Michigan junior point guard Daniel Horton pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge
of domestic violence in Ann Arbor District court this afternoon. He will be
sentenced on March 9th and could face up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine,
but the more likely outcome is probation and counseling. If he completes his
sentence without incident he be able to have the conviction expunged from his
record.
Horton, who allegedly choked his girlfriend unconscious during an argument
in early December, told Judge Ann Mattison, "we got into a heated argument,
and I pushed her."
The former Big Ten freshman of the year, who has missed six games after being
suspended from the basketball team on January 25th, decided to plead guilty
do in large part to the well-being of the young woman who filed the complaint
according to his attorney Gerald Evelyn. "He felt like her welfare is being
threatened in a way that shouldn't happen," Evelyn told the Associated
Press. "He's most concerned about the young lady in this case. Basketball
will take care of itself."
How exactly basketball will "work itself out" remains to be seen.
In his weekly press conference, Michigan basketball Coach Tommy Amaker indicated
that Horton's status with the team remains uncertain. "I just got this
stuff printed out, so I am in the process now of reading everything and going
through it," Amaker said. I have not had a chance to digest it all. I think
certainly it is positive that things proceeded forward with the situation. We
will take things under advisement from this point forward. Every call here is
the University of Michigan's call. When we get a chance to consult with the
appropriate people, we will do that."
If and when Horton returns to the team, there likely will be conditions for
his reinstatement. "When we get a chance to discuss everything I'm sure
there will be different options that we will look at," Amaker said. "Possilby
one of those avenues to pursue would be other things within our basketball program,
or privately we could have a standard for him. As we kind of unfold all of this,
put it on the table, and discuss it…I'm quite sure that some of those
things [i.e. conditions for his return] could be put forth. He is a young man
that I care a great deal about and that I like to think I'm fairly close with.
I'm disappointed that we haven't had him. We will welcome him back at some point.
Who knows when that will be. Whenever that takes shape, we will certainly welcome
him back with open arms.