Demetrius Williams, 22-year-old star receiver for the University football team, pled no contest Tuesday afternoon to a criminal mischief charge stemming from an incident last August in which police say he jammed parking meters so he could park for free.
Williams’ attorney, F. William Honsowetz, arranged a plea agreement with the city prosecutor’s office in which Williams will have to complete a diversion program. The charge will be removed from his record if the agreed-upon diversion is successfully completed.
Assistant Athletics Director for Media Services Dave Williford said he does not know whether actions will be taken by the department to
reprimand Williams, but he said it would be looked into. Williford said he contacted head football coach Mike Bellotti about the issue and that Bellotti said “he will have no public statement until he has talked to Demetrius.”
Williams said he does not expect there to be any repercussions from the football program but said that “if they do something, I don’t care; it’s something I’ll have to deal with.”
Eugene Municipal Court Judge Wayne Allen did not detail the specifics of the diversion during the five-minute hearing, but he did explain the technicalities behind one of the requirements: Williams has five days to schedule a viewing of an arraignment at the jail and has 30 days to complete the viewing.
After his court appearance, Williams
said he wasn’t sure what the details of the
diversion were and that he would be contacting his lawyer later in the week to figure out what he needs to do and when he needs to do it. Williams said he pled “no contest” rather than “not guilty” to the charges at the advice of his lawyer.
Williams has six months to complete the diversion or he may be subjected to the maximum punishment: 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Eugene police charged Williams in early August 2004 with five counts of criminal mischief 3 for allegedly sticking pennies and washers covered in a “gooey substance” in parking meters, jamming them so they would read “out of order,” according to a Eugene Police Department report.
— Meghann M. Cuniff