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Charges dropped against Georgia DL Jonathan Ledbetter
The two misdemeanor charges levied against Georgia defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter have been dropped.
Ledbetter was arrested in March for underage possession of alcohol and false identification, but the case was dismissed Monday. According to the Athens Banner-Herald, the case would have been difficult to prosecute because of how officers “obtained the information determining Ledbetter’s age.” Ledbetter, who police said was “very inebriated,” was arrested after trying to enter a bar.
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Athens-Clarke Solicitor General C.R. Chisholm watched video of the incident from the body camera of the Athens-Clarke County police officer and determined that the prosecution would have lost the case, based on two Georgia Supreme Court Cases, because of how the information determining Ledbetter’s age was obtained.
“It would have been a waste of court time to put that up,” Chisholm said. “I know how these cases look. Sometimes folks will think, ‘Oh, well, he’s a football player, he’s getting a break.’ The fact is this is one where it was a set of facts and we were not going to be able to survive a motion to suppress.”
Chisholm told the Banner-Herald that the 18-year-old Ledbetter’s license was grabbed from his wallet before the arrest was made and before the officer even spoke to him.
“I could see the Georgia Driver’s License protruding from his wallet. I retrieved the license and observed the male’s date of birth to be (redcated) 1997,” the arresting officer wrote in the incident report.
“Due to Ledbetter’s inebriated state and stature I asked him to step away from the entrance and I took possession of his wallet finding a fraudulent photo copy Georgia’s Driver’s License with Ledbetter’s information but with a date of birth of (redacted) 1992,” the incident report said.
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Ledbetter, a rising sophomore, had four tackles in seven games for the Bulldogs in 2015. The program announced after his arrest that Ledbetter would be suspended for the team’s season opener against North Carolina on Sept. 3.
Ledbetter was a four-star recruit in the 2015 class.
For more Georgia news, visit UGASports.com.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
