Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels Will Not Go to Trial For Bar Fight

It seems that Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels will at least avoid the nastiness of having to explain to a judge why they were involved in a bar fight, as they accepted diversion agreements on Monday morning, meaning that they will not have to appear in court to sort out the sordidness of this little affair.

Instead, they will have to complete 32 hours of community service each and apparently get involved in something called behavior modification training, which certainly must be less brainwashy and spooky than it actually sounds. They need to go two full calendar years without getting in any sort of legal trouble to avoid having the diversion decision backfire on them.

Diversion, different from a guilty plea, is similar to pleading 'no contest' in some states. Before Marion Superior Court Judge Lisa Borges, Tinsley and Daniels admitted only that there was probable cause for their indictments -- not that they were guilty as charged.

'We're very happy to go back to playing basketball,' said James Voyles, Tinsley's attorney, as they stepped onto an elevator with Daniels and his attorney, Ralph Staples. The players answered 'yes' to the judge's questions, but made no other comments inside or outside court.

If the players violate their diversion agreements, prosecutors said, the charges will be reinstated.

It's essentially like a PJC for a non-driving offense, if I'm reading this correctly. Now, many people would get upset that this could be another case of athletes skirting the law's ever shortening arm length, but I'm all for this type of punishment. What good does a trial do them? They would end up copping to some sort of plea bargain, which this basically amounts to, only now they don't have to waste taxpayers money. Oh right. This happened a while ago. Sigh. As Indy Cornrows said, "lawyers gotta get paid too". And don't forget the state probably didn't mind the extra publicity for the DA's office. Whatever. Let's move on.