New Orleans Saints rookie Carl Granderson was sentenced today to six months in jail for sexual battery when a Wyoming judge threw out a plea agreement he had reached with prosecutors, per a report from Davis Potter of the Casper Star-Tribune.
Court documents filed Wednesday by prosecutors reduced a felony charge of third-degree sexual assault against him to a misdemeanor count of unlawful contact.
However, the judge rejected that motion and sentenced the former University of Wyoming player to immediately serve six months in jail. Potter reported that Granderson was given an additional one-year jail sentence, which the judge suspended, with a year of supervised probation, but that will not take effect until after he has served the initial six-month sentence.
In April, Granderson pleaded not guilty to one count each of sexual assault and sexual battery. He later changed to a no-contest plea to charges of sexual battery and unlawful contact.
The case stems from an incident in November in which two women stayed overnight at Granderson’s off-campus apartment. They claimed that he touched them inappropriately without their consent, prompting an investigation.
The Saints chose to sign Granderson as an undrafted free agent back in April, giving him a guaranteed $85,000 — the largest of any undrafted contract this year. When later asked what the Saints thought of the charges against Granderson, coach Sean Payton said: “We felt real comfortable with everything we knew, and so far he’s done a good job here.”
Signing Granderson in the first place was a big break from precedent for the Saints. Coaches and front office executives had carefully emphasized the strength of character and positive influences in their locker room, with assistant general manager Jeff Ireland saying days before the draft: “If a guy’s got character (issues) and we don’t like it, we get him off the board. We don’t muddy the water. We really try to nail the character.”
Now, it appears Granderson will miss at least the 2019 season, and maybe more time down the road depending on future developments. The Saints needed more pass rushers this offseason, but it’s fair to think they should have looked elsewhere for new additions.
