Tom Petty once sang: “I’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wings, and coming down is the hardest thing.” Ole Miss junior Robert Nkemdiche’s may be a Second-Team All-American, but he cannot fly, and following his misadventures last Saturday night at the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta, Nkemdiche came down. Hard.
The 6-foot-4, 296-pound defensive tackle allegedly broke a window in his second floor hotel room, climbed out onto the ledge, and plummeted 15 feet onto a concrete driveway, where police found him bleeding on the ground. A search of his room uncovered “approximately” seven blunts. Nkemdiche was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital to receive stitches in his leg and back. He was then arrested and charged with possession of marijuana. Read the full story here.
If this had happened in Indiana, Nkemdiche would be looking at a Class B misdemeanor and facing as many as 180 days in jail. He could also be charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief for breaking the window. If Nkemdiche had already been previously convicted of a drug offense, the charge would be a Class A misdemeanor, with up to a year in jail. If Nkemdiche had been caught with more than 30 grams of marijuana (he was charged with possession of less than 28) AND he had a prior drug conviction on his record, he would be charged with a Level 6 felony. In that situation, he could be sentenced to as many as two and a half years of incarceration.
Let’s not forget that Nkemdiche’s actions are certain to land him in hot water with the school, as well as with the state. Fortunately for him, Ole Miss guarantees “[s]tudent disciplinary hearings [that] are not intended to be adversarial but educational, and [are] conducted in an atmosphere of informality and fairness.” Compare this to IUPUI’s arbitrary and prejudicial Tier I/Tier II misconduct classification system (not shared by IU Bloomington), which may well have aggressively presumed Nkemdiche’s expulsion from the university before he even hit the pavement.
If you or a loved one is facing criminal charges, or if past convictions are making your life more difficult than it needs to be, the attorneys at the Marc Lopez Law Firm are here to help. Call us at 317-632-3642.
