he grim reality hit Corie Blount as he stood in a Butler County courtroom on May 13, 2009, and listened to a judge sentence him to one year in an Ohio prison.
"After I heard my wife and my sister crying, I'm thinking, 'I'm actually going to prison for this,' " Blount said. "Then you have a flashback of everything building up to that point. ... It all just flashed back to me, like, 'Look what I got myself into.'
"Immediately I thought, 'I know I'm going to prison. Now I've got to figure out a way to adapt to my surroundings.' "
Blount, a former University of Cincinnati basketball player, had hoped he would receive probation and avoid prison time. He had pleaded guilty to two felony counts of marijuana possession after prosecutors dropped two trafficking charges, but he had no prior criminal record.
However, Butler County Common Pleas Judge Craig Hedric not only sentenced Blount to prison, he ridiculed Blount's assertion that he had no intention of selling the 29 pounds of marijuana that police had found in two packages - one at Blount's house and one at his grandmother's house across the street.
"Cheech and Chong would have had a hard time smoking that much," Hedric said.
It was a funny line to the spectators and quickly made its way around the Internet, but it wasn't funny to Blount.
"I guess he took what I said as a joke," Blount said, "but I told the truth about that. I wasn't selling any weed. That's why they didn't even pursue that. It wasn't for sale. It was for personal use. It wasn't all for my personal use, but it was for personal use."
In addition to the year in prison, Hedric sentenced Blount to five years probation. He also ordered him to pay $10,000 in fines and serve 250 hours of community service. Blount's driver's license was suspended for three years and he was ordered to surrender two vehicles and approximately $34,000 in cash seized in the bust.
Negative perceptions
A year later, Blount is sitting in the basement of his Liberty Township home, wearing a black golf shirt with UC's C-paw logo on the front. His framed jersey from his days with the Los Angeles Lakers - one of six teams he played for during his 11-year NBA career - is hanging on a wall behind him.
"I'm just trying to see how I can move forward," Blount said.
The 41-year-old Blount, who was the starting center on UC's 1992 Final Four and 1993 Elite Eight teams, wants officials and fans of the school to know how sorry he is for the damage he has done to the basketball program's image.
He said he was always sensitive to the criticism leveled at then-UC coach Bob Huggins and the program when a Bearcats player would get arrested. Suddenly, he was one of those players, contributing to the image he hated so much.
"It hurt, man," Blount said. "I didn't know who to call. I didn't know who to write to. I didn't know who to say I'm sorry to because we're talking about a whole institutional program.
"Nick (Van Exel) and Herb (Jones) were the All-Americans, but I felt like I was the one who represented UC the best," Blount said, referring to two of his Bearcats teammates. "I tried to give back to the school. I tried to interact with the players, from Kenyon (Martin) all the way to Ruben (Patterson). I always tried to be there. Huggs called me the grandfather of the program."
After his NBA career ended, Blount returned to UC to finish his degree in criminal justice. He could have completed his final few courses online, he said, but it was important to him to have a UC degree.
When the basketball program was in turmoil following the departure of Huggins in 2005, Blount returned as an assistant under interim head coach Andy Kennedy.
"I would always try to be the one to make amends for that wrongdoing that another would do, and then it's like, bam, now it's your turn," Blount said.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100529/SPT0101/5300340/1064/Blount-seeks-redemption
"After I heard my wife and my sister crying, I'm thinking, 'I'm actually going to prison for this,' " Blount said. "Then you have a flashback of everything building up to that point. ... It all just flashed back to me, like, 'Look what I got myself into.'
"Immediately I thought, 'I know I'm going to prison. Now I've got to figure out a way to adapt to my surroundings.' "
Blount, a former University of Cincinnati basketball player, had hoped he would receive probation and avoid prison time. He had pleaded guilty to two felony counts of marijuana possession after prosecutors dropped two trafficking charges, but he had no prior criminal record.
However, Butler County Common Pleas Judge Craig Hedric not only sentenced Blount to prison, he ridiculed Blount's assertion that he had no intention of selling the 29 pounds of marijuana that police had found in two packages - one at Blount's house and one at his grandmother's house across the street.
"Cheech and Chong would have had a hard time smoking that much," Hedric said.
It was a funny line to the spectators and quickly made its way around the Internet, but it wasn't funny to Blount.
"I guess he took what I said as a joke," Blount said, "but I told the truth about that. I wasn't selling any weed. That's why they didn't even pursue that. It wasn't for sale. It was for personal use. It wasn't all for my personal use, but it was for personal use."
In addition to the year in prison, Hedric sentenced Blount to five years probation. He also ordered him to pay $10,000 in fines and serve 250 hours of community service. Blount's driver's license was suspended for three years and he was ordered to surrender two vehicles and approximately $34,000 in cash seized in the bust.
Negative perceptions
A year later, Blount is sitting in the basement of his Liberty Township home, wearing a black golf shirt with UC's C-paw logo on the front. His framed jersey from his days with the Los Angeles Lakers - one of six teams he played for during his 11-year NBA career - is hanging on a wall behind him.
"I'm just trying to see how I can move forward," Blount said.
The 41-year-old Blount, who was the starting center on UC's 1992 Final Four and 1993 Elite Eight teams, wants officials and fans of the school to know how sorry he is for the damage he has done to the basketball program's image.
He said he was always sensitive to the criticism leveled at then-UC coach Bob Huggins and the program when a Bearcats player would get arrested. Suddenly, he was one of those players, contributing to the image he hated so much.
"It hurt, man," Blount said. "I didn't know who to call. I didn't know who to write to. I didn't know who to say I'm sorry to because we're talking about a whole institutional program.
"Nick (Van Exel) and Herb (Jones) were the All-Americans, but I felt like I was the one who represented UC the best," Blount said, referring to two of his Bearcats teammates. "I tried to give back to the school. I tried to interact with the players, from Kenyon (Martin) all the way to Ruben (Patterson). I always tried to be there. Huggs called me the grandfather of the program."
After his NBA career ended, Blount returned to UC to finish his degree in criminal justice. He could have completed his final few courses online, he said, but it was important to him to have a UC degree.
When the basketball program was in turmoil following the departure of Huggins in 2005, Blount returned as an assistant under interim head coach Andy Kennedy.
"I would always try to be the one to make amends for that wrongdoing that another would do, and then it's like, bam, now it's your turn," Blount said.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100529/SPT0101/5300340/1064/Blount-seeks-redemption
