Brandon Ore's Court case?

[bluefieldRocks 14]

I know it was the other day, having to due with having posession of Cocaine last summer I believe it was

 

What did they decide?

[GMan 3,569]

It wasn't his court case and he wasn't and won't be on trial. He was a witness for the Prosecution. He is in no danger of jail or being suspended from the team.

[BHS72 10]

This is the first i have heard about this. Kind of disappointing to hear about this.

[GMan 3,569]

HE wasn't on trial.

 

HE was only a witness in a court case.

[BHS72 10]

okay thats a relief. Maybe this year he will be with the team all off season and take care of business next season

[GMan 3,569]

Stories in drug trial failing to match up

A perceived confession and ownership of crack cocaine were challenged in court.

By Mike Gangloff

 

Virginia Tech football star Branden Ore was not on trial Wednesday, but it certainly felt like it in the federal courtroom where Ore's friend Tony Majette faced a charge of possessing crack cocaine with intent to distribute it.

 

The case, which is scheduled to resume today in Roanoke, is in one sense a routine drug case. But Majette's trial has drawn additional notice because of Ore, the tailback whose Orange Bowl performance last week was a bright note in the Hokies' defeat.

 

The defense contends Ore could have been the owner of the crack found in the car in which he and Majette were traveling when Blacksburg police stopped them in June 2006. Both men were taken to the police station and questioned, but only Majette was charged.

 

A key question raised by Majette's defense is whether Ore was treated differently because of his status as a high-profile Tech player. One after another, the various officers called to testify Wednesday denied it.

 

Ore took the stand and said repeatedly that the drugs were not his. He said he and Majette were going to look at some tires he was thinking of buying when police pulled the car over for having windows that were tinted too darkly. Majette, who was driving, seemed panicked, Ore said. Majette rifled through his pockets, tossed a plastic bag into Ore's lap and said to do something with it, Ore testified.

 

"I was nervous. I wanted it out of my possession. I just tossed it aside," Ore said.

 

That was the prosecution's version of the pair's ride.

 

The defense, however, claims Ore was looking for marijuana, and Majette took him to see a dealer he knew. On the way, the car was stopped, and Majette was left to take the fall for drugs he knew nothing about. Police found about 23 grams of crack in the car in two bags, one on the floor behind the passenger seat and the other between the passenger seat and the door.

 

A digital scale was found under the passenger seat and behind it was a glass jar that smelled of marijuana, though there was too little of the substance to result in a charge, Blacksburg police Officer Michael Czernicki said.

 

Another unusual element of the case is a dispute about whether Majette confessed. According to Blacksburg police Sgt. Anthony Wilson, Majette said "I'll take it" when they were discussing who would be charged for the drugs, then offered to become a police informant.

 

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Dustin Harmon testified that on four subsequent occasions, Majette offered information about the travels of Anthony Lamont Long, aka "Banks," a local drug dealer.

 

But Public Defender Larry Shelton, who is representing Majette, said his client never confessed. The "I'll take it" statement was a more nuanced, defiant response to the threatened charges, Shelton said.

 

Over Shelton's objections, Long was brought from the New River Valley Regional Jail, where he is serving a sentence for a drug conviction, to testify that he had bought and sold crack and powder cocaine and marijuana with Majette 20 to 30 times in the year before Majette and Ore were stopped.

 

Shelton returned several times to an apparent discrepancy from the night Majette and Ore were stopped: Ore was asked to make a written statement to police and implicated Majette as the source of the crack; yet there was no written record of Majette's confession. Wilson said a written statement is not typical when a subject wants to become an informant.

 

Shelton also noted that police never tested the two bags of crack for fingerprints. Harmon responded that tests aren't requested if there has been a confession.

 

Czernicki, the officer who made the traffic stop, said he had planned to charge both Majette and Ore. But that changed when he was told Majette had confessed, he said.

[GMan 3,569]

Friend of Ore found guilty

Tony Majette and Tech player Branden Ore had different stories about bags of crack.

By Mike Gangloff

 

In the end, it was the Branden Ore movie, not the Tony Majette movie, that the jury believed.

 

There had been two days of testimony and arguments that told two stories -- differing movies, Public Defender Larry Shelton said -- of how Majette and Ore, the star Virginia Tech tailback, came to be stopped in a Cadillac carrying a dealer-level load of crack cocaine.

 

There had been more than 412 hours of apparently agonizing jury deliberations, with jurors announcing they were deadlocked and the judge telling them to keep trying.

 

And finally, on Thursday evening, there was a verdict: Majette was guilty of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute it. When he is sentenced, he will face 10 years to life in prison.

 

It was a case and an outcome similar to many in federal court. What set Majette's trial apart was the involvement of Ore, who was brought to the witness stand a week after an Orange Bowl performance that was one of the game's few highlights for the Hokies, who lost 24-21 to Kansas.

 

The defense said Ore had the motive and opportunity to hide two bags of crack that police discovered the evening of June 5, 2006. Ore took the stand Wednesday to deny it.

 

The trial presented two narratives. Among the few points of agreement was that the incident began with Majette driving a silver Cadillac that belonged to his girlfriend. Ore was in the front passenger seat. There were four tires in the back seat.

 

According to Ore, he was riding along to see tires similar to some Majette had bought. Shelton, who represented Majette, said the two actually were on their way to buy marijuana for Ore.

 

They passed several police cars parked at a house on Blacksburg's Roanoke Street. Majette, whose driver's license was suspended, quickly headed around the block. A patrol car followed.

 

Ore said the lights and siren panicked Majette, who pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and tossed it into Ore's lap. Ore said he wanted no part of it and pushed it aside.

 

Shelton emphasized that Blacksburg officer Michael Czernicki, who stopped the car because he thought it was driving erratically and its windows were tinted too dark, testified he turned on his lights just before he pulled in behind Majette and Ore on Lee Street. Shelton said Majette could not have tossed anything after the lights came on because Czernicki and other officers were too close and would have seen it.

 

Majette was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Majette's girlfriend picked up Ore and took him to get his own license so he could drive the car away. While Ore was gone, police found the crack, one bag between the passenger's seat and the door and the other on the floor behind the passenger's seat. In total, there was about 23 grams of crack, an amount authorities said exceeded personal use.

 

When Ore returned, he and Majette were taken to Blacksburg's police station. There, Ore wrote out a statement about Majette flipping the bag to him.

 

Accounts of Majette's own interview with police differed.

 

Blacksburg police Sgt. Anthony Wilson testified that Majette accepted responsibility for the drugs. Shelton argued his client gave a more defiant reply that basically challenged police to charge him. There was no documentation of the exchange.

 

There was corroboration, however, that Majette asked to become an informant. He ended up telling officers about a local drug dealer -- though nothing that led to an arrest.

 

Majette's short cooperation with police ended in late 2006. He was jailed on a separate drug charge on which he had been convicted weeks before he and Ore were stopped.

 

One of the trial's few witnesses besides Ore and police was Anthony Lamont Long, the man whom Shelton said Ore wanted to buy marijuana from and also the dealer about whom Majette later told police. Brought from jail, Long testified he bought and sold drugs with Majette, but knew Ore "only from the TV."

 

Shelton called Long's testimony worthless. He said police were reluctant to charge a football star and urged the jury not to be "misled by the government's view of Branden Ore as some sort of innocent."

 

"We'll never know what happened in the car," responded Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Bassford. "... We just know the drugs were there and we'll have to decide for ourselves."

[BHS72 10]

Its a shame that these kids even put themselves into these situations and risk everything.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Haha, we get it! Ore's not on trial. Sheesh!

Regardless, good to see that he's keeping his nose clean.

 

However, here's a suit that may pique interest a little bit more. Notice the subtle, pathetic dig from this tidewater-area paper in the fourth paragraph, trying to discredit the plaintiff. Juicy stuff from some bad Hokie seeds, I tell you:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-news_vickdepo_0112jan12,0,7992109.story

[hoard 18]

This is the fourth paragraph from the story in your link..

 

But Marcus Vick will not admit to even knowing the woman, who was 17 when she filed the suit, said attorney Steven D. Smith.

 

How is this a pathetic dig at the plaintiff?

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

But Marcus Vick will not admit to even knowing the woman, who was 17 when she filed the suit, said attorney Steven D. Smith.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

You don't have to "know" someone to have sexual relations with them...happens all the time on college campuses all over America...and besides, hasn't anyone EVER been on Spring Break??? LOL

[Deleted Account 5,203]

You've focused on the wrong part of the paragraph.

 

The phrase "who was 17 when she filed the suit" is the subtle dig. 17 is the legal age for consent in the state of Virginia. By adding that phrase right after the 'Marcus won't acknowledge knowing the woman' phrase, it subconciously makes the reader both discredit the plaintiff and support Marcus; this journalistic ploy from this Hampton Roads paper doesn't surprise me.

Apparently, it was so "subtle" that two straight posters missed it. But that's the goal.

 

I know that casual sexual relations are a part of college life. Duh. I didn't live in a vacuum for the last four years. I doubt it happens often at Virginia Tech, but 15-year-old girls certainly don't go to on-campus parties at Virginia. First, too easy to spot, if you talk to them at all. Second, student IDs are required, so that won't work well unless someone's borrowed/stole one; then, again, it's very easy to spot someone who's 16-or-younger by talking to them.

If in fact Vick the Younger did that, he deserves every second of time he gets. Absolutely pathetic.

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

I know that casual sexual relations are a part of college life. Duh. I didn't live in a vacuum for the last four years. I doubt it happens often at Virginia Tech, but 15-year-old girls certainly don't go to on-campus parties at Virginia. First, too easy to spot, if you talk to them at all. Second, student IDs are required, so that won't work well unless someone's borrowed/stole one; then, again, it's very easy to spot someone who's 16-or-younger by talking to them.

If in fact Vick the Younger did that, he deserves every second of time he gets. Absolutely pathetic.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

You mean they are allowed to have "on-campus" parties at UVA??? WOW!!! I thought it was known as "the grounds".

 

And I'm sure, IDs aren't required for all parties...maybe frat parties but other off-campus parties at someone's house/condo/apartment...NO. And if you remember the details of the MVII case, the allegations supposedly occurred at someone's "private home" where IDs weren't required.

 

And no, I'm not condoning what he did...I just arguing the "legalities" that you've thrown out about it "not happening at UVA".

[bluefieldRocks 14]

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

But Marcus Vick will not admit to even knowing the woman, who was 17 when she filed the suit, said attorney Steven D. Smith.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

You don't have to "know" someone to have sexual relations with them...happens all the time on college campuses all over America...and besides, hasn't anyone EVER been on Spring Break??? LOL

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

Does Senior Beach Week count?

[Deleted Account 5,203]

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

I know that casual sexual relations are a part of college life. Duh. I didn't live in a vacuum for the last four years. I doubt it happens often at Virginia Tech, but 15-year-old girls certainly don't go to on-campus parties at Virginia. First, too easy to spot, if you talk to them at all. Second, student IDs are required, so that won't work well unless someone's borrowed/stole one; then, again, it's very easy to spot someone who's 16-or-younger by talking to them.

If in fact Vick the Younger did that, he deserves every second of time he gets. Absolutely pathetic.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

You mean they are allowed to have "on-campus" parties at UVA??? WOW!!! I thought it was known as "the grounds".

 

And I'm sure, IDs aren't required for all parties...maybe frat parties but other off-campus parties at someone's house/condo/apartment...NO. And if you remember the details of the MVII case, the allegations supposedly occurred at someone's "private home" where IDs weren't required.

 

And no, I'm not condoning what he did...I just arguing the "legalities" that you've thrown out about it "not happening at UVA".

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

What I said did apply primarily to frat parties, so it's valid to question off-"grounds" affairs. Thanks for that correction, too.

 

You're exactly right: the Vick Redux incident was off-campus, and here's my analysis for that.

I certainly know about the party culture at Virginia, and the off-grounds parties almost exclusively include groups getting together to celebrate: singing groups, service groups, bus drivers, you name it. Outsiders of said groups don't crash parties: they're either brought by members of the partying group, or they don't come.

I recall one incident my first year when a football player tried to crash on of those parties. This player, not a starter, attempted to gain access to an off-ground event, and wouldn't leave when he was told to do so. In the end, this football player was stabbed by one of the party-goers, an awful thing. Moral of the story: don't go where you're not invited.

Of course, this is a different matter: a football player being crashing an off-campus party compared to a 15-year-old girl crashing said party. Having been in a few groups who've had private parties, I guarantee you, if a 15-year-old Charlottesville girl had crashed a party, she would've been told in no uncertain terms to get out.

 

In the end, it's just not in the culture at Virginia to have this happen. Private party, frat party, any party.

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

if a 15-year-old Charlottesville girl had crashed a party, she would've been told in no uncertain terms to get out.

 

In the end, it's just not in the culture at Virginia to have this happen. Private party, frat party, any party.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

Ride that high-horse Hoo-boy...no arrogance at all in that statement...I'd almost guarantee 15-year-olds have attended college frat parties in C-ville at one time or another...just because you think you're better than everyone else doesn't mean you are...

[Deleted Account 5,203]

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

if a 15-year-old Charlottesville girl had crashed a party, she would've been told in no uncertain terms to get out.

 

In the end, it's just not in the culture at Virginia to have this happen. Private party, frat party, any party.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

Ride that high-horse Hoo-boy...no arrogance at all in that statement...I'd almost guarantee 15-year-olds have attended college frat parties in C-ville at one time or another...just because you think you're better than everyone else doesn't mean you are...

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

What in the world do you mean by that statement? Where's the arrogance? Of course, there is none. I was simply stating an observation of mine about the party culture at Virginia.

There's a palpable tension between the Charlottesville residents and members of the college; the residents feel like the students encroach on their lives, and the college students in general feel like the residents attempt to exert unneccessary authority over them.

If a Charlottesville resident, or "townie", attempted to crash a college party, he/she would be told to leave, unless invited by a student. Just like a university student would be turned away from a resident party, given the circumstances. Several reasons, one of which is to prevent a big incident like the one little Vick is in now.

Definitely no arrogance intended in this post.

 

To another point, I'm sick of this babble. First, you have never met me in person, so how can you even in the least substantiate your bogus claims? I know several people on this board, and they would all refute your slander, that I'm better than everyone else. Complete ignorance.

Your blind hatred of the University of Virginia and its supporters has made you look positively moronic, in this post and over the time I've started posting here again. You're far too smart (or so I thought) than to make such unsubstantiated, asinine statements like that. You act like such a big, bad boy behind that computer, when in reality, you're doing nothing but flaming like a hormonally-imbalanced teenager. You're 25 years too old for that crap.

 

I'm finished with this thread; I've said all I need to.