So based on the above 4 misdemeanor's, do you (professional opinion but not holding you to anything here!) think this would/could give IU or IUFB program a better shot/window at finding a way to let him work his way back to the program? Meaning, it doesn't necessarily seem the same "instant death sentence" that it appeared initially. No justifying anything here, but the official charges seem lower and maybe with him missing some games and other punishment, he doesn't get booted from school/team for good?
Whew! This is a tough one, so bear with me. But
tl;dr, it's probably got very little to do with law at this point.
From a purely legal perspective. They certainly didn't hit him with everything they could have, severity wise. That's certainly a positive thing for him. Charges can theoretically always be added or "upped" later (e.g., adding res entry - F6 to replace the trespass) if they wanted to. Practically speaking, this doesn't typically happen unless there are special circumstances or new facts/allegations happening. It's much more common for a charge to be pled down. And I don't know how it goes in Monroe Co., but in the two counties I worked in, it was very common for someone to just plead to the lead charge (in this case like the DV charge). Depending on how things shake out, he could very likely end up with fewer and/or lesser convictions than what he's charged with.
But like others have said on this thread, his spot at the university or on the football team isn't really a "legal" decision. It's going to be administrative. Like does the school/team want to have him around. On one hand, they are going to be privy to
WAY more information than any of us will. So it's really hard to judge how they'll handle the facts when we'll never know them all.
10 years ago I'd say it'd be a no-brainer that he'd be back on the team just because of where we were as a society and the level of the charges. With where we are today? We'd all just be guessing.
Purely personal opinion:
IF the school & CTA feel that the facts of the situation don't warrant full separation from the school/team. My gut would want him suspended for a significant portion of next season. Like the first 4-5 games.
I trust the school/coaches not to hurt the team long-term by sweeping it under the rug and doing an OSU-style "suspended for the first half of a cupcake game" type suspension. I would want them to make it sting to really put over the "team over self" culture he's building. I mean Ball lost a start & some time for boneheaded-hotheaded actions this past season. Even with a chance to avoid severe criminal punishment, this is light years beyond that.
I don't envy the decision makers in this situation. They'll get criticized no matter what they do and they're going to be walking a tight-rope on what is a proper sanction. But I guess that's why they make the big bucks.