Wendell Smallwood

[GoldRusher]

WVU?s second-leading returning rusher arrested | CollegeFootballTalk

 

[DCWV4life]

@mikecasazza: I'm told Smallwood's arrest stems from something in Del., which is where he's from and, obviously, why he had fugitive charge. Unclear what.

 

[DCWV4life]

Witness intimidation:

Football standout accused of witness intimidation

This could go a lot of ways, let's see evidence first.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

He called and asked them to say that his friend didn't shoot someone... Sorry, when I think of witness intimidation I tend to think of a face to face confrontation with threat of violence or some sort of duress... According to the article there was no duress, he simply asked them to make a "false" statement. How are we to know that their current statement is not false and he simply asked for them to come clean? I'm not saying that's the case, but from what's published this is the weakest "intimidation" ever. I guess we'll see come trial.

 

[WVUDAD]

I think they view any contact with a witness by someone associated with the defendant as intimidation. I hope there is nothing to it and it goes away, WVU football doesn't need a black eye like that.

 

[GoldRusher]

Sounds like one of those situations like when two are having a heated argument and one side steps into the other face and personal space and when the person moves them back the other claims "assault". Sounds like a BS charge to me but as said, let's get more info.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

Agreed GR. Especially since the article says it was due to a phone call... This is real life, not "The Ring". Now if some little girl steps through the phone or my TV, then I'll call witness intimidation!

 

[Slaton10]

WVU?s second-leading returning rusher arrested | CollegeFootballTalk

Seems like a growing epidemic across the country....

 

[DCWV4life]

He also needs to know to stay clear of situations like this...we can argue about whether to stay friends with someone who is up for murder, but even if you do you can't let yourself get involved under any circumstances.

Probably going to come down to whether they have him on tape and if he made threats on those calls. Either way pretty stupid to put your future on the line for something like this.

 

[bbwvfan]

Allan Taylor‏@AllanTaylorWVU[ame="[MEDIA=twitter]489066381359734784[/MEDIA]"]7 mins[/ame]
Re Wendell Smallwood timeline: "Intimidating" calls he allegedly made to murder witness in Del. occurred during RB's first semester at #WVU.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

If there was ever a good year for a RB to take a redshirt, this is the year. The legal process will take some time and with this hanging over his head, he is sure to lose some concentration. By next year, it will all be over.

With Smith/Shell/Buie/Garrison and DTW, there will be lots of talent to take those carries. It may actually work out for the good if both Smallwood and DTW take redshirts this year. We will be loaded with talent at RB for a few more years.

 

[DCWV4life]

@mikecasazza: Del. SAGO: WVU's Smallwood faces Class D felony, up to eight years in prison for "act of intimidation." Extradition details confidential.

@mikecasazza: Smallwood's charge lesser of two available intimidation felonies. Aggressive act of intimidation=Class B felony worth 2-25 years in prison.

 

[DCWV4life]

@mikecasazza: Seeking official word, but seems Del. SAGO can/will charge Smallwood under new law, though alleged offense happened before new law signed.

 

[GoldRusher]

A poster from another site had this earlier today, I cant confirm that all of it is correct but looked legit to me:

The West Virginia Regional Jail inmate search will list the imprisonment status as "pre-trial felon" for anyone being held on felony charges up until they are released from the jail or are convicted of the offense, which will then read "felon sentenced." The Bail Amount is $0.00 because he was picked up for a warrant out of Delaware and is going to be extradited there to face this charge (I assume he will waive extradition to proceed directly to Delaware to speed up the process). Once in Delaware, a judge in the jurisdiction where the charges are pending may set a Bond amount for him, as Delaware does provide for pre-trial release of this offense.

The charge for Intimidating a witness is a Class D felony in Delaware, which provides for a possible sentence of up to 8 years incarceration. From the information that is out now, where Smallwood is alleged to have made telephone calls either telling or asking a witness to recant, this would likely be the charge. If there is more than a simple suggestion or request that the witness recant and there were threats of physical violence, payment was received for making the calls, or the act was part of a conspiracy, then the charge will be aggravated and considered a Class B felony, which provides for a possible sentence of not less than 2 nor more than 25 years incarceration.

If the charge is simple intimidation of a witness, the sentencing could include, or be limited to, a fine, unsupervised probation, supervised probation, community service, or a number of other alternatives that include no jail time or any sentence to jail could be suspended and the above alternatives imposed. If the charge is aggravated intimidation of a witness, the sentence would require a mandatory 2 years incarceration with the possibility of the remainder of any sentence being suspended and the above alternative sentences being imposed in lieu of incarceration.

I think it is possible that Smallwood is back with the team, pending any decision by the staff. The fact that this is a felony offense by statute makes it sound worse than it may be. As has been mentioned in this thread, if there is no evidence (i.e. recordings, voicemails, text messages, telephone records of incoming calls from a number verifiable to Smallwood, caller ID logs, etc.) of Smallwood making these calls, and more importantly making suggestions, requests, or threats then the State's case will be extremely weak and can be attacked by a decent criminal defense attorney. To the argument that it is possible Smallwood knew that information the witness had previously provided to the police was incorrect and was simply encouraging the witness to tell the truth or tell more facts to the police, the State could simply argue that if that was the case and Smallwood knew facts about the incident, then he would/should have made a statement of his own.

There are a number of ways this can be approached, but I can envision a few where Smallwood comes out of this alright and is back with the team, pending Staff approval.

EDIT: After looking at the statute, the simple intimidation of a witness was not made a Class D felony until May 28, 2014, and at the time the offense was alleged to have occurred, was a Class E felony offense, which carries the possibility of up to 5 years incarceration, as opposed to the 8 years under the current law.

 

[WVUDAD]

He also needs to know to stay clear of situations like this...we can argue about whether to stay friends with someone who is up for murder, but even if you do you can't let yourself get involved under any circumstances.

Probably going to come down to whether they have him on tape and if he made threats on those calls. Either way pretty stupid to put your future on the line for something like this.

Exactly, DC, I was thinking about this a little differently, rather than just a football fan. If someone in my family was to be a witness in a murder trial, and a friend of the defendant called and said anything about their testimony, I would view it as a threat and call the cops.

 

[bbwvfan]

I copied this from another site...

Take these as the musings of a criminal defense attorney and political moderate who has come to believe that the excessive criminalization of human conduct is as much a cause of society’s unraveling as a cure for it, but here they are anyway. First, the new law couldn’t constitutionally be applied to conduct that took place before its passage to justify a harsher punishment, as the US Consitution prohibits the passage of ex post facto laws.

Second, my initial thought when I saw the tweets about the arrest was “boy, that sounds really bad”. As more information came to light, my opinion changed. We are talking about conduct that occurred, allegedly, in the spring of 2013. This conduct was so serious that, assuming it was discovered contemporaneously, it caused the police to act on it in only 14 short months. Giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming the police only recently found out about it, I fail to see any reason to need to extradite Smallwood to face the charges in Delaware. As far as we know, he has been a model citizen since the alleged conduct (the police haven’t said or charged him with anything to suggest differently). He is clearly a regular contributor on a college football team under the direct supervision of a number of coaches. If they had wanted him to return to Delaware, I’m sure that could have been arranged by reaching out to the University or to the coaches. If the conduct is 14 months old and nothing has happened in two years since, why the need to arrest him here and extradite him unless there was some suggestion that he failed to cooperate? The cynic in me speculates that the murder case may not be completely solid and it would sure help if one of the defendant’s friends provided testimony against him. Most friends wouldn’t do that unless some pressure is brought to bear upon them. So, arrest the kid who is in Morgantown playing football three weeks before fall practice is to start and extradite him back, which will land him in jail for a while until he can be brought back to Delaware and formally arraigned on the charge against him, when he would likely be released on bail anyway. In the meantime, maybe the kid is worried about his football career and being kicked off the team because of how bad the charge sounds so he agrees to cooperate with authorities, giving the prosecutors a big card to play in their murder prosecution. If Wendell’s life is ruined or damaged in the process, well, it is for the greater good. Maybe I’m completely off base, but those were my thoughts when I read the initial report. And they haven’t changed in the hours since. The length of the wait, the arrest and extradition, the timing of the arrest; it all smells bad to me. But, maybe I’m wrong.

 

[DCWV4life]

Calling the witness is enough to get him in trouble, proving intent would be the hard part for the DA. I imagine he will plea and not face any time, sine there is records of the call. Fact is he was calling from another state with no real access to witness and there is more than likely no recording of the call with threats or like BB said they would have gathered him up when he was home the summer.