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Bennett agrees to plea deal
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by Sara Machi
Tuesday, July 3, 2001
Former UW football player Michael Bennett agreed to a plea deal on June 29 after being accused of kicking in the door of a woman’s apartment in February.
Originally, he faced a tentative felony charge, but that was later dropped. On Friday Bennett faced two misdemeanor charges, but one was dropped that morning. He pleaded no contest to the remaining charge — the unauthorized use of a telephone, and the judge ordered him to pay $1,315 in fines and court costs.
According to a criminal complaint, Bennett was in an argument with a 19-year-old UW student on Feb. 12 after which the female resident of The Regent apartments, 1402 Regent St., accused him of making threatening telephone calls and kicking in the door to her apartment. Bennett, 22, was arrested and jailed for the night.
In addition to unlawful use of a telephone, Bennett, who was also a resident of The Regent at the time, was charged with criminal damage to property, which carries a sentence of up to nine months in prison and up to a $10,000 fine, or both.
Bennett admitted to being in a heated argument, but denied damaging the woman’s apartment door or making threats. As part of the plea agreement with the Dane County district attorney’s office, the charge of criminal damage was dropped.
If he avoids any criminal convictions for one year, he can have the case reopened and his conviction reduced to an ordinance violation—that would clear his record.
The Feb. 12 incident occurred a little more than two months before the Minnesota Vikings selected Bennett in the first round of the National Football League draft.
The former Badger tailback had a breakthrough junior season after backing up Ron Dayne. He carried 294 times for just under 1,600 yards and 10 touchdowns despite missing one game due to suspension in the Shoebox scandal. He also sat out a game due to injury.
—Wire reports contributed to this story.
