The Rockville Superior Court order Wednesday requires Coombs-McDaniel to take 10 drug education classes and perform 75 hours of community service. The charges will be dismissed if he complies with the requirements.
He gets the charges taken off his record and moves on with his life. A nice deal to be cut.
The irony in all of this is that McDaniels not only was a victim of bad judgment, but also bad timing. Had his pot bust come a few months later, instead of in the wake of Connecticut’s championship in mid-April, none of this would be happening, and he might still be a part of UConn’s team. (Though he and Jim Calhoun have said this charge had nothing to do with him leaving.)
Connecticut recently passed a law that lightens punishment for marijuana possession, specifically, no arrests and lighter fines if a person is caught with a half-ounce or less of the drug. Coombs-McDaniel was busted for 5.6 grams of pot on April 21, which comes out to .12 ounces, well under the new guidelines. The law goes into effect in Connecticut on July 1.