9 MSU football players charged with assault
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Deane
D. Rucker
Spencer
Nine MSU football players have been charged with assault for their involvement in the Nov. 22 altercation at Rather Hall, and MSU police say there might be more charges to come.
The players are junior safety Roderick Jenrette, sophomore running back Glenn Winston, sophomore wide receiver Fred Smith, sophomore wide receiver B.J. Cunningham, junior wide receiver Mark Dell, redshirt freshman linebacker Jamiihr
Williams, sophomore running back Ashton Leggett, junior offensive lineman J’Michael Deane and junior cornerback Chris L. Rucker.
MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap said the investigation is ongoing and there still are more individuals to be identified. As police gather more information, they will submit reports to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, he said.
Eleven players have been suspended from the MSU football team and two players have been dismissed.
MSU Associate Athletics Director of Communications John Lewandowski issued a statement Wednesday adding Deane, sophomore wide receiver Chris D. Rucker and redshirt freshman defensive back Donald Spencer to the list of players suspended from the team.
Jenrette and Winston were kicked off the team Nov. 24 for violating team rules, while Cunningham, Smith, Dell, Williams, Leggett, Chris L. Rucker, Ishmyl Johnson and Brynden Trawick were suspended Dec. 1.
Each of the charged players received one count of conspiracy to commit assault and battery, which is a misdemeanor charge carrying a maximum of one year in jail.
All of them also were charged with at least one count of assault or assault and battery, which are misdemeanors with a 93-day maximum sentence.
Jenrette received three counts of assault or assault and battery, and Winston and Leggett received two.
Police previously identified all of the charged players as being present at the Rather Hall incident except for Deane, Chris D. Rucker and Spencer.
Johnson and Trawick were identified as being present at the Rather Hall incident, but have not been charged with crimes.
Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said there might be more charges pending the findings of the police investigation. Footage from the Rather Hall lobby security cameras, as well as reports from the police was used to charge the players, he said.
Dunlap said there are more interviews the police will conduct, but specific individuals have not been identified publicly.
Dunnings said the nine charged Wednesday are the only charges as of now. Although those charged have been identified as members of the MSU football team, he said he did not identify anyone based on their affiliation.
“I don’t know who is a fraternity member, I don’t know who is a football player,” he said. “I have no idea what their affiliation is and I don’t care. All I see are suspects, witnesses and victims.”
Witnesses have said the Nov. 22 incident occurred when a group of 15 to 20 football players stormed into a Rather Hall lounge where members of the Iota Phi Theta fraternity were holding a potluck. Witnesses said they were seeking a particular fraternity member and when they discovered he wasn’t present, a fight ensued.
The fraternity released a statement following the altercation saying members of the team were involved in a Nov. 21 fight at The Small Planet, 16800 Chandler Road, which might have led to the Rather Hall incident.
Detwan Chapman, a spokesman for the fraternity, declined to comment Wednesday.
Head football coach Mark Dantonio has said none of the suspended players will attend the Alamo bowl, regardless of whether they are charged.
Staff writer Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.
Commentary
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Every student at Michigan State
(12/10/09 1:18am)Report
These young “men” are a disgrace… All of them should be dropped of scholarships and forced out of the school, if they reapply and get back in, that’s fine, they should even be allowed to play football, but sure as heck shouldn’t be using money to pay for their tuition… Some say we need to treat them like everyone else. The fact of the matter is they aren’t like everyone else, they are privileged student athletes that represent Michigan State University on a national stage more than any intellectual could. They are given free stuff, first choice at classes, everything in the world, but for some reason this makes it okay to thug around campus. You are a disgrace, do not come back, and expect to be booed. Man up D and kick em off the team. I’m tired of them disgracing our University…
ERN
(12/10/09 7:38am)Report
The truly sad part is that I’m sure that none of these guys really understand what they have lost. They were fortunate enough to have been blessed with athleticism, strength and size. All which have allowed them to earn a scholarship to go to a school like MSU get an education and represent our school on the football field. Many other young men would given up much more for that same opportunity. Now it appears they have far worse concerns than not playing football. Life comes at ya fast!
Jack
(12/10/09 8:32am)Report
We certainly have some thugs on the football team that is for sure.
They should have all been wearing ski masks, not just a few of them. How are we supposed to beat Texas Tech now?
Lovey
(12/10/09 9:03am)Report
I’m sure you could peel the testosterone off the walls. Did any frat guys get charged? If not…maybe no punches were thrown?
State Fan
(12/10/09 9:26am)Report
I agree with 1st poster. Take away their scholarships, it’s disgusting how my tuition is paying for theirs. The least they can do is be a good citizen, don’t care if they win a game or not. These players paint all the good student-athletes on our football team in the same, negative light. Release them of their scholarships and let them transfer, none of them are needed/wanted here anymore.
@state fan
(12/10/09 9:45am)Report
State Fan should research how student athlete scholarships are paid for.
but i do agree that the team is better off with out them. kick them off.
John
(12/10/09 9:51am)Report
This news simply affirms what I have posted after previous stories. We all needed to sit back and let people do their jobs. From where I sit, it appears that the MSU Police and the Athletic Department have worked well together on this case, which is pretty monumental if you know MSU history. All of the administrators involved deserve credit for their handling of THIS case so far, and have earned some integrity points with me. Clearly this is not over, but it is a good beginning.
In the meantime, I would like to make a point of clarification. Tuition dollars for the average MSU student has NO bearing on the scholarships money that athletes receive. While I understand the sentiment expressed by State Fan and others, there is no correlation. Athletics is COMPLETELY separate from the MSU general fund, and is operated as an auxilliary to the University. In other words, they have to pay for themselves, without any support from tax or tuition dollars. It is true that venues like the Breslin Center have used such funds, the programs themselves (e.g., basketball, hockey, football) do not. In fact, if football were not a profitable enterprise, most of the non-revenue sports (e.g., wrestling, soccer, tennis) could not exist.
F
(12/10/09 9:53am)Report
Is it odd that they were all charged, and some admit they were just standing around?
Nobody from the Frat is talking either, nor were they charged?
I am not defending what they did, it just seems a lot of loose ends here. It doesn’t add up….
Homebrew
(12/10/09 10:21am)Report
Typical overreaction by EL Police. No guns or knives – just a dust up among the fellas. Yeah that deserves all these charges. Let em go with a simple disorderly or nothing.
^Agree
(12/10/09 10:50am)Report
This was MSU police, technically, but ELPD and MSUPD are a cooperative. We have an African American fraternity against, so far, 11 African American football players. It is pretty obvious there was some serious incident at The Small Planet the night before. This prosecutor is an absolute tyrant chasing fame. I agree with the suspensions, and I agree with losing their scholarships. You think 93 days in jail is going to help these boys? I forget, did Winston get better after his stint?
THUGS
(12/10/09 11:49am)Report
HAHAHAHA OWNED!!!
(This comment got deleted before, I have no idea why, so I am re-posting it.)
Lucius
(12/10/09 12:01pm)Report
LSJ is reporting an MSU football player just got busted for urinating in public:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20091210/GW01/312100028
Good to see that crimes by our players are downgrading from assault to peeing in a parking lot. Looks like the program is moving in the right direction.
@Lucius
(12/10/09 12:42pm)Report
Yes. It was Winston.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4728934
^CORRECTION
(12/10/09 12:45pm)Report
Correction. It doesn’t specifically say who it was or if it was Winston.
dotherightthing
(12/10/09 1:12pm)Report
I agree with F. Something had to have been pretty serious the night before at the Small Planet. Why would they be looking for 1 guy? What did that frat guy say or do to provoke such a large reaction? Why are the frat memebers not talking? I do agree with some sort of punishment but, I would also look at what caused this Chaos.
Jon
(12/10/09 1:21pm)Report
How can there not be a single person charged from the fraternity? The police department and Ingham County prosecutor are punishing these guys just because they’re football players. I do not agree with what the players did and I agree with the charges for the most part; however, there is no way that not a single person in the fraternity was at fault here. Now the frat gets away with it and they were the instigators the previous night. The prosecutor is looking for his time in the spotlight and it isn’t fair to the players.
Ed
(12/10/09 1:30pm)Report
To Homebrew:
Most disorderly charges carry the same amount of maximum jail time as misdemeanor assault and battery charges. The reason they were charged with just misdemeanors was because there were no weapons, then they would have been charged with felonies.
bad arguments.
James
(12/10/09 2:09pm)Report
The likely reason no frat members were charged is because they didn’t commit a crime. A fight at a bar occured, ok, fine. If Mr. Winston (who, according to Det News article was the player involved in initial fight) wanted to press charges and file a police report regarding the incident at Small Planet, he could have done so.
But he didn’t, what he did was conspire and recuit his boys to go, wearing ski masks, to assault several innocent people (including women) at a dorm. Their assault was planned, hence the conspiracy charges.
Lyle
(12/10/09 4:05pm)Report
“How can there not be a single person charged from the fraternity? The police department and Ingham County prosecutor are punishing these guys just because they’re football players. I do not agree with what the players did and I agree with the charges for the most part; however, there is no way that not a single person in the fraternity was at fault here. Now the frat gets away with it and they were the instigators the previous night. The prosecutor is looking for his time in the spotlight and it isn’t fair to the players.”
******************
From what I’ve read, the fraternity members were at their own function, minding their own business. The football players left their function, crossed the street and started fighting. Were the fraternity members not allowed to defend themselves. It was the football players who went looking for the altercation. Pure and simple.
Qunt
(12/11/09 11:40am)Report
> You think 93 days in jail is going to help these boys? I forget, did Winston get better after his stint?
So your criteria for punishing someone for committing a crime is… What, exactly? By your argument, pedophiles shouldn’t be charged with crimes since most will just go back to molesting children when they’re done serving time anyway.
You need to think things through a little better.