Columbus, Ohio – When the day comes that Maurice Clarett can be released from prison 3 1/2 years from now, the former Ohio State star running back’s life story hardly will have been told in full.
If his lockup ends on the earliest possible date, Clarett, who struck an unexpected plea deal Monday for robbery and concealed weapons charges, will be all of 26 years old. His 8-week- old daughter, who was present for his sentencing, will not yet have turned 4.
“It’s in a range that will allow him to get his life back together after his release,” prosecutor Ron O’Brien said.
Judge David Fais announced the agreement on the day Clarett’s aggravated robbery trial was to begin. Clarett, a third-round draft pick of the Broncos in 2005, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years with release possible after 3 1/2 years, and five years of probation.
“It’s really a shame that someone puts themselves in that position,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. “I’m just hoping when he does get out that he’s learned his lesson and comes back with a mind-set that he’s going to be productive (in society).”
A bearded Clarett, wearing handcuffs and jail-issue clothing, remained expressionless throughout Monday’s hearing.
“I’d like to apologize for my behavior, and I accept the time that was given to me,” Clarett said when asked if he wished to address the court.
After the judge accepted the deal, Clarett looked over at his mother in the first row of the gallery. She was sobbing and holding his infant daughter while sitting next to his girlfriend.
Minutes later, one of his attorneys summed up Clarett’s saga – from the time he was one of college football’s brightest stars to the day he began life as an inmate.
“He was up here,” Michael Hoague said, raising his arm up to eye level. “He got down here,” he said, lowering his arm to his waist. “And he’s going to be back up here again.”
Clarett, 22, has almost nowhere to go but up after Monday’s appearance in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where jury selection was set to begin in a case in which he was accused of holding up two people outside a bar.
The concealed-weapon charge was from Clarett’s Aug. 9 arrest after a highway chase with police, who found four loaded guns in Clarett’s sport utility vehicle. They stopped him by spiking his tires, then used pepper spray to subdue and handcuff Clarett, who was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Had Clarett been convicted on all charges, he would have faced three to 34 years in prison. Assistant prosecutor Tim Mitchell said he expects Clarett will serve just more than four years, with his last six months spent at a community-based facility.
