KNOXVILLE — Three University of Tennessee basketball players and a former teammate slated for arraignment today on drug and weapon charges will face a Jan. 29 hearing date.
By agreement with prosecutors, neither the players nor their attorneys had to appear this morning in misdemeanor General Sessions Court for the arraignment proceeding.
The accused, Tyler Smith, Melvin Goins, Brian Williams and Cameron Tatum, are free on bond on the misdemeanor charges.
They are accused of having two 9 mm semiautomatic pistols in a rental car borrowed by one of the players. Someone had filed down the serial number on one of the weapons.
Police on New Year’s Day stopped the 2010 black Dodge Charger for speeding 70 mph on Interstate 40 near the Alcoa Highway interchange. When police approached the car, they smelled the odor of marijuana, records state, prompting an extensive search of the vehicle.
Smith, a forward who delayed his shot at a pro career in order to play for UT one more year, was dismissed Jan. 8 from the team.
“While we are not allowed to discuss specifics, we felt we had enough information at this time to dismiss Tyler Smith from the team,” UT men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl said in a release from UT.
The other three players remain on indefinite suspension.
“I am truly sorry for my actions,” Smith said in the release. “From the beginning, I have accepted responsibility for my actions and what I have been charged with.”
Don Bosch, Smith’s lawyer, said: “I hope and believe that the misdemeanor cases against him will be resolved quickly and consistent with the thousands of other true first offenders in Knox County.”
Smith had considered submitting his name for the NBA draft after last season, but after attending several NBA workouts and being advised on his possible draft position he decided to remain at UT for his senior season.
More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.
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Comments » 7
bugman (Inactive) writes:
ok and what did this article tell us? KNS has nothing to do....
tulelakevol writes:
They can all go to California with dipstick and pump gas.
male1stclass#462989 writes:
You know, after reading this article and looking at the pictures of the car in detail I have got to comment. In the future and especially if your a black male, keeping in mind this is the south, do not go joy riding in what is perceived as a high performance auto bearing Chicago tags. This is and automatic attention getter for the local PD as you can bet a lot of drugs come into this area by way of Chicago. It is anybodys guess as to why you were carrying loaded guns, but that alone can get you a lifetime of troubles. Now, add all of it together and see where it goes. Is it so important to be a player in the thug culture? None of you will ever be a P Diddy, why would you want to? Look for a more positive roll model like Bill Cosby.
wayoutwill writes:
You know how very easy it is to dump on these young men and call them complete idiots for doing the things that they were caught doing!I am sure that all these haters never screwed up and made a terrible choice.The truth is that these guys need to be forgiven;(if they are truly repentant)--any other thoughts are completely idiotic!Every young person deserves that chance.We need to realize that all God's children make mistakes,some worse than others.If the man upstairs belives they should be given another chance,if their Head Coach belives they need another chance,who are we to say such hateful things about them and be so hard on them?"Don't throw rocks in glass houses"
realdealvol writes:
We need to be better people as we represent the Vol Nation also. Tyler Smith loves Univ. of Tennessee and screwed up. He is young and made a mistake. We need to let him know we care and we are just diapointed for him.
al2476 writes:
As vol fans we need to let the court system hand out the punish they receive and as fans we need not keep judging them and move on.
AncientVol writes:
Sure we all make dumb mistakes in life and need forgiveness. But look at the circumstances here. They knew they were scholarship athletes on a top major college team, knew that loaded guns were unlawful, knew that pot was unlawful, and should have known they were exceeding the speed limit. Duh !!! That bleeding heart BS makes no sense in this case. There's a limit to forgiveness for gross irresponsibility and stupidity. This caused harm to the team and to the university.
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