According to Keloland.com, suspended redshirt freshman Florida forward Cody Larson will face a judge on Friday in Sioux Falls, S.D., to determine if he will face jail time for violating terms of his suspended sentence.
Larson reached a plea deal with prosecutors on misdemeanor trespass charges last April for allegedly trying to break into a car in St. Augustine.
But at the time Larson was arrested, he also was on probation for a misdemeanor drug charge for sharing prescription medication with a former high school teammate. Larson received a 120-day suspended sentence. Minnehaha County (S.D.) State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan filed a motion this week to a judge to consider dropping the suspended sentence in favor of jail time.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Larson is listed on Florida’s 2011-12 roster. He also was recognized on the field with his teammates during the Tennessee game for UF’s 2011 Southeastern Conference regular-season title.
But team spokesman Denver Parler said that Larson remains suspended from the team. Florida opens practice on Oct. 15 and plays its first exhibition game Nov. 3 against Catholic University.
Wjhat would be the purpose of jail time? Why have that put on Cody’s record? Will jail time really serve any good purpose other than making the DA “tough on crime”, when the “crime” appears to be a teen-age mistake in judgement.
How many hard lessons does it take for the importance of walking a straight line to hit home to this young man?
I truly hope he has learned his lesson and is on the team this year but not at the expense of him not accepting responsibility for his past actions as well as future actions. Do not what any harm to come to him but also do not want him to cause anybody harm!! It is a balancing act which is never easy for the Judge much less coach Donovan. I do not envy being in Billy Donovan’s shoes on making the final decision on Cody’s playing status for this year’s team much less the future beyond that!!
How many second chances does anyone deserve? I have been around enough to know that is determined on a case by case basis as not all things are equal!
@ Dan
What would be the purpose of jail time??? Really? Maybe so this kid realizes he cant just keep screwing up and violating societies standards and just walk away from it because he plays basketball.
From what I know of the case, Larson’s “crime” was being with Murphy when he got drunk and started to raise hell. They let the student manager walk, possibly because he wasn’t a big time jock, and decided to charge Larson. Classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since the crime in South Dakota would probably be a slap on the wrist in urban America, why they would ask for jail time is beyond me.
They let the student manager walk because he was completely innocent and tried to talk the other two out of doing what they did. He then tried to convince them not to lie about it. As for Larson, it shows a large amount of ignorance to get into trouble again knowing about the probation. Is it really jail worthy? I dont think so, but if thats what the judge decides he made his own bed with it.
Both of these “incidents” are but child’s play, and should be treated as such.
Have the feeling that the past months/year have taught him a valuable life lesson, and from looking at his background/upbringing, one can see he’s not a “bad apple”, just young.
JUST IN: No Jail Time For Cody Larson
SIOUX FALLS, SD – Former Roosevelt High School basketball standout and now Florida Gator Cody Larson will not spend time in jail for violating the terms of his suspended sentence.
Instead, Friday morning in court, Judge John Schlimgen re-imposed the 120 day suspended sentence and gave him another two years of probation.
Larson has also been ordered to talk to the four high school basketball teams in Sioux Falls about the pressures and pitfalls of playing basketball as a high-profile athlete.
Larson was sentenced just after his senior year of high school in 2010 in a case involving illegal prescription drugs.
Last April, as a freshman at the University of Florida, local police say Larson tried to break into a car in St. Augustine. He was charged with felony burglary but those charges were reduced to a misdemeanor.
Because of that incident, Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan filed a motion to drop the suspended sentence and consider jail time on the prescription drug charges from last year.
http://www.keloland.com/sports/NewsDetail12200.cfm?Id=121852
As a lifelong Gator fan, I’m happy to hear that Cody won’t face jail time and that we (most likely, pending coach’s announcement) have another big guy as a member of our team. That said, how can you all be referring to his behavior as child’s play or just making young mistakes? He is an adult and he knows right from wrong.
The prescription drug case I can be more sympathetic, and as I understand, he was sharing them because he thought they’d be helpful, not for recreational use. Regardless, I doubt he was ignorant of the laws regarding prescription drugs, especially seeing how he needed a prescription himself to obtain them in the first place.
The car incident in St. Augustine is far less understandable. I’ve been around long enough to know that even when you’ve had too much to drink, you still know that breaking into a car is illegal and immoral, you just care less about getting caught. Therefore I would have had no sympathy in the event of a negative outcome, especially considering he was stupid enough to be drunk in public while underage and on probation.
Actually, after posting this, I did my homework a little more and realized that Cody wasn’t even prescribed those drugs in the first place, so that’s even less understandable than what I thought before. Also, and this isn’t confirmed by any official source, but I saw rumblings on some forums that he may have gotten into trouble for underage drinking in high school as well. So even though underage drinking and substance use isn’t the end of the world clearly this kid shouldn’t get the Bart Simpson verdict “boys will be boys” after multiple screw ups. But he did, and we can assume that Donovan won’t suspend him (or at least won’t for very long).
I hate to say this but if our justice system does what it is suppose to, Larson will not be playing for the University of Florida this season. A persons on probation who violate their probate should not be given another chance. They should go to jail.
P.S. UF does not need such players and should not want them.
The world according to Thomas. Whenever there is a probation violation, we should consult Thomas. He will tell us what to do…..forget the judges, we have the master of wisdom in Thomas…in fact maybe Thomas can tell us ahead time the people who have a propensity to disobey the law. Maybe he can give us a suitable profile…