Well, here’s a heck of a conclusion to this story. We wrote last year about ex-Boise State player Derrick Boles, who was kicked off the team for the always vague violation of team rules.
As we learned, it was a heck of a violation:
Derrick Boles was dismissed from the Boise State football team in February, for what the university referred to as a “violation of team rules.”
Well, it turns out that the “violation of team rules” was Boles biting off a piece of a teammate’s ear, and he faces felony charge for mayhem after being arrested May 9 in Polk County, Florida. Yeah, I’d say that all qualifies as violating team’s rules.
The case ended up going to trial, and if you’re wondering what “felony mayhem” means (beyond being a fantastic band name), it’s pretty gruesome:
According to Idaho statutes, mayhem is defined as “Every person who unlawfully and maliciously deprives a human being of a member of his body, or disables, disfigures or renders it useless, or cuts out or disables the tongue, puts out an eye, slits the nose, ear or lip, is guilty of mayhem.” The maximum punishment is 14 years in state prison.
As reported by the Idaho Statesman, Boles was found not guilty at trial. His defense wasn’t that he didn’t bite the ear; that was never in dispute. But Boles claimed self-defense, and it apparently held up:
Former Boise State defensive tackle Dereck Boles was found not guilty on a felony mayhem charge Thursday.
A jury deliberated for nearly two hours and rendered the verdict to end the four-day trial at the Ada County Courthouse. The incident involving Boise State football players took place Feb. 13, 2016, at a house party in Boise.
Boles was charged in May 2016 for biting off a portion of safety Chanceller James’ ear in an altercation, which stemmed from a morning workout Feb. 12 in which James said Boles had argued with a member of the strength and conditioning staff. The team was forced to do additional work after the outburst.
…
“The state had to prove Dereck maliciously and he acted unlawfully. We were able to show from the evidence, numerous witnesses, players on the team, that Dereck did not act maliciously that night and he acted lawfully in the sense he defended himself,” Miller said.
That’s good news for Boles, and it’s unfortunate that an apparent act of self-defense resulted in his boot from the team. After a year of community college, he’s been setting up visits with Florida schools, and hopefully he ends up playing FBS football again.
