Counts ready?

[MTGRZ]

Meh, I'm fine seeing him on the bench or special teams. Let Jeremy take us to the promised land!

 

[grizcountry420]

This is so fishy!


http://missoulian.com/news/local/gr...cle_8a23799a-0509-5806-af20-b9984162b069.html

A University of Montana Grizzlies running back has resolved an arrest in Lake County from this summer, and asked a judge to dismiss a related case in Missoula.

Joseph Paul Counts, 23, was arrested July 15 and charged with a misdemeanor DUI after being pulled over on Highway 93 north of St. Ignatius, according to his citation.

Lake County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher said that as part of a plea agreement, Counts pleaded guilty to an amended charge of careless driving.

Eschenbacher said Counts had been driving on the center line of the road, and after being stopped, was unable to blow enough to collect a breath sample, so there was not enough evidence to show the influence of alcohol.

“I’m a Griz fan, and it would have been really easy to be really hard on him to show how independent I am,” Eschenbacher said. “ If this was anybody else, this would have been the same outcome.”

On Sept. 12, Lake County Justice of the Peace Randy Owens deferred sentencing in Counts’ case for three months, meaning he will be eligible to have the crime taken off his record if he obeys court conditions for that period. Eschenbacher said because Counts did not provide a breath sample when he was arrested, his driver's license was also suspended for six months.

The Lake County arrest came less than a year after Counts and two other Grizzlies football players pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing in November after they broke into a family’s house on the 200 block of Pattee Canyon Drive.

In that case, Counts was sentenced to six months in jail, all of which was suspended, with a deferral period of a year after which he could have the crime cleared from his record if he met certain conditions. After his Lake County arrest, Missoula prosecutors filed a petition to revoke his sentence, saying he failed to abide by conditions that he not consume alcohol and follow all laws during that year deferral period.

In early September, Counts’ attorneys asked Justice of the Peace Landee Holloway to dismiss the Missoula petition, taking issue with the way prosecutors had interpreted his sentence.


Defense attorney Nick Brooke wrote in a court filing that the oral sentence issued by Acting Justice of the Peace Shane Vannatta in November had been for a suspended, not deferred sentence, and that it would have expired after six months were over in May. Therefore, Counts’ attorney said prosecutors could not file a petition to revoke his sentence two months after that point.

Brooke wrote that a deferral note Vannatta wrote at the bottom of Counts’ sentence allowing for the dismissal after a year “may be confusing, and is likely illegal.”

“The State is picking and choosing which lines it prefers, ignoring the Court’s clearly articulated sentence and instead emphasizing an ending footnote as controlling the entire sentence,” Brooke wrote.

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office had until Oct. 7 to respond to Counts’ request for dismissal, but didn’t file such a response. Chief Deputy County Attorney Jason Marks said Wednesday they received another extension to the deadline.

But clerks at Missoula County Justice Court said they did not receive such a request for an extension, and that after prosecutors didn’t file a response on Friday, the motion to dismiss was sent to Holloway for consideration without a rebuttal. No decision had been made about it as of Thursday.

Counts and two other members of the football team were suspended for a game after being convicted in November. Under the UM student-athlete code of conduct, a second misdemeanor conviction – as in the Lake County case –means a player must be suspended from 30 percent of games. Counts was inactive during the first three games of the current 11-game season before playing partway into the fourth.

On Thursday, UM Athletic Director Kent Haslam said he did not know the specifics of how Counts’ court cases were handled, but that he was suspended from the games for the conduct code infraction.

Violating a condition of probation or parole, the subject of the Missoula matter, could constitute a third Category II offense in the code of conduct, which means a player must be dismissed from the team.

Haslam said the school would rely on what happened in the Missoula court proceeding to determine if any further punishment was appropriate, but said it also was possible the arrest in Lake County and alleged probation violation in Missoula could be tied together as one violation, not two.

 

[VimSince03]

Is Counts ready....to party?!?!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hvmgymgo0Y[/youtube]

But serioulsy play Calhoun, Favors, and Nguyen....they all deserve to play and they fit the offense perfectly.

 

[brewskis]

This is so fishy!


http://missoulian.com/news/local/gr...cle_8a23799a-0509-5806-af20-b9984162b069.html

A University of Montana Grizzlies running back has resolved an arrest in Lake County from this summer, and asked a judge to dismiss a related case in Missoula.

Joseph Paul Counts, 23, was arrested July 15 and charged with a misdemeanor DUI after being pulled over on Highway 93 north of St. Ignatius, according to his citation.

Lake County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher said that as part of a plea agreement, Counts pleaded guilty to an amended charge of careless driving.

Eschenbacher said Counts had been driving on the center line of the road, and after being stopped, was unable to blow enough to collect a breath sample, so there was not enough evidence to show the influence of alcohol.

“I’m a Griz fan, and it would have been really easy to be really hard on him to show how independent I am,” Eschenbacher said. “ If this was anybody else, this would have been the same outcome.”

On Sept. 12, Lake County Justice of the Peace Randy Owens deferred sentencing in Counts’ case for three months, meaning he will be eligible to have the crime taken off his record if he obeys court conditions for that period. Eschenbacher said because Counts did not provide a breath sample when he was arrested, his driver's license was also suspended for six months.

The Lake County arrest came less than a year after Counts and two other Grizzlies football players pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing in November after they broke into a family’s house on the 200 block of Pattee Canyon Drive.

In that case, Counts was sentenced to six months in jail, all of which was suspended, with a deferral period of a year after which he could have the crime cleared from his record if he met certain conditions. After his Lake County arrest, Missoula prosecutors filed a petition to revoke his sentence, saying he failed to abide by conditions that he not consume alcohol and follow all laws during that year deferral period.

In early September, Counts’ attorneys asked Justice of the Peace Landee Holloway to dismiss the Missoula petition, taking issue with the way prosecutors had interpreted his sentence.


Defense attorney Nick Brooke wrote in a court filing that the oral sentence issued by Acting Justice of the Peace Shane Vannatta in November had been for a suspended, not deferred sentence, and that it would have expired after six months were over in May. Therefore, Counts’ attorney said prosecutors could not file a petition to revoke his sentence two months after that point.

Brooke wrote that a deferral note Vannatta wrote at the bottom of Counts’ sentence allowing for the dismissal after a year “may be confusing, and is likely illegal.”

“The State is picking and choosing which lines it prefers, ignoring the Court’s clearly articulated sentence and instead emphasizing an ending footnote as controlling the entire sentence,” Brooke wrote.

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office had until Oct. 7 to respond to Counts’ request for dismissal, but didn’t file such a response. Chief Deputy County Attorney Jason Marks said Wednesday they received another extension to the deadline.

But clerks at Missoula County Justice Court said they did not receive such a request for an extension, and that after prosecutors didn’t file a response on Friday, the motion to dismiss was sent to Holloway for consideration without a rebuttal. No decision had been made about it as of Thursday.

Counts and two other members of the football team were suspended for a game after being convicted in November. Under the UM student-athlete code of conduct, a second misdemeanor conviction – as in the Lake County case –means a player must be suspended from 30 percent of games. Counts was inactive during the first three games of the current 11-game season before playing partway into the fourth.

On Thursday, UM Athletic Director Kent Haslam said he did not know the specifics of how Counts’ court cases were handled, but that he was suspended from the games for the conduct code infraction.

Violating a condition of probation or parole, the subject of the Missoula matter, could constitute a third Category II offense in the code of conduct, which means a player must be dismissed from the team.

Haslam said the school would rely on what happened in the Missoula court proceeding to determine if any further punishment was appropriate, but said it also was possible the arrest in Lake County and alleged probation violation in Missoula could be tied together as one violation, not two.

That quote by the cop......holy hell what a dumbass. In these cases you shouldn't lead ANY statement with "I'm a Griz fan" ..... that's asking for a load of trouble, suspicion, and bad press.

Back to Counts.....why the hell is this guy still on the team? I just don't get it. We dismiss Chris Parker, but keep this asshole around? He's just a ticking-time bomb and Stitt needs to get him disassociated with this otherwise smart, talented, and young team ASAP. There is just too much to lose right now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[grizcountry420]

The guy was already on probation from last years incident and he gets arrested AGAIN this summer, doesnt that violate his probabtion?

 

[EverettGriz]

Based on the case resolution, it would be difficult to kick him off the team under the conduct code. But it does sound as though his ass could continue to use a lot of bench strengthening. And since he evidently has a difficult time exhaling, he could likely benefit from a few hundred runs up to the "M" each month.

 

[granitegriz]

It was the Lake County Attorney making comments about being a Griz fan, shouldn't lead with that though. The issue in Missoula County appears to be when the probationary sentence ended as the order was contradictory according to Counts' attorney.

 

[grzz]

Maybe they are keeping him around so that he graduates and doesn't hurt the APR? I have to think with how many guys left the program this past off-season we have to be in some risk level for RPR in the next few years, but I don't know anything about how that is calculated.

 

['68griz]

Just saw on Twitter he resolved his case, charges were dropped to careless driving, and his 3 game suspension will probably suffice punishment.

Missoulian said he "couldn't" blow enough to get brethalyzer reading so no evidence....a college athlete couldn't blow enough air to get a reading. ....strange.... very strange

Oldest trick in the book. Had a friend evade charges that way, it was his first serious run-in with the law and , that he was scared shitless. Had a promising career on the line and came damn close to throwing it all away right there. He learned his lesson. Counts, on the other hand, is a selfish individual who has had all the warnings, brings nothing to the team, and couldn't even start on a frontier conference football team.

Keep riding Calhoun and Nguyen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agree. I am all for second chances but this kid doesn't seem to learn.

I totally agree.

 

[GrizLA]

All readings in Western Montana are affected by being taken between MSU which sucks and EWU which blows. Throws the whole system off.

Maybe, it was the metric system?

 

[alexis_counts]

You guys are full of bull Counts is fine and ready to get back. The County screwed him over. They say he didn't blow a sufficient sample... That's a load of crap. They are just trying to cover up the fact that the machine was NOT WORKING, they even admitted it but they show titan the press. All this legal drama is bull and he is not the only one who has gotten in trouble with the law. He's a good young man and he is part of this program. Support him, he is on the team wether you like it or not.