The more details that came out about Draymond Green’s “altercation” or whatever one wanted to call it, the incident sounded more and more like something police and prosecutors probably shouldn’t spend a lot of time on. There are more serious crimes in Lansing than one guy slapping another in a bar.
The case is now going away with a plea deal, according to Christopher Haxel of the Lansing State Journal.NBA star Draymond Green has reached a plea agreement that will allow him to avoid jail time and reduce the charges he faced for allegedly slapping a Michigan State University football player to a noise violation, officials announced Friday.
The former MSU All-American will pay a $500 fine and $60 restitution fee. He had faced a charge of misdemeanor assault or misdemeanor assault and battery. A noise violation is a civil infraction.
Because it’s a civil infraction, there is no “guilty” or “not guilty” plea entered. It just goes away. Also, Green cannot contact Jermaine Edmondson — the victim in the case — for a year. Which is probably just fine with Green.
Green’s attorney said they would have gone to trial over the incident, but it would have taken time out of his NBA schedule. Which is good, do we need to clog a courtroom with this?
Edmondson allegedly taunted Green at the club, which led to their parties getting in some kind of relatively mild altercation. While the incident itself between Green and a former Michigan State football player Edmondson (Green attended Michigan State) was not a big deal, it did cause waves. Green apologized to his USA Basketball Olympic teammates for the distraction.
“We were talking about the things that are important to us as a team, that are really strong principles, and being able to maintain your composure is one of them,” USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the apology. “He knows that’s not what happened and what should have happened. He had a chance to share with the players.”
Green said he learned not to put himself in these situations. Makes sense. Or, just ignore the fools taunting you in a bar.