jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601
DURHAM -- Three former Duke University football players pleaded guilty to gun charges on Tuesday in District Court.
Durham lawyer James D. "Butch" Williams represented John Galbraith Drew, 18, of Midland, Ga. Durham lawyer Bill Thomas represented Brandon Riley Putnam, 19, of Peachtree City, Ga. Durham lawyer Edward Falcone represented Kyle Keyston Griswould, 19, of Midland, Ga. The three were all freshmen at the time of their arrests.
Drew, Putnam and Griswould in January were jailed and posted bonds of $40,000 after being charged with discharging a firearm on educational property. That charge was dropped, Williams said. In court Tuesday, they each pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm on educational property and to carrying a concealed weapon.
Each of the teens had their 45-day jail sentences suspended in favor of 12 months of supervised probation, 140 hours of community service, a $500 fine plus the cost of court. Judge David LaBarre also ordered the young men to stay off Duke's campus.
Around 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning in January, gunfire was heard coming from a vehicle near Jarvis Residence Hall on Duke's East Campus, according to information from the Duke University Police Department. The vehicle later was located at Blackwell Residence Hall, also on East Campus. Campus police traced the vehicle to one of the three charged students.
An investigation determined a gun was fired into the air on Campus Drive. The students weren't shooting at anybody or anything, and no one was hurt, police said.
Almost immediately after the incident, Drew, Griswould and Putnam were dismissed from the Duke football team by head coach David Cutcliffe. Drew, a defensive tackle, had appeared in all 12 of Duke's 2009 football games, started one. Griswould, a running back, and Putnam, a defensive end, had each redshirted during the season, meaning they hadn't seen any game action and had four years of eligibility remaining.
The three were among Cutcliffe's top recruits in the freshman class that signed in the spring of 2009.
Williams, Drew's lawyer, said the young tackle had been contacted by several schools whose coaches are interested in him playing for them.
Thomas, Putnam's lawyer, said his client had well over a 3.0 grade-point average at Duke and has applied to several schools.
"Never been in trouble not one day in his life," Thomas said of Putnam.
Griswould is enrolled in a community college, working at a Sear's store and has done some community service to try to make amends, said Falcone, his lawyer.
The judge asked if things are so dangerous these days that students have to carry weapons and then inquired about the value of education.
"A football scholarship at Duke is worth probably what?" LaBarre asked.
Around $50,000 a year, Falcone said.
That Drew, Griswould and Putnam lost their football scholarships is a heavy price to pay for a stupid decision, LaBarre said.
