9 MSU football players charged with assault, 3 more suspended
Total of 13 players have been removed or suspended since Nov. 22 incident
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Nine MSU football players have been charged with assault for their actions in the Nov. 22 altercation at Rather Hall.
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.
In addition, MSU Associate Athletics Director of Communications John Lewandowski issued a statement Wednesday afternoon adding Deane, sophomore wide receiver Chris D. Rucker and redshirt freshman defensive back Donald Spencer to the list of players suspended from the team. Wednesday’s suspensions bring the number of players removed or suspended since the incident to 13.
“We reiterate our full support for the police investigation as it continues, and fully support the standards, cooperation, and decisions of coach Mark Dantonio and the athletics department,” the release stated.
Each of the charged players received one count of conspiracy to commit assault and battery, 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, while Winston and Leggett received two.
Jenrette and Winston were kicked off the team Nov. 24 for violating team rules, while Cunningham, Smith, Dell, Williams, Leggett and Rucker were suspended Dec. 1.
Police identified all of them as being present at the Rather Hall incident.
Deane, Rucker and Spencer have not been publicly identified by police for their involvement in the altercation.
Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunning said more charges could be forthcoming as police continue to submit reports to his office. No arraignments have been scheduled.
Ishmyl Johnson and Brynden Trawick both were suspended from the team Dec. 1 and were identified as being present at the Rather Hall incident, but have not been charged with crimes.
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. The witnesses said the players were searching for a particular fraternity member, but when they discovered he was not present, a fight ensued.
The fraternity also released a statement 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.
Commentary
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Tom
(12/09/09 4:36pm)Report
Another well written article by the State News…
Felony or misdemeanor assault? Big difference – prison or probation.
Details, details, details…
Thugs
(12/09/09 4:36pm)Report
Hahahahaha OWNED!
Tom
(12/09/09 4:36pm)Report
ok, so they corrected it. must have read my comment.
Tough Luck
(12/09/09 4:58pm)Report
Damn that sucks. So does that mean we will have 9 scholorships open for next year??????
Hahahahaha dude
(12/09/09 4:59pm)Report
You hit the nail right on the head, and I also lmfao.
xD
Anon
(12/09/09 4:59pm)Report
I hope they get the max time plus more punishment from MSU and the AD.
Enjoy it morons.
Ferndale Alum
(12/09/09 5:17pm)Report
Boot them all from the team and from MSU. We don’t need these thugs giving us a bad name.
I love how all their high school coaches released statements saying how they were such gentlemen in high school. Bulls***!
This was premeditated! They are useless thugs.
Marsha
(12/09/09 5:24pm)Report
Remember that assault could be just touching someone in today’s world, like knocking someone’s hand off you—-it’s a scary world, we are a bunch of wimps
Diana
(12/09/09 5:35pm)Report
and what about what happened at the nightclub the night before?? Did these frat boys not bring it on themselves?? I’m not saying they deserved to get beat up, but come on…how come none of them are getting in trouble?
TC
(12/09/09 6:05pm)Report
It’s sad that this fight happened between a black fraternity and the football team, which is a predominantly black organization. These guys should be supporting each other on campus, not brawling.
kyle
(12/09/09 6:16pm)Report
we all knew this was coming, thanks to the state news, I know it right away!
I
(12/09/09 7:31pm)Report
Awesome. Go team.
Bob
(12/09/09 7:34pm)Report
What is sad to me, is that no one on the team spoke up to the coaching staff that trouble was brewing. Also, why didnot the police dept. notify the coaching staff of the incident at the bar on Friday.
Come On
(12/09/09 9:16pm)Report
Seriously this a witch hunt. It’s a age old classic college tradition that football players beat up nerds every now and then. The school and to cops are supposed to turn a blind eye. We’ve got a bowl to prep for for crying out loud! Give me a break.
SMH
(12/09/09 10:40pm)Report
the iotas is some punks who wont step up and admit what they did.. IT TAKES 2 TO FIGHT!!… u mean to tell me they jus stood their and got beat up WOW!!! smh…so much for the bowl game. THANKS GUYS!!!
B
(12/09/09 11:14pm)Report
though I completely feel the players actions were wrong, it is ridiculous that no one from the fraternity is being charged for anything. They started the saturday fight, and I’m sure they didn’t just sit back and do nothing on Sunday. It takes two to fight. This fraternity also has a history of fighting.
RE: SMH
(12/09/09 11:26pm)Report
Holy wow, SMH, I hope you aren’t a college student. Judging by your primitive communication, I would say you never should have passed 3rd grade.
Learn to speak english, spell, and form proper sentences. Please and thank you.
It's a Fight
(12/09/09 11:35pm)Report
I really don’t care if they all got in a ring and beat the crap out of each other. It might be more entertaining then watching this team play football.
MLG
(12/10/09 1:38am)Report
Forget the bowl game. These people need to be head accountable for their violent actions!!!!!! Throw them all off the team permanently, thow them out of MSU & throw them in jail where it sounds like they belong.
JDZ
(12/10/09 2:12am)Report
B this was not a fight. The saturday night stuff was over. The football players got a gang together went to a residence hall and proceeded to rough people up. It was stated that the guy they were looking for was not there. These players should be kicked out of school. This was gang mentallity and should not be allowed at this University. I would be scared if I was still there and these thugs were allowed to continue on scholarship.
Re: JDZ
(12/10/09 1:14pm)Report
“Gang mentality”… the coaches probably call it “team spirit” during practice!