At 8:30 AM Friday morning, Oregon starting quarterback and current 2010 Heisman Trophy candidate Jeremiah Masoli will be arraigned on a charge of second degree burglary in courtroom 305 at Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene, Oregon.
Masoli, who has a criminal past that includes a guilty plea to multiple, strong-armed robberies as a juvenile in 2005, is accused of what the state of Oregon classifies as a Class C felony.
164.215 Burglary in the second degree: a person commits the crime of burglary in the second degree if the person enters or remains unlawfully in a building with intent to commit a crime therein.
(2) Burglary in the second degree is a Class C felony.
If convicted of the felony charge, in lieu of his criminal past, Masoli could face significant jail time.
The maximum prison sentence for conviction of a Class C felony in Oregon is five years in state prison and a $125,000 fine. While a sentence like that for Masoli is perhaps impossible to comprehend, consider that it took an extremely cautious Eugene Police Dept. well over a month before charging Masoli of the crime.
The seriousness of the charge is also hard to believe considering Masoli has faced no punishment from Oregon Coach Chip Kelly, despite the coach’s assurances that he was closely following the matter.
Also charged in the alleged second-degree burglary is former Oregon football player Garrett Embry.
Embry, who didn’t figure to see a lot of playing time in 2010 for the Ducks, was dismissed from the football team by Kelly on Feb. 1. In the official statement about Embry’s release, Kelly claimed that the player had actually been kicked off the team on Jan. 8 for a previous team rules violation.
But after the theft report Ken Goe of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN reported that on Jan. 24, “Oregon officials refused to confirm he (Embry) had been dismissed (from the team).”
If Embry had already been dismissed from the team on Jan. 8, why didn’t Kelly report it then? Meanwhile, starting quarterback Masoli has faced no such penalties since the theft allegation - though both have now been charged with the same crime.
By claiming that Embry’s role in the alleged theft had nothing to do with the dismissal, Kelly covered himself when it came to questions about Masoli not receiving any discipline. And perhaps Embry’s ouster was indeed because of a prior, team-related offense.
But because Kelly refused to confirm Embry’s status on the team for over a week after the alleged crime, it isn’t unreasonable to think that the alleged theft was a factor in Embry’s dismissal.
If Embry’s role in the incident was indeed a reason for his ouster, why would Kelly try to backdate his dismissal? Did the coach think he knew something about the situation that caused him to punish Embry but not Masoli in the aftermath of the alleged burglary?
George Schroeder of the EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD reports Thursday afternoon:
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been told by various sources in and around the football program that Masoli adamantly denied any involvement at all to coaches.
John Canzano of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN also noted Thursday:
Kelly is big on trust.
When Kelly signed his recent recruits he asked them, “Can I trust you?” before offering the scholarship. It seems that a violation of that trust is at stake when it comes to the returners as well.
If Masoli has indeed denied the charges to Kelly, was it the coach’s faith in his player that caused him to not discipline the quarterback?
It’s always important to tread lightly in these situations, but the backdating of Embry’s dismissal leaves Kelly wide open for questions about his disciplinary methods. Or, in the case of Masoli, the lack thereof.
As I noted yesterday, Kelly already staked his reputation on the innocence of starting running back LaMichael James. With James set to reportedly change his not guilty plea to assault charges Friday in the same courtroom that the cases of Masoli and Embry will be ajudicated, Kelly’s credibility is in danger of being completely shredded in a matter of minutes.
It appears that there’s a serious possibility that like James, Kelly doesn’t know Masoli as well as he thought he did. That for a second time, Kelly made an extremely serious misjudgement.
If that’s indeed the case, is it time for a higher authority in the university administration to have a serious word with Kelly and athletic director Mike Bellotti about how Oregon’s football program is being comported?
4:56 pm on March 11th, 2010
Shit is hilarious you are all over Chip Kellys nuts, but
WHERE WERE YOU WITH URBAN MEYERS 28 ARRESTS!!!!
5:26 pm on March 11th, 2010
Jimmy, everyone always brings up Urban Meyer, but to be honest no one cares. The reason that this is a big deal is because Oregon seemed like a pretty stable program before the beginning of last season. Then Blount explodes on TV and its all downhill from there (behavior wise of course, not football wise). As for Florida, by the time people started looking into UF’s program it was too late for scrutiny to take place. Sure a couple of articles were written, but Meyer had the jump on them and brushed it off. Said the program was now under control, blah blah blah, suspended or kicked players off of the program. Damage control pretty much was taken care of. Thats my take on why its a bigger deal than UF.
5:31 pm on March 11th, 2010
Urban Meyer was arrested 28 times? How does he still have a job?
6:58 pm on March 11th, 2010
Just to let you know, James will be pleading guilty to the lowest form of harassment charge in the State of Oregon. It appears as though all DV charges will be dropped, including Assault 4 and Strangulation.
What this means, essentially, is that the DA was about to go through with a really costly, highly publicized trial that he probably wasn’t going to win. Instead of going through that mess, he approaches the defendant and says, “Hey why don’t we all save ourselves the trouble and money…..you plead guilty to X, save face, and I don’t have to look bad in the face of my voters by losing a DV case.”
7:04 pm on March 11th, 2010
Urban Meyers has 2 national championships under his belt.
10:26 pm on March 11th, 2010
So why are you stating that Embry was dismissed on February 1st? Because you don’t believe Kelly? Of course, you don’t have any evidence at all that he’s not telling the truth. You’ve just decided you’ll believe what you want - you don’t need any evidence.
Oh, yeah, that’s right. You’re evidence is that Kelly didn’t announce it on January 8th when it happened. So what??? This all came to light because on January 24th there was a report that three players lockers’ had been cleaned out - including Embry’s. All three of them were off the team. He didn’t announce the other two either. What sinister motive do you attribute that to? And the athletic department wouldn’t confirm or deny that any of the three were off the team, not just Embry.
It seems I read story after story that take bits and pieces of unrelated information and try to tie them together to “prove” some sort of conspiracy or coverup. It’s BS.
5:16 am on March 12th, 2010
Domestic violence is common but mostly never as bad as the pigs say it is. The D.A’s always trump up the charges to make the man look like a mass muderer. Like a Ted Bundy or something. It’s mostly all a crock of shit. Just a way to get more guys in trouble and in the system. A way to get guys into a bullshit D.V class. Or another way to take gun rights from people. Why don’t they ever look at the woman? You know how the saying goes. It takes two to tango. Why don’t they ever look at the woman to see how crazy she is?? huh?
8:34 am on March 12th, 2010
Women should never be hit, choked, or abused. Sounds like you’re for domestic violence. What possition do you play for ducks? I’m taking an educated guess by your brilliant language and stance on DV that you yourself have hit a few women and landed yourself in Jail a time or two. I think anyone that is on a sports program needs to up the standards and be a role model. Do I need to keep my kids out of sports so they don’t get the wrong idea. Duck fans should ban the team until they get a new coach and AD. Beavers seem to be the team that Oregon should be proud of and support. They are a good example and are the best team in the pac 10. Even the cheerleaders on U of Zero are drunks.
10:34 am on March 12th, 2010
You are so wrong on so many counts on this it’s disturbing. Kelly has by no means “staked his claim” on James being “innocent.” Rather, he has indicated that he’s only heard James’s side of the story, that he believes James, and that he wants the judicial process to play out before he acts. This very well could mean that James told Kelly he had to remove the girl from his property but denied some of the more serious allegations of strangling, etc. By most accounts this is consistent with the charge James will plead no contest to, one that only requires physical contact and that is used in these he-said-she-said situations. If that happens there is no credibility gap as you suggest. Stay tuned muckraker.
Masoli, on the other hand, will be gone. He likely denied any involvement to Kelly and now will pay the consequences of lying, since some of the evidence coming out in the near future will indicate some level of involvement. Of course Masoli would have been gone anyway if and when he’s convicted.
Moreover, there is nothing inconsistent with Kelly’s actions for other players. In those instances Kelly has all but stated that he was privy to information that allowed him to take punitive action before the legal matters were resolved. Alonso likely admitted drinking (he’s underage) and driving the car, and probably also fessed up that his blood-alcohol level registered over the limit. Holland’s infraction only required review of his facebook page. Etc. Etc.
10:48 am on March 12th, 2010
“Women should never be hit, choked, or abused. Sounds like you’re for domestic violence.”
Well, according to many, many academic studies, women are just as, if not MORE, violent in relationships than men.
CRAIG (the previous responder) HAS A VERY GOOD POINT!!!?
WHY DO WOMEN GET A PASS IN D.V. CASES?
BECAUSE WE HAVE A SYSTEM AND LAWS BASED ON OUTDATED CHIVALRY??
The University of New Hampshire recently performed a 32-nation study of dating violence and found women are as violent and controlling as men in dating relationships.
http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/em_060519male.cfm?type=n
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf
The University of Florida recently found women more likely to “stalk, attack and abuse” their partners
http://news.ufl.edu/2006/07/13/women-attackers/
Harvard Medical School announced the same thing.
http://www.patienteducationcenter.org/aspx/HealthELibrary/HealthETopic.aspx?cid=M0907d
A Canadian government report says the same thing.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/familyviolence/pdfs/Intimate_Partner.pdf
There will NEVER be, nor can there EVER be, “EQUALITY before the law” as long as women continue to be treated like children.
And our laws, today and in all previous generations, do exactly that.