Thus Ends SnowballGate: Delone Carter's Charge Reduced To Harassment

The way this trial was being drawn out was starting to make me feel harassed so I suppose this is exactly how it was meant to end.

riminal proceedings against Syracuse University football player Delone Carter were wrapped up today in City Court, with the running back receiving a one-year conditional discharge for harassment, a violation.

The charge was reduced to harassment, a violation, by judge Langston McKinney, and Carter pleaded guilty to that this afternoon. The conditional discharge means that the case will be considered open for one year, then closed as long as Carter stays out of further trouble, said his lawyer Kim Zimmer.

It's easy to forget that just seven months ago, it was foregone conclusion that DC3 was going to be kicked out of school and off the football team. That he ultimately avoided major punishment from the SU Judiciary Board and the City of Syracuse is a minor miracle (and probably a lot of good lawyerin').

Also helping mattes? The victim, William Hotaling, was never actually able to identify his one-puncher.

But he also indicated in the statement he gave police March 5 that he was unable to identify his assailant when shown six suspect photographs that day. He failed to identify an assailant when shown a second set of photos March 12.

It was actually Ryan Gillum who pointed out the fact that Carter was the puncher. Let's all assume he thought Delone had already been singled out at this point. Because if not for Gillum's statement, it sounds like the entire case would have been thrown out.

In case this makes you feel all bummed out that Delone "went unpunished," don't. Remember, he was kicked out of school for three months and will spend the next year on probation. Plus I think we can all agree Delone's a good guy who made an emotional mistake (that many of us might have also made). Unfortunately for Hotaling, that mistake led to some serious injury but thankfully it wasn't any worse than some bruising and scrapes.

And so, we officially close the door on SnowballGate. The law dogs over at Orange44 will certainly be enlightening us with some lawyerin' soon so keep an eye over there. And then, let us never speak of it again.

Update: Here's O44's take

Update 2: Orange Fizz have access to the documents filed by William Hotaling's lawyer that discuss the "cesspool of misinformation otherwise known as Syracuse.com"  That's Best of Syracuse 2010 cesspool of misinformation otherwise known as Syracuse.com, I'll have you know!