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Posted on: August 1, 2023, 02:04h.
Last updated on: August 1, 2023, 02:52h.
Damon Arnette is expected to enter a plea agreement on Wednesday. The former NFL cornerback will plead guilty to misdemeanors, pay a fine, and complete community service.
The former Las Vegas Raiders player reportedly will plead guilty to charges of assault and drawing a deadly weapon. He will complete 50 hours of community service and pay a fine of $2K, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Arnette was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, carrying or concealing a gun without a permit, possession of marijuana or cannabis, and possession of a class one or two-level controlled substance.
The charges stem from an armed dispute he had on Jan. 28, 2022, at the valet parking area at the Park MGM in Las Vegas.
Wants to Return to NFL
“Damon is happy to put this matter behind him with a misdemeanor disposition and is ready to return to the NFL,” his attorney, Ross Goodman of Las Vegas, who specializes in criminal defense law, said in a statement published by the Review-Journal.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers said Arnette produced a firearm when he got into a disagreement with valet workers who asked him for identification after he couldn’t produce a valet ticket to pick up a vehicle.
Goodman argued Arnette “did not make any threats” to the workers. Also, he never “brandished or pointed a firearm at the valet attendant,” Goodman added.
What he did do was put the firearm into his SUV, Goodman said. That “took about 36 seconds,” the attorney added.
For about 20 minutes, he then interacted with the employees and eventually found the ticket in a trash can, Goodman said. That’s when workers gave him the keys to his vehicle.
Contrary to earlier media reports, the evidence did not show Damon ‘pointed a gun at a valet attendant,’ ‘took his keys’ and ‘fled,’” Goodman told the Review-Journal.
The first round of charges against Arnette were dropped but some of them reappeared after he was indicted in May on more serious charges of assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed firearm.
Police claimed Arnette removed the firearm from his waistband and put it in the SUV’s driver’s side door before arguing with an employee. He produced the gun.
An officer said Arnette is guilty of “racking a round, which is to pull back sharply and quickly release the cocking handle/slide of the gun, according to Wikipedia.
Arnette was located at a gasoline station near the Las Vegas Strip a short time after the incident, at which time, officers found a firearm in his vehicle.
Another defendant, Markell Surrell, also had a gun in his possession. Surrell was charged, but those counts were later dropped.
First-Round Draft Pick
Arnette was a first-round draft pick by the Raiders in 2020. The team let him go in November 2021 after video appeared of him allegedly threatening someone with a firearm.
He then was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs under a reserve/futures contract. The Chiefs released him when news of the incident at the Park MGM appeared.
Aria Casino Incident
In an earlier incident from 2020, Sonny Flores, a valet worker at the Aria Resort & Casino sued Arnette after he was allegedly attacked by the player. Flores claimed he suffered mental stress, anguish, pain, and suffering from the attack, the Review-Journal reported.
The 2020 incident began when Arnette tried to retrieve a car without a ticket. He was allegedly intoxicated at the time. The suit also includes 10 unnamed people in Arnette’s entourage who allegedly joined in the abuse. Arnette allegedly spit at Flores, poked him in the chest, and was verbally abusive.
Arnette filed a countersuit and denied the charges. It’s unclear what happened to the litigation in court.
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