After serving 90 days in jail, former Ohio State linebacker Marco Cooper was released yesterday.
Cooper was sentenced to five years probation instead of his original jail sentence of nine months. He had been in jail since a Dec. 16 arrest for violating his parole for prior drug and weapon convictions.
This is the second time Cooper has entered a guilty plea for the Dec. 16 charge of possession of crack cocaine, and appeared before Judge Michael H. Watson. On Feb. 19, Cooper pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in jail for a culmination of all charges against him. However, Cooper rescinded his plea because he made the decision to plead guilty based on false assumptions provided by his attorney, Bill Meeks. Meeks had encouraged Cooper to plead guilty the first time, saying it would reduce his jail sentence.
“We are here today because of a mistake I made, not because of something Marco did. He trusted me and I misled him. I am asking the court to take another look at this case,” Meeks said.
Meeks stressed that Cooper has never been in trouble before these incidents and asked the court to give him another chance. Meeks saidsince Cooper is a high-profile individual, there is a large price to be paid, and he is suffering it.
After his lawyer spoke, Cooper had a chance to address the court and apologize for his behavior. “I realize now that I took everything for granted, and I will work extra hard to prove myself and be successful. I never thought I would be in this position. I am not a criminal and my mother raised me better than this, and I would like another chance,” Cooper said.
Watson asked Cooper a series of questions relating to circumstances leading to his arrests and how he will correct his errors in the future.
Cooper told Watson that someone had given him the drugs as a form of payment for a previous debt owed to him. He said while he did not do drugs and was not familiar with them, he did know people who did drugs. Cooper also said he is going to stay away from anything that could possibly result in illegal acts in the future.
Instead of having a jury trial, Cooper took the option of accepting his sentence after his re-plea of guilty.
After deliberation and consideration of two letters, one from Cooper and one from his mother, Watson accepted Cooper’s re-plea of guilty.
Cooper was sentenced to five years of community control and 250 hours of community service for his arrest on Dec. 16 for possession of crack cocaine, and Watson suspended his license for six months.
Cooper will return home to Wayne County, Michigan and into his mother’s custody, where he is ordered to obtain or maintain full-time employment or enroll in school full time.
Finally, Watson ordered, “Marco, don’t come back.”
