Alcohol-related charges against UGA's Jonathan Ledbetter dismissed

Defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter’s case in Athens-Clarke County State Court, which involved two alcohol-related charges, was dismissed after it was determined a police officer’s reason for detainment prior to arrest would not be admissible as evidence.

In the early morning of March 20, Ledbetter was attempting to enter the Silver Dollar Bar at 262 College Ave. when a police officer saw him turned away by a doorman. After watching Ledbetter go through his wallet to search for another ID, according to the police report, an officer approached Ledbetter, 18, and noticed an ID with the birth year of 1997.

From there, the officer engaged Ledbetter and took possession of his valid identification. The officer then searched Ledbetter's wallet and found a "a fraudulent photo copy Georgia Driver's License with Ledbetter's information" but with a birth year of 1992. The officer, who wrote in the police report that Ledbetter was "very inebriated," then arrested Ledbetter for underage possession of alcohol and possessing a false identification.

Ledbetter's defense, agreed upon by Athens-Clarke County Solicitor General C.R. Chisholm, is that being turned away from a bar's door is not grounds for a police officer to approach and detain a citizen.

Ledbetter’s attorney Kim Stephens said there are many reasons why a doorman would turn a patron away and that it doesn't always involve the presence of a crime. Since the officer first saw a valid identification in Ledbetter's possession, there was no legal standing for the officer to approach him.

“For instance, if Jonathan presented an ID to the doorman and the officer could see from where he was that the ID was clearly a fake ID, then he could have approached him immediately and started asking questions and got him to produce the license,” Stephens said. “But what this officer was doing was any time he saw somebody the doorman refused to let in, he immediately approached him. Unfortunately, there are many reasons a doorman may not let somebody in without a crime.”

The news was first reported by The Athens Banner-Herald, which quoted Chisholm saying, “we would not be able to overcome a motion to suppress in the case. So we would not have been able to present that evidence if it had gone to a trial.”

Stephens pointed out that this kind of scenario has occurred time and again in Downtown Athens. He said the solicitor general’s office has thrown out numerous cases under similar circumstances.

“Over the years there have been situations like this that don’t involve athletes, who are regular students,” Stephens said. “It’s not any different than if (Ledbetter) was a regular student.”

While the case has been thrown out, there’s still a good chance Ledbetter will still serve a one-game suspension in Georgia's season-opener against North Carolina. If a student-athlete is found in violation of a first alcohol-related arrest, a 10 percent suspension of games is mandatory. A request for clarification to a team official was not immediately returned, since Ledbetter is no longer facing charges.

Ledbetter totaled four tackles in seven games as a freshman in 2015.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Alcohol-related charges against UGA's Jonathan Ledbetter dismissed."