The municipal court date for Kansas University senior basketball player Mario Little has been delayed from Jan. 5 to May 19 after his attorney recently entered an appearance for him.
Little, 22, who has been suspended from playing in games by coach Bill Self, faces four counts of battery, two counts of criminal damage to property and one count of criminal trespassing, all misdemeanors.
He was arrested early on Dec. 15 after an incident in the 1400 block of Ohio Street, and police accuse him of committing battery against four people, including pushing a 22-year-old Lawrence woman, who police identified as his girlfriend, into a sink. Police said no one was taken to the hospital as a result of the incident.
Little, a red-shirt senior from Chicago, had initially posted bond and was given notice to appear in Lawrence Municipal Court in January. He also apologized in a statement released to the media Dec. 15.
City prosecutor Jerry Little said Monday that Lawrence attorney Al Lopes — who played basketball for KU from 1964 to 1966 — had entered the appearance, which as standard practice prompted the clerk’s office to enter a not-guilty plea and schedule a new trial setting date.
Jerry Little said Monday he had not yet heard from Lopes but that between now and the May 19 court date the defense could either apply for diversion, set the case for a trial or attempt to work out a plea agreement.
Comments
touringdriver 2 years, 4 months ago
sorry but the dummy should be benched the rest of the season.
smitty 2 years, 4 months ago
Of course, it's all to help out this young woman beater to a professional careeer.
Let's see..LPD established Little's(possessive=more ways than one) girlfriend was injured by Little but the mandatory domestic violence laws were not used...someone needs to add the DV laws to that long training the LPD does in house.
Anyone contacted lawyer, Joyce Grover, at the Kansas Coalition for Domestic Violence about the law? She is the main author of this law and is still actively involved in DV in the state.
Facts, please, not a cover up.
bangaranggerg 2 years, 4 months ago
Facts, please, not jumping to conclusions and reaching too far.
doc1 2 years, 4 months ago
They do not reside together therefore the domestic violence laws cannot be used. Do your research.
smitty 2 years, 4 months ago
Still have a question about the municipal judge...is the judge required to send the case to the proper court since it is obviously a state statute that, by law, must be applied?
McGrath will be gone and we will have a new municipal judge per recent announcement
JW Judge Randy McGrath has notified the city that he plans to retire in March, after serving as the city’s lone judge since 1998. The city has begun advertising for applicants to oversee Municipal Court, which handles everything from criminal cases, speeding tickets, zoning law and other violations of city code.
city code vs state law...wrong court room.
TheSychophant 2 years, 4 months ago
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cowboy 2 years, 4 months ago
For the local wannabe legal eagles.....it's a municipal court offense , quite minor in nature , with no prior record he can probably get diversion.
Not the cover up of the century by any means , and it takes months for a charge to work its way thru the courts in Douglas County.
Get a life !
Deb Engstrom 2 years, 4 months ago
So a 22 year old kid got in a messed up situation and made some bad choices. Has happened to many kids but it seems that athletes are held to a higher standard. Nothing to ruin his life over. I'm glad Coach Self realizes that.
smitty 2 years, 4 months ago
22 year old kid (adult)
got in a messed up situation ( it certainly is a messy situation....many people have put themselves on the line for him. Be grateful for the jealous, controlling, possessive, violent, young man that he isn't held to the same standards as other young dating adults)
and made some bad choices.. (bad choices is another phrase for woman beater.)
Self has nothing to do with enforcement of domestic violence laws of Kansas that are circumvented by the LPD.
notaubermime 2 years, 4 months ago
"Beating women is NOT just a "messed up situation and made some bad choices" kind of thing."
Why "beating women?" Is that somehow worse than beating men?
Are women simply helpless animals in that way?
Sexism. . . it's fun
jonas_opines 2 years, 4 months ago
Oh damn!
That was me in that previous comment, on another's computer. Guess I forgot to log out first.
jonas_opines 2 years, 4 months ago
"Beating women is NOT just a "messed up situation and made some bad choices" kind of thing."
Why "beating women?" Is that somehow worse than beating men?
Are women simply helpless animals in that way?
Sexism. . . it's fun
Deb Engstrom 2 years, 4 months ago
I don't remember saying that whad he did was OK. He did make a bad choice -- he could have chosen to step away and didn't. Hopefully he will learn from this. My point is that if this were my 22 year old son -- or yours, if you have one-- it would not have been in the paper and no-one would be blogging about it.
JustNoticed 2 years, 4 months ago
Hmmm, but the real question is how can we use this to get rid of football at KU?
smitty 2 years, 4 months ago
Here is one that is a dating couple that was handled by the sheriff's office http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/feb...
another one that addresses boy/girlfriend http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/sep...
Olin quote on domestic violence and the then new DV laws:
**ALTHOUGH Police Chief Ron Olin said he isn't opposed to the policy, he says he thinks such cases create a lot of unnecessary work for everyone in law enforcement.
"It creates paperwork where perhaps no paperwork is needed, and it absorbs resources at every level," Olin said.
But paperwork is one of the easier problems local law enforcement officers are dealing with under terms of a new state mandate, which went into effect Jan. 1.
*The policy also mandates arrests in every situation where police officers can find evidence of domestic violence.*
According to the policy: "presence of probable cause to make an arrest requires the officer to make an arrest, regardless of other factors that could be considered in the case. The emotional state of those involved, the socio-economic impact, effect on the mental status of the children, long-term effects on the family, or the wishes of the victim are not to be considered.".....
......The district attorney must examine each of the domestic violence cases that result in an arrest to decide whether to file charges against the suspect.**
The first application of the new law in Lawrence http://www2.ljworld.com/news/1996/jul...
What Little did is defined as domestic violence. These above stories do quite a bit of education on the topic. First time or third time has no bearing on the mandated arrest, only on what the judge takes into consideration at sentencing. The LPD arrested on a municipal charge. LPD officer and management needs to answer to their actions on this very public breach of responsibilities.
Missingit 2 years, 4 months ago
Well smitty, from my limited reading they do not seem to meet the state requirement unless they live together!! But maybe I am wrong
Munsoned 2 years, 4 months ago
Bingo. You are correct.
Uhlrick_Hetfield_III 2 years, 4 months ago
Little is at best a mediocre player on a very deep basketball team. Every game he doesn't play puts him one seat closer to the exit if and when Self allows him to suit up again. In essence, even if he's being allowed to be a practice dummy, his career is over at KU and Self will not have frightened off future thugs by publicly shaming the current ones.
bangaranggerg 2 years, 4 months ago
Rio is better than you're giving him credit, and he's not practicing- he was suspended from the team. In no way is he a thug because he lost his head when he caught his girlfriend with another man, the punishment for him will far outweigh the crime. Don't call student athletes thugs.
fu7il3 2 years, 4 months ago
Being suspended from a sports team far outways injuring multiple people in a jealous rage? Okay...
I get the feeling they weren't calling him a thug because he is an athlete. They were calling him a thug because he physically assaulted victims.
bangaranggerg 2 years, 4 months ago
Wow, it's like you wrote the book on "How to Whine your way to Sympathy"- http://www.arachnoid.com/psychology/victimhood.php
stuckinthemiddle 2 years, 4 months ago
this is yet another one of those comment sections that has me wondering about libel...
Mario Little is being referred to as a "woman beater"... when all that seems to be known is that he pushed the young lady into a sink...
is pushing someone into a sink beating them?
I wonder if those who are referring to Little as a woman beater know more than is stated here in this article... I wondering if they know that he pushed her really really hard… or if he also hit her… or beats her... or beats other women...
I wonder if those who are referring to Little as a woman beater are committing libel...
smitty 2 years, 4 months ago
The JW has complete ability to remove any comments that cross the line of accepted behavior while holding the poster accountable if need be.
Please, hit the suggest removal button to further express yourself. Some times they remove, some times they don't.
Good luck.
Ricky_Vaughn 2 years, 4 months ago
Why does he get a delay? Throw this piece of trash in the klink!
Deb Engstrom 2 years, 4 months ago
He's not getting a delay. His lawyer made his first appearance and they set a trial date for May -- that's how backlogged the docket is. I know this because my son just went to municipal court and got a trial date in early May, too.
Judgesmails 2 years, 4 months ago
Ewww, he pushed a couple of people!! - Big freakin deal
He should immediately be reinstated to the team.
Celeste 2 years, 4 months ago
As far as I'm concerned, he should just be kicked off the team. He's old enough to know right from wrong, and I don't care what the situation was, you don't chase your girlfriend to another house and shove her into a sink. I don't care how mad you are. If you are that mad, you leave. He screwed up, well, there are consequences. He doesn't belong on the team. Period.
TeamOne 2 years, 4 months ago
We need to keep in mind that he was charged with misdemeanors and not felonies and the charges were not related to domestic violence. Let's call it like it has been reported by the police. The case involving the Baylor basketball player, earlier this year, fracturing the jaw of his girlfriend, that was a domestic violence case since I understand they have a child together and I am assuming they are leaving together. Mario made a mistake, regardless, but it is not for him to be branded for life. He deserves a second chance to turn things around.
Khublai_Juan 2 years, 4 months ago
The difference between this situation and the one involving LaceDarius Dunn at Baylor is very interesting. Mario pushed his girlfriend into a sink and he's a "woman beater" and it's one of the most popular articles of the year. Dunn broke his girlfriend's jaw on both sides (they had to put in titanium plates) and the story only got 17 comments on Kusports.com and they weren't near as vitriolic as the ones posted about Mario. I'm not sure if Dunn even missed any games for this or if he just got a short break from class and practice.
The_Big_B 2 years, 4 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
catfishturkeyhunter 2 years, 4 months ago
Sweep it under the rug till after the season, pay him a few more bills and other benefits and let him keep playing. If it was anyone else they would have done conviced, jailed, and fined them. Who said college players don't get paid? Oh yeah, nice mug shot too lol...
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