reece could have surrounded himself with that wanted him to do the right thing.”
People who still do, too.
“My dad said, ‘He’s still one of our kids. I’m not going to turn my back on him. Nor should anyone else,’ ” Frankos said.
Though Clarett’s NFL stock had dropped because of personal issues and poor showings at the 2004 and 2005 combines, the Denver Broncos still made him a third-round pick in the 2005 draft.
Four months later, they cut him. And once again, it seemed as if Clarett was getting in his own way.
“Our players really tried to take care of this guy, and he wanted no part of it,” Denver coach Mike Shanahan said. “That was one of the reasons why he didn’t make our football team. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a bunch of guys (who) reached out to a guy more than Maurice, trying to help him, and a guy not wanting that help. That’s a shame.”
Added safety Nick Ferguson, “He was pretty withdrawn, which is really hard to be being around guys like this in the organization. If you can’t jell with guys on this team, there’s a problem.”
With no other NFL teams interested, Clarett went home to Ohio. The path that was supposed to be his way out had led him right back where he started.
Clarett was accused of robbing two people at gunpoint in an alley behind a Columbus bar, coming away with only a cell phone, on New Year’s Day. He was indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery, four lesser robbery charges and a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. That trial begins Sept. 18.
Clarett’s struggle takes him to jail
When cheers ended, troubles began for former Buckeye star
By Nancy Armour
Associated Press
Associated Press photos
Former Ohio State football standout Maurice Clarett, listens to a judge during a hearing Aug. 25, in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in Columbus, Ohio.
At Ohio State, Clarett missed all or part of five games because of injuries, yet still set freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. But he was suspended from the team before in 2003 for accepting improper benefits.
Associated Press
Maurice Clarett is nowhere to be found in the 2002 national championship mural at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe in Columbus.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – For years, there were plenty of people eager to adore Maurice Clarett.
Thousands cheered him as he juked and slashed his way through high school in football-mad northeast Ohio. The roars grew deafening when he took his show down the road to Ohio State, rocking the Horseshoe as he rumbled through Big Ten defenses.
The Buckeyes are still hearing those cheers, starting the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. For Clarett, though, there is disappointed silence, and the heavy thud of a cell door closing.
“Everybody, you know what they say?” asked Jim Roland, who has lived across the street from the Claretts since Maurice Clarett was barely old enough to cradle a football.
“They say our friend let us down.”
Less than four years after leading the Buckeyes to their first national title in 34 years, the former running back sits locked in a jail cell. What began with robbery and weapon charges in a New Year’s Day incident escalated three weeks ago when police stopped Clarett near the home of a potential witness and found him wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying three semiautomatic handguns and an automatic rifle – all loaded – in his SUV.
Two very different paths, two very different lives.
“He could be charming, funny, engaging. He was bright in many ways. But I also felt he was flawed in understanding the difference between right and wrong, and not having any willingness or even recognition of living life by the rules,” said former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger.
“He always seemed to have one foot in the place you wanted him to go, but you could never get the second foot there.”
Clarett is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18, pending a psychiatric evaluation, and is barred from talking to the media. His mother, Michelle, did not return several phone calls from The Associated Press, and no one answered the door at the family home in Youngstown. His attorneys, Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, also did not return repeated phone calls.
“He’s a good guy who’s had bad guidance and listens sometimes to the wrong people,” said Denver Broncos safety Tyler Everett, a friend of Clarett’s since they were 12 years old and a teammate at Ohio State.
Clarett was born with a gift for creating holes and slithering through them. Big and strong at 6-foot, 230 pounds, he made even the toughest defenses look silly. If he didn’t run by you, he’d run over you. If he didn’t see a hole, he’d make one.
He piled up 4,119 yards rushing and 52 touchdowns in three years at Warren Harding High School in Warren, Ohio – despite missing part of his junior season with an ankle injury. His senior year alone he carried for 2,194 yards and 38 touchdowns, and was named Ohio’s Mr. Football and USA Today’s national offensive player of the year.
At Ohio State, he missed all or part of five games because of injuries, yet still set freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Without him, the gleaming 2002 national championship trophies likely would be in Coral Gables, Fla., not Columbus.
At the Fiesta Bowl against Miami in a second overtime, Clarett cut through the Hurricane defense and dived into the end zone for the winning, 5-yard touchdown. He also made the most memorable play of the game, stripping the ball from a Miami defender after an interception.
“Anyone that had been there his freshman year in that stadium, I mean, he was everything. To everybody. From game one,” said Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk, a teammate at Ohio State. “People chanted his name the whole time, and he had a great year.”
But football was more than an ego boost for Clarett. It was his way out.
Clarett grew up in gritty Youngstown, in a neighborhood on the hard and unforgiving south side. The steel mills and factories that once provided jobs for generations of families are long gone, and little good has replaced them. His mother, Michelle, tried to keep her three sons away from temptation, but it was never far off.
Clarett once said he’d been to 10 funerals by the time he left for Ohio State. He knew at least three people who’d been shot, one of whom bled to death before his eyes. His oldest brother, Michael, is serving a 4 1/2 -year prison sentence for drug trafficking, possession and assault.
“Maurice required a lot of attention keeping him on the right track, keeping him focused,” said Paul Trina, the athletic director at Warren Harding, where Clarett transferred after his freshman year.
“We felt good here. We got him through high school and got him into college. You’d have hoped he had it figured out by that time.”
Much of the time, it seemed as if he had.
Clarett – known as “Reece” or “Reecie” by friends back home – was a workout fiend, the first to show up in the weight room and the last to leave. He didn’t drink soda and was careful about everything he ate. If a classmate had a party, it was a good bet he wouldn’t be at it.
“I never saw the kid with a drink to his lips. The kid drank me out of house and home in orange juice,” said Nick Frankos, whose Buena Vista Cafe is down the street from Warren Harding and is a hangout for the school’s athletes.
“You know how kids are, kids talk. I’d say, ‘Who was at that party?’ ” Frankos said. “Reece would go home at night. The kids said he never touched a drug, never touched alcohol.”
A B-average student and something of a loner, he took summer school and graduated a semester early so he could jump-start his career at Ohio State.
Freedom is a funny thing, though. While its beauty lies in the infinite possibilities it presents, so, too, does its curse. After so many years of chasing one goal, all of those choices can spin you around like a 300-pound linebacker.
“He was in a hurry to get to college, he was in a hurry to get to the NFL. ... He wanted things before his time,” Trina said. “As much as we’re trying to get him to say, ‘Take it one day at a time,’ I’m sure there were other people saying, ‘Man, you don’t need that.’ ”
For everything good that came Clarett’s way, he seemed to find an accompanying bad. He had a pair of touchdowns and his fourth straight 100-yard game against Northwestern. He also had a heated exchange on the sidelines with his position coach.
He landed on the cover of ESPN the Magazine, but angered the Ohio State faithful by hinting that he might leave early and challenge the NFL’s rule on underclassmen.
Even the Fiesta Bowl experience was tainted. Four days before the title game, he sparked a controversy when he criticized Ohio State for not getting him home for the funeral of a childhood friend who’d been shot. The next day, after Geiger said the school couldn’t help because Clarett had failed to fill out the right forms, the freshman accused school officials of lying.
Clarett’s disruptions were forgotten, or at least forgiven, in the euphoria of the national championship. He was anointed the Heisman Trophy front-runner for what would be his sophomore season, and he already was projected as a top NFL draft pick whenever he came out. All he had to do was keep out of trouble.
Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel met frequently with Clarett. Geiger said he suggested counseling, a recommendation Clarett declined. Tressel also gave all of his players a handbook based on his “Block ‘O’ of Life” philosophy, designed to teach the players responsibility, leadership and the pillars of success.
But whether Clarett was getting bad advice or he was simply making bad choices, the right thing seemed harder and harder to come by. By summertime, the Columbus police, Ohio State and NCAA all were investigating one transgression or another.
On Sept. 10, 2003, Ohio State suspended Clarett for his sophomore season after determining he’d accepted thousands of dollars in improper benefits and then lied to NCAA and school investigators.
“When you review in your mind the conversations you’ve had and the lessons you’ve tried to share, yes, anytime we don’t succeed, whether socially or academically ... it’s disappointing,” Tressel said after Clarett’s most recent arrest. He declined additional comment for this story through Ohio State’s sports information department.
Two weeks after his suspension, Clarett sued the NFL for the right to enter the draft early. Though he won the initial decision, he lost on appeals, leaving him in limbo until the spring of 2005.
“I think somebody was in his corner telling him what to do that wasn’t the right thing to do,” Frankos said. “You hear people say there’s not any good people around him. There are plenty of people Reece could have surrounded himself with that wanted him to do the right thing.”
People who still do, too.
“My dad said, ‘He’s still one of our kids. I’m not going to turn my back on him. Nor should anyone else,’ ” Frankos said.
Though Clarett’s NFL stock had dropped because of personal issues and poor showings at the 2004 and 2005 combines, the Denver Broncos still made him a third-round pick in the 2005 draft.
Four months later, they cut him. And once again, it seemed as if Clarett was getting in his own way.
“Our players really tried to take care of this guy, and he wanted no part of it,” Denver coach Mike Shanahan said. “That was one of the reasons why he didn’t make our football team. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a bunch of guys (who) reached out to a guy more than Maurice, trying to help him, and a guy not wanting that help. That’s a shame.”
Added safety Nick Ferguson, “He was pretty withdrawn, which is really hard to be being around guys like this in the organization. If you can’t jell with guys on this team, there’s a problem.”
With no other NFL teams interested, Clarett went home to Ohio. The path that was supposed to be his way out had led him right back where he started.
Clarett was accused of robbing two people at gunpoint in an alley behind a Columbus bar, coming away with only a cell phone, on New Year’s Day. He was indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery, four lesser robbery charges and a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. That trial begins Sept. 18.
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Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Updated: Sep. 7, 2006, 5:02 PM ET
Clarett indicted on charges from police chase
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett was indicted Thursday on new charges related to a highway chase and violent struggle with police.
Clarett, found with three semiautomatic handguns and an automatic rifle -- all loaded -- in his SUV, was indicted on five charges that include carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of failure to comply with an order from a police officer.
The 22-year-old was arrested Aug. 9 after authorities say he tried to flee a police officer. Police noticed a vehicle driving erratically, beginning a highway chase that ended when police spiked the tires of Clarett's SUV. Officers said their stun guns did not work on Clarett because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Instead, police used pepper spray to gain control of and handcuff Clarett.
Clarett, who's being held in the Franklin County jail, already is set to go to trial on Sept. 18 on charges accusing him of robbing two people of a cell phone outside a bar early on New Year's Day.
Last week, Clarett's attorneys asked the court to pay for a public opinion poll to determine if an impartial jury could be seated for that trial in the county where he once starred on the field. But Common Pleas Judge David W. Fais denied the request Wednesday.
At the time of his Aug. 9 arrest, police say Clarett was driving a few blocks from the home of a woman authorities said was to testify against him in the robbery trial.
Thursday's indictment also includes charges of improper handling of a firearm and one count of using a gun while under indictment on the New Year's Day robbery.
Clarett, who has undergone a judge-ordered mental health examination, will be arraigned on the five new charges Monday.
Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, Clarett's defense attorneys in both cases, did not return messages seeking comment Thursday. The county prosecutor and the lead prosecutor in the case also did not return calls.
Clarett, selected as the national player of the year by several publications, was an instant sensation at Ohio State.
He started right away and led the Buckeyes in rushing with a freshman-record 1,237 yards on 222 carries, despite missing all or part of five games.
At the Fiesta Bowl against Miami in a second overtime, Clarett cut through the Hurricane defense and dived into the end zone for the winning, 5-yard touchdown, giving Ohio State its first national title in 34 years.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2577932
Clarett indicted on charges from police chase
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett was indicted Thursday on new charges related to a highway chase and violent struggle with police.
Clarett, found with three semiautomatic handguns and an automatic rifle -- all loaded -- in his SUV, was indicted on five charges that include carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of failure to comply with an order from a police officer.
The 22-year-old was arrested Aug. 9 after authorities say he tried to flee a police officer. Police noticed a vehicle driving erratically, beginning a highway chase that ended when police spiked the tires of Clarett's SUV. Officers said their stun guns did not work on Clarett because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Instead, police used pepper spray to gain control of and handcuff Clarett.
Clarett, who's being held in the Franklin County jail, already is set to go to trial on Sept. 18 on charges accusing him of robbing two people of a cell phone outside a bar early on New Year's Day.
Last week, Clarett's attorneys asked the court to pay for a public opinion poll to determine if an impartial jury could be seated for that trial in the county where he once starred on the field. But Common Pleas Judge David W. Fais denied the request Wednesday.
At the time of his Aug. 9 arrest, police say Clarett was driving a few blocks from the home of a woman authorities said was to testify against him in the robbery trial.
Thursday's indictment also includes charges of improper handling of a firearm and one count of using a gun while under indictment on the New Year's Day robbery.
Clarett, who has undergone a judge-ordered mental health examination, will be arraigned on the five new charges Monday.
Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, Clarett's defense attorneys in both cases, did not return messages seeking comment Thursday. The county prosecutor and the lead prosecutor in the case also did not return calls.
Clarett, selected as the national player of the year by several publications, was an instant sensation at Ohio State.
He started right away and led the Buckeyes in rushing with a freshman-record 1,237 yards on 222 carries, despite missing all or part of five games.
At the Fiesta Bowl against Miami in a second overtime, Clarett cut through the Hurricane defense and dived into the end zone for the winning, 5-yard touchdown, giving Ohio State its first national title in 34 years.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2577932
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[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett faces 5 new charges[/FONT]
Friday, September 8, 2006 [FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer[/FONT]
COLUMBUS - Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett was indicted Thursday on new charges related to a highway chase and violent struggle with police.
Clarett, found Aug. 9 with four loaded guns in his SUV, was indicted on five charges that include carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of failure to comply with an order from a police officer. He will be arraigned Monday.
Clarett was arrested after authorities say he tried to flee a police officer. Police noticed a vehicle driving erratically, beginning a highway chase that ended when police spiked the tires of Clarett?s SUV. Officers said their stun guns did not work on Clarett because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Clarett is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 18 on unrelated charges accusing him of robbing two people of a cell phone outside a bar early on New Year?s Day.
Clarett will be arraigned Monday on the five new charges, which also include improper handling of a firearm and using a gun while under indictment on the New Year?s Day robbery.
Police used pepper spray to gain control of and handcuff Clarett. They said he kicked the doors of the police vehicle and that they had to put a cloth mask over his mouth because he was spitting at them.
Clarett is being held in the Franklin County jail.
At the time of his arrest, he was driving a few blocks from the home of a woman who authorities said was scheduled to testify against him in the robbery trial. In that case, witnesses said Clarett flashed a gun and robbed two people of a cell phone behind a Columbus nightclub.
Clarett has undergone a mental health examination since his arrest.
Neither of his defense attorneys, Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, returned messages seeking comment. The county prosecutor and the lead prosecutor in the case also did not return calls.
Clarett?s attorneys requested a public survey to determine if their client could get a fair trial in the county where he once starred on the field, but that request was denied Wednesday.
After helping Ohio State win a national title as a freshman, Clarett was charged with falsely reporting a theft to police in the summer of 2003 and later was suspended from the team for accepting improper benefits from a family friend.
He was a third-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2005 draft but the team cut him during training camp.
He was arrested early this year on the robbery charges, about the time Ohio State was putting the finishing touches on a 34-20 victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Clarett faces 5 new charges[/FONT]
Friday, September 8, 2006 [FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer[/FONT]
COLUMBUS - Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett was indicted Thursday on new charges related to a highway chase and violent struggle with police.
Clarett, found Aug. 9 with four loaded guns in his SUV, was indicted on five charges that include carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of failure to comply with an order from a police officer. He will be arraigned Monday.
Clarett was arrested after authorities say he tried to flee a police officer. Police noticed a vehicle driving erratically, beginning a highway chase that ended when police spiked the tires of Clarett?s SUV. Officers said their stun guns did not work on Clarett because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Clarett is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 18 on unrelated charges accusing him of robbing two people of a cell phone outside a bar early on New Year?s Day.
Clarett will be arraigned Monday on the five new charges, which also include improper handling of a firearm and using a gun while under indictment on the New Year?s Day robbery.
Police used pepper spray to gain control of and handcuff Clarett. They said he kicked the doors of the police vehicle and that they had to put a cloth mask over his mouth because he was spitting at them.
Clarett is being held in the Franklin County jail.
At the time of his arrest, he was driving a few blocks from the home of a woman who authorities said was scheduled to testify against him in the robbery trial. In that case, witnesses said Clarett flashed a gun and robbed two people of a cell phone behind a Columbus nightclub.
Clarett has undergone a mental health examination since his arrest.
Neither of his defense attorneys, Michael Hoague and Nick Mango, returned messages seeking comment. The county prosecutor and the lead prosecutor in the case also did not return calls.
Clarett?s attorneys requested a public survey to determine if their client could get a fair trial in the county where he once starred on the field, but that request was denied Wednesday.
After helping Ohio State win a national title as a freshman, Clarett was charged with falsely reporting a theft to police in the summer of 2003 and later was suspended from the team for accepting improper benefits from a family friend.
He was a third-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2005 draft but the team cut him during training camp.
He was arrested early this year on the robbery charges, about the time Ohio State was putting the finishing touches on a 34-20 victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Updated: Sep. 8, 2006, 2:08 PM ET
Attorney: Clarett found competent to stand trial
Associated Press
http://log.go.com/log?srvc=sz&guid=...rce=ESPN_ROS_146x46_Football_YesYouDo_Fantasy
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A mental health evaluation of former Ohio State football star Maurice Clarett found he is competent to stand trial on robbery charges, his attorney said Friday.
Clarett
A judge had ordered Clarett to be examined following his Aug. 9 arrest after a highway chase and violent struggle with police, who found four loaded guns in his SUV.
Prosecutors told Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Fais at a hearing in Clarett's robbery case that they had read the psychological evaluation and agreed to have it entered as an exhibit in the trial. Fais said the findings will not be released until presented at trial.
"It was a determination of competency," said Michael Hoague, one of Clarett's attorneys, after Friday's brief hearing.
Fais asked Clarett during the proceeding if he understood his trial would begin Sept. 18.
"Yes, sir," said Clarett, sporting a beard and brown jail clothing. Clarett's mother sat in the courtroom, holding his newborn daughter in her lap. His girlfriend, who gave birth to the child this summer, also attended the hearing.
Clarett, 22, is accused of robbing two people of a cell phone outside a Columbus bar early New Year's Day.
His attorneys, who objected to the mental health evaluation when it was ordered after his Aug. 9 arrest, downplayed the significance of the findings.
"I've always felt he was competent," attorney Nick Mango said.
Friday, the judge agreed to let potential jurors answer a questionnaire about their knowledge of the case and the intense publicity surrounding Clarett. A draft of the questionnaire is to be completed next week by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The defense team has expressed concern about Clarett being fairly tried in the county.
Last week, Clarett's attorneys asked the court to pay for a public opinion poll to determine if an impartial jury could be seated for the robbery trial in the county where he once starred on the field. But Fais denied the request Wednesday.
On Thursday, Clarett, who led Ohio State to the 2002 national championship, was indicted on five charges stemming from his Aug. 9 arrest. Clarett has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon, two counts of failure to comply with an order from a police officer, improper handling of a firearm and one count of using a gun while under indictment on the New Year's Day robbery.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2579237
Attorney: Clarett found competent to stand trial
Associated Press
http://log.go.com/log?srvc=sz&guid=...rce=ESPN_ROS_146x46_Football_YesYouDo_Fantasy
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A mental health evaluation of former Ohio State football star Maurice Clarett found he is competent to stand trial on robbery charges, his attorney said Friday.
Clarett
A judge had ordered Clarett to be examined following his Aug. 9 arrest after a highway chase and violent struggle with police, who found four loaded guns in his SUV.
Prosecutors told Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Fais at a hearing in Clarett's robbery case that they had read the psychological evaluation and agreed to have it entered as an exhibit in the trial. Fais said the findings will not be released until presented at trial.
"It was a determination of competency," said Michael Hoague, one of Clarett's attorneys, after Friday's brief hearing.
Fais asked Clarett during the proceeding if he understood his trial would begin Sept. 18.
"Yes, sir," said Clarett, sporting a beard and brown jail clothing. Clarett's mother sat in the courtroom, holding his newborn daughter in her lap. His girlfriend, who gave birth to the child this summer, also attended the hearing.
Clarett, 22, is accused of robbing two people of a cell phone outside a Columbus bar early New Year's Day.
His attorneys, who objected to the mental health evaluation when it was ordered after his Aug. 9 arrest, downplayed the significance of the findings.
"I've always felt he was competent," attorney Nick Mango said.
Friday, the judge agreed to let potential jurors answer a questionnaire about their knowledge of the case and the intense publicity surrounding Clarett. A draft of the questionnaire is to be completed next week by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The defense team has expressed concern about Clarett being fairly tried in the county.
Last week, Clarett's attorneys asked the court to pay for a public opinion poll to determine if an impartial jury could be seated for the robbery trial in the county where he once starred on the field. But Fais denied the request Wednesday.
On Thursday, Clarett, who led Ohio State to the 2002 national championship, was indicted on five charges stemming from his Aug. 9 arrest. Clarett has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon, two counts of failure to comply with an order from a police officer, improper handling of a firearm and one count of using a gun while under indictment on the New Year's Day robbery.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2579237
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