Pierre Pierce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pierre Antoine Pierce (born June 7, 1983) is a former member of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team. Noted for being the highest scoring player on the team, his stormy personal life and legal troubles were of major interest both in and outside the University community.
Pierce is from Westmont, Illinois, U.S., and played basketball for Westmont High School. He came to the University of Iowa in 2001.
Contents |
[edit] Legal troubles
[edit] 2002
In 2002 Pierce was charged with third degree sexual abuse. At a parole hearing in 2005, he described the event, "It was a friend I knew."[1]
Pierce eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault causing injury. Pierce sat out the 2002-2003 season, completed 200 hours of community service, a year of supervised probation, and counseling. Afterwards, since he had successfully completed the terms of his plea bargain, the charge was expunged from his record.
Since Pierce had no prior criminal record, he was held out of competition for one season, taking a redshirt year, but he was allowed to remain on the team. That decision sparked a number of campus protests by students, who wanted Pierce removed from the team. The protests also objected to what some felt was excessive involvement by school officials and Coach Steve Alford in mediating the criminal charges against Pierce. [2]
[edit] 2005
In January of 2005, Pierce was involved in an incident with his former girlfriend at her townhouse in West Des Moines, Iowa. According to police reports, Pierce threatened to harm the woman while displaying a kitchen knife, forcibly removed her clothing, and made unwanted sexual advances.
Following confirmation by the police that Pierce was a subject of a criminal investigation, coach Steve Alford dismissed Pierce from the basketball team. Alford stated that "...(Pierce) betrayed the trust we placed in him when he was given a second chance two years ago." At the time, Pierce was leading the team with 17.8 points per game, and he had a total of 1,072 career points.[3] Pierce unsuccessfully appealed his dismissal from the team.
On February 9, 2005, Pierce turned himself in to the West Des Moines police. Pierce was initially charged with felony first-degree burglary, false imprisonment, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, two counts of domestic assault and criminal mischief. On August 22, Pierce entered into a plea agreement in which he pled guilty to third-degree burglary, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, false imprisonment, and criminal mischief. He will serve a five-year suspended sentence and probation for the burglary. On October 28, Pierce was sentenced to two years imprisonment on the assault charge and one year each for the false imprisonment and criminal mischief charges.
After 332 days in prison, Pierce was released from the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on September 24, 2006. While his sentence was reduced because of good behavior, Pierce still faced four years of probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender following release.[4] On March 8, 2007, Dallas County judge Gregory Hulse rejected Pierce's attempt to leave Iowa in order to pursue a career in the National Basketball Association.[5] Pierce had been restricted to living in Iowa during the terms of his probation. However in May of 2007 officials in both Iowa and Illinois agreed to Pierce's request to move back to Illinois to live with his parents.[6]
[edit] 2008
Pierce is now playing for the Golden State Warriors NBA Summer League team. On April 18, 2008, Pierce was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating the terms of his probation. [7]
[edit] References
- ^ Harman, Susan. "Ex-Hawk details crime", Iowa City Press-Citizen, 2006-07-11, p. 1A.
- ^ Campbell, Brandon. "UI's Pierce report may be released soon", The Daily Iowan, 2003-01-27.
- ^ University of Iowa (press release) (2005-02-02). Pierce Dismissed. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
- ^ Binegar, Erika. "Ex-basketball player released from prison", The Des Moines Register, 2006-09-25, p. 4B.
- ^ "Judge Rejects Pierce's Latest Attempt To Pursue NBA Career", KCCI, 2007-03-08.
- ^ "Pierre Pierce Requests to Move Home to Illinois", KCRG, 2007-05-12.
- ^ "Pierre Pierce sent back to jail for 30 days", Des Moines Register, 2008-04-18.
