ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors on Friday in a deal to resolve a felony criminal case that arose immediately after he was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant.
The deal was struck on the same day a judge planned to hear a challenge to Moore’s arrest in December on three charges, including felony home invasion. Those previous charges were dropped in exchange for Moore pleading no contest to misdemeanor trespassing and misdemeanor malicious use of a telecom device.
“Things have changed,” Judge J. Cedric Simpson said.
Moore had confronted the woman with whom he had been having an affair and blamed her for his dismissal, even threatening to kill himself with butter knives in her apartment, authorities said.
— EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
“All the charges against Mr. Moore were not supported by facts and law,” said attorney Ellen Michaels, standing alongside Moore and his wife, outside the courtroom. “The dismissal of those charges validates the concerns we raised about the investigation from the very beginning. Mr. Moore is pleased to put this behind him and move forward.”
Moore arrived at the courthouse with his wife, Kelli, and they walked toward the courtroom holding hands, interlacing fingers.
Hours later, they left together and Moore declined an opportunity to share anything he had to say.
“No, I’m good,” he said. “Appreciate it.”
Assistant prosecutor Kati Rezmierski, on her way out of the courthouse earlier in the afternoon, declined an interview request..
Sentencing is scheduled for April 14 on charges that have a potential maximum of six months and 30 days in prison.
Michaels said the tether, a GPS tracking device that has been on Moore since December, was to be removed on Friday and she does not expect him to serve any more time after spending two nights in jail following his arrest.
“This is not the kind of case that somebody is punished by jail,” she said.
Michaels said she advised Moore to plead to no contest due to potential civil litigation and to help him move on with his family and avoid a trial.
“He has had the opportunity to be with his daughters, to be with his wife, to be home for the holidays, to take his kids to swim lessons,” she said. ” As somebody who’s come up the coaching tree and became a head coach at a young age, that is something that he has missed out on.
“I can tell you that losing his job and and being at home, he has embraced it as an opportunity to reconnect to his family, to spend time with his kids and to become the man he wants to be.”
Moore, 40, was fired on Dec. 10 after two seasons as the successor to Jim Harbaugh, who won a national championship before leaving to lead the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.
In dismissing Moore, the university cited an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Rezmierski has said the woman ended the affair a few days before Moore’s firing and cooperated with the school’s investigation.
University of Michigan spokesman Paul Corliss said the school did not have a comment on Friday’s developments.
The AP isn’t identifying the woman, who has accused Moore of domestic violence and stalking. She did not answer a dozen calls or respond to some text messages from him before his dismissal, police said.
“It’s not stalking if the communication has a legitimate purpose,” Michaels has said.
A message seeking comment was left with attorney Heidi Sharp, who is representing Moore’s former executive assistant.
Michaels has accused the woman’s personal lawyer of giving information to police to “villainize Mr. Moore and maximize the chances of obtaining a large settlement from the deep pockets of the University of Michigan.”
Michaels declined to say if she was involved in potential litigation against the university on Moore’s behalf. He signed a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $5.5 million last year. According to the terms of his deal, the university did not have to buy out the remaining years of his contract because he was fired for cause.
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