Alligator Alley

If you notice, I didn't put A.C. Leonard's arrest on the front page. Just because a kid is arrested in the offseason doesn't make it front page news in my book, particularly given the history of cases involving football players having charges either dropped or significantly reduced.

By not putting it on the front page I'm not trying to diminish the charges because domestic battery is a terrible thing. However, until the state attorney concludes his own investigation and decides to move ahead with the case or else drop or reduce the charges, I'll let it be a message board topic.

If the state attorney elects to proceed with a case against Leonard, then I think that's a front page item just as I think it's a front page item if and when the charges are either reduced or dropped altogether.

This is a policy that I have maintained on the internet for years and I feel it's been the right way to go. For example about four years ago, Carl Johnson was charged with sexual battery on a woman but the state attorney made it clear at arraignment that there was a major investigation to follow. Why? Because there was already ample evidence that the allegations wouldn't hold up. It turns out that the woman in question had made such allegations before but none had stuck, that she had a history of relations with literally dozens of UF football players and that in her own allegation, she and Johnson had sex more than 50 times but she claimed it was rape on two occasions. The story had so many holes in it didn't take a long time for all charges to be dropped. I know this because I know one of the lawyers that was involved.

I won't even go into all the details of the Chris Rainey arrest because the facts of that case indicate that the police arrested him over the objection of the alleged victim who told police that Chris had a right to be angry, that she never once felt threatened and did not wish to press charges. The police were there at the insistence of the alleged victim's sister.

Now why am I pointing these things out? Because whenever it is a football player involved in something it seems there is this rush to judgment. I didn't think the first arrest of Janoris Jenkins was front page news. The second one was a big deal because it was his second, he had violated probation and it put Will Muschamp in a position where he had to act decisively.

I make judgment calls based on what I know and what the circumstances are. I'm not going to put an arrested player on the front page simply because he was arrested but if it's a felony charge -- and the state attorney has not ruled that this is felony domestic battery at this point -- then yes, it's front page news. This is a misdemeanor.

I am going to wait this one out and see how the state attorney chooses to proceed before it becomes a front page item.