Saints rookie Carl Granderson sentenced to immediate jail time in sexual battery case
A Wyoming judge rejected a plea agreement for New Orleans Saints rookie Carl Granderson on Thursday, and Granderson was remanded immediately to begin his jail sentence.
Six-month sentence
Via the Casper Star-Tribune, Granderson was sentenced to six months in jail on a count of unlawful contact by Albany County Judge Tori Kricken. He was also facing a count of sexual battery.
After previously pleading not guilty, Granderson’s attorney, Meagan Overmann Goetz, and prosecutors signed off on a plea agreement that included one year of unsupervised probation and a mental evaluation for Granderson, who played at the University of Wyoming.
But Kricken rejected the deal and ordered Granderson to begin his jail sentence immediately; Kricken also gave Granderson a one-year sentence on the sexual battery charge that will be suspended with one year of supervised probation once he’s completed his term of incarceration.
Granderson was taken into custody after Kricken’s decision.
Incident occurred last November
According to court documents, Granderson allegedly committed sexual battery and unlawful touching when two women stayed in his off-campus apartment last November.
The two women are identified as A.A. and D.H. in filings. Granderson was accused of touching A.A.’s breasts while clothed and touching D.H.’s buttocks “in a rude manner without intentionally using physical force to cause her injury.”
A defensive end, Granderson played in 42 games for Wyoming and was a two-time All-Mountain West pick, but he was not drafted after the charges. He signed with the Saints once the draft ended, receiving an $85,000 signing bonus, which was the highest of any undrafted rookie New Orleans signed this year.
‘We felt real comfortable’
In May, New Orleans coach Sean Payton said he and the team were OK with Granderson given what they knew.
“We felt real comfortable with everything we knew, and so far he’s done a good job here,” Payton said at the Saints’ rookie mini-camp.
Now the Saints will be without Granderson for the season.
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