| 05 January 2012
The Ole Miss Spirit's Ben Garrett reported last night that Dundrecous Nelson was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia in his apartment on Tuesday night after the 50-48 squeaker over SMU.
As an attorney the first question I had based on Garrett's report is: "What were the police doing in Nelson's apartment?" The police cannot enter someone's apartment without permission or without a warrant. If Nelson gave them permission to enter then he isn't real street smart. If the police were at the apartment asking for permission to enter it was probably as a result of a citizen complaint for noise or some other domestic disturbance. The police could have knocked on the door and demanded the occupants of the apartment answer the door and then been given a good scolding for being too loud. If Nelson or others in the apartment had been smoking weed the police would have smelled it and perhaps asked and received permission to enter the apartment. The paraphernalia - likely a pipe, bong, or papers used for rolling weed would need to be out in the open for police to find it without a warrant. They can't just start looking under couch cushions without a warrant.
The other scenario is that the police had information that caused them to get a search warrant for Nelson's apartment. If that's the case, the police would need information from an informant that probable cause exists to believe drugs could be found in Nelson's apartment.
That's your law lesson for the day.
Now, here's my rant:
It's bad enough that Ole Miss has disappointed in every major sport the last two years. It was awful witnessing a football team didn't give a crap last season. It's excruciating now watching the Rebels score 50-points a game because they can't hit the broadside of a barn. BUT, if Ole Miss is going to suck, at least let it be with kids who are proud to wear the uniform. Ole Miss will never win championships until it gets some self-respect. Self-respect means not putting up with kids who smoke marijuna - especially during the season. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD DO I REALLY NEED TO EVEN WRITE THIS? IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS! The last couple years it appears Ole Miss - I'm talking about football and basketball here - has sold its soul to get talent and the talent isn't even returning the favor. When you want/need talent so bad that you tolerate skipped practices, smoking weed, and all the other messes we read about on a monthly basis you are doomed to fail. And that's what seems to be happening in Oxford these last two years. The kids don't care! Kids that care don't smoke pot after games and skip practice. Those are tell-tale signs. If you do drugs and skip practice you don't care. This should be elementary to any coach. If I was an Ole Miss coach I would only want kids that care on my team. Especially if I'm Hugh Freeze inheriting a 2-10 team but coming in with a fresh start. Houston Nutt will get the blame no matter how bad Ole Miss is next year. Take advantage now and get rid of the players who don't want to be there.
Kennedy's situation probably seems dicier, at least to him. He may be coaching for his job this season, and right now his team can't shoot, turns the ball over and plays defense only on occasion. I'm sure he's worried if he gets rid of a scoring threat (albeit a relatively small one) his job will be on the line. In my opinion if he puts kids on the court who would rather have a real good time that shoot real good 3's his job is in just as much jeopardy. This team needs focus. What happened Tuesday night tells me they don't have it. According to Garrett's report, other players were involved in the Nelson incident. There aren't that many people on a basketball team. Kennedy's team is apparently infected with kids not doing the right thing.
Nelson was 1-of-8 from the field in that game and has struggled shooting for most of the season, along with the rest of the team. Maybe, PERHAPS, if he spent less time partying and more time shooting baskets Ole Miss might score a few more points. The stakes are always high in big time college sports. It would behoove Kennedy to have kids that care more about the team and winning than they do about themselves and the next party.
Ole Miss needs some self-respect. There's no self-respect in keeping bad actors around just because you're scared it might cost you a game later, especially when those bad actors aren't even performing.
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