Athletes - Pierre Pierce

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	Athletes - Pierre Pierce

Pierre 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, recently his stormy personal life and legal troubles were of major interest both in and outside the University community.

Pierce is from Westmont, Illinois, USA, and played basketball for the Westmont high school. He came to the University of Iowa in 2001.

Legal troubles

In 2002 Pierce was charged with third degree sexual abuse. He eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. 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.

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. On February 15, 2005, Pierce met with Alford for about fifteen minutes, in which he appealed his dismissal from the team. Alford denied Pierce's appeal. Pierce has indicated that he would continue the appeals process. The next step is a written appeal to the school's athletic director Bob Bowlsby. His status as a student at the University of Iowa is now in question, and he could face further action under the University's student life code.

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. He spent about six hours at the Dallas County, Iowa jail. Pierce had a preliminary hearing on February 28, where he entered a not guilty plea. On February 18, 2005, the Iowa Attorney General's office became involved in the case, and added felony charges for sexual abuse and burglary. If he is convicted of these charges, he could face as many as 56 years in prison. Pierce's lawyer, Alfredo Parrish, later argued for dismissal of the burglary charge on the grounds that it lacks the aggravating factors that are required by state law. Pierce later brought further trouble upon himself when it was revealed that he had broken the court order barring him from contacting the former girlfriend. He had apparently contacted this woman by phone more than 300 times.

The court granted Pierce's request for the state to pay part of the cost of his defense. He maintains that his poverty makes state assistance necessary, although his parents are reportedly paying defense attorney Alfredo Parrish upwards of $15,000 in legal fees.

On August 12 Parrish asked for dismissal of all charges because of prosecutor misconduct, as the prosecution withheld a police report from February 2 where the alleged victim reportedly mentioned that Pierce had no physical contact with her and was allowed to stay at her residence. Pierce's trial was scheduled to begin on August 16 at the Dallas County Court House in Adel, Iowa, but on August 15, judge Gregory Hulse agreed to delay the trial by at least a week so he could look over defense motions that were filed. On August 20 Judge Hulse declined to dismiss the case against Pierce, saying that the prosecutors were "negligent at best." .

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^th Pierce was sentenced to two years inprisonment on the assault charge and one year each for the false imprisonment and criminal mischief charges. He will serve those sentences concurrently, and with time off for good behavior he could potentially be released in less than a year. Pierce will also be required to register as a sex offender following release.

NBA aspirations

On May 13, 2005, Pierce announced that he would make himself eligible for the 2005 NBA Draft, which will likely end his career as a college student. But a judge has refused Pierce's request to attend an NBA draft camp in California. The judge has agreed to allow him to attend a pre-draft camp in Chicago, Illinois provided that he post a $30,000 bond and follow a supervision plan. At that time he told the judge that he would not call the ex-girlfriend, and that being an NBA player would make him a better individual and citizen. Pierce was not selected in the draft, which was held on June 28, 2005.

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