If he just stays out of Nebraska, he should have no trouble doing either.
The New England Patriots' sophomore cornerback accepted a plea deal on Friday that required him to plead no contest to a charge of refusing to submit to a chemical test in exchange for having a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol dropped.
Under the agreement, Dennard was sentenced to probation equal to the amount of time he has left from a previous conviction and fined $500.
Since the two sentences run concurrently and the fine amounts to chump change on a professional football player's salary, it would seem that the court recognized the fragility of their case against the the University of Nebraska graduate.
Just prior to the 2012 NFL draft, Dennard was arrested for punching a plain-clothed police officer that approached him from the rear while Dennard was engaged in a dust up with another patron outside a Lincoln nightclub - the arrest dropping him clean off most teams' draft boards, but the Patriots took a flyer on him in the last round.
Dennard earned a staring job in the New England secondary midway through his rookie season and eclipsed his original draft projection of a second day selection, proving to be the steal of the draft.
During this past offseason, Dennard was back in Nebraska to satisfy part of his court ordered community service stemming from his conviction on the felony cop slugging charge - along with two years probation and 30 days in jail to be served this coming spring - and was pulled over by Lincoln police for straddling a lane line early on a July morning and arrested for suspicion of DUI and for refusing a chemical test.
Both charges were vehemently disputed and many in the media questioned the validity of the charges, not to mention the level of resentment that the arresting officers might harbor for Dennard getting off so lightly after assaulting one of their fellow officers.
So Dennard entered his second consecutive training camp with criminal charges hanging over his head but, backed by Patriots' management and armed with favorable public opinion, he managed to work through the negativity 1,500 miles away to put together an excellent first half of the season...
...and although injuries have cramped his style the past couple of weeks, he is working through them.
But still, the charges stemming from his summer arrest and the possibility of being sent directly to jail if the courts found that the arrest violated the terms of his probation from punking the cop were ever present, subject to delay after delay until Wednesday, when Dennard was denied a continuance on the probation hearing.
Though the court found that the DUI and related charges did indeed violate his probation and the judge added 30 more days to his jail sentence and topped off his probation for one more year, she also ruled that Dennard could serve his now 60 days at the conclusion of the NFL season, and could be released after serving just 38 days if he played worked and played nice with his fellow convicts.
That in itself was much more lenient that it could have been, but when word surfaced that Dennard had struck a deal with prosecutors for today's slap on the wrist, it spoke volumes in regard to the state's case against Dennard, and fairly reeked of the straw broom that sweeps corruption under the carpet.
Did Lincoln police officers lay in wait for Dennard for the chance to retaliate against him for punching one of their own?
No one can prove they did, but the prosecutor recognized what an albatross the state could have hanging around their necks once Dennard's lawyer started lodging direct accusations of corruption and dark malfeasance against the officers and did the proper thing for everyone involved...
...which ends up with Dennard spending an extra week in jail and paying the equivalent of a tab for a night out with the guys, saving face for the State at the same time.
And it is certain that the talented man-corner has been advised by the Patriots' legal team to do his 38 days with a smile and satisfy his community service as quickly as humanly possible - and always with plenty of witnesses around - and once this is done, grab his girlfriend and baby daughter and get the hell out of Nebraska...
...and never return.
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