story on Chris Collins (former UT recruit)

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by tamster, Dec 22, 2011.

  1. tamster

    tamster 500+ Posts

    Collins ended up at OSU, but was kicked off the team after pleading guilty. Not sure what all happened. I am from Texarkana and went to school with the DA's son. The whole story is just sad. Read but prepare to be shocked.

    CNNSI story on Chris Collins

    skc
     
  2. dillohorn

    dillohorn Guest

    Choices.
     
  3. Hooky Hornstein

    Hooky Hornstein 100+ Posts

    Terrible story.

    There's probably a good many of us who at one point or another answered the door when opportunity knocked and believed what we were told. Fortunately, most of us never had to face any consequences like that.

    I have a jaundiced attitude towards politics and politicians so I hope I'm not crossing any line here, but as I read the story, I couldn't help but think how this is another example of legislature passing a law that sounds good but not exercising the due diligence of thought and foresight to realize how the letter of the law can sometimes cause a mountain of consequences for somebody who the spirit of the law never even intended to be the target.

    If you know what I mean. It's barely eight a.m. so I'm not sure I even said what I think I said.
     
  4. Knoxville-Horn

    Knoxville-Horn 1,000+ Posts

    I don't feel sorry for him one bit. He may or may not have been screwed (no pun intended) on the first charge, but it appears as if he did nothing to right his life after being given a 2nd and 3rd chance.
     
  5. Trusted Insider

    Trusted Insider 1,000+ Posts

    Given a 2nd and 3rd chance?? For nude pictures of his 20 year old girlfriend and drinking a beer? Give me a break. This man has been railroaded by the system to an obscene extent. It is a miscarriage of justice to label this person a sex offender and prohibit him from being near schools and children. Who wouldn't lose their ****?? What a joke. Sandusky is getting better treatment from the system.
     
  6. VYFan

    VYFan 2,500+ Posts

    I do feel sympathy for him. We all are fragile and make bad choices at times--especially at those ages. It's true he's made some bad choices, but not all that bad.

    What's he done? 1. As a 17 year old, while drinking on a prom night, had sex with a 12 year old who apparently looked and acted 16 and said she was 16. (He always admitted what had happened.) Not during a home invasion, not with a weapon, not against her protests. Okay--still, one very bad choice it turns out.
    2. He followed the advice of his lawyer, which was apparently flawed.
    3. In a fairly understandable depressive stage of life--having lost his dreams, and being outcast from society--he smoked a little dope and drank a little. No DWIs, no wrecks, no crimes; apparently just mild normal college age stuff.
    4. He threw a phone over the fence.
    5. He didn't show up at Pilgrims Pride to debone chickens, and lost his job.
    6. He disrespected the system by failing to stay in contact with his PO
    7. Apparently, not described in the story, he has 2 kids?

    Anyway, these are all somewhat immature behaviors, but not really what lands most people in hard-core prison, where he's likely to end up off and on for his whole life.

    Yes, he created this, but I do still feel sorry for him.
     
  7. Horn2Run

    Horn2Run 1,000+ Posts

    Choices indeed. After reading the entire write up I'd say where he is, is where he's earned.
     
  8. orangecat1

    orangecat1 500+ Posts

    too bad they couldn't prove the attorney lied about not being required to register as a sex offender.
     
  9. Hooky Hornstein

    Hooky Hornstein 100+ Posts


     
  10. dillohorn

    dillohorn Guest

    Those are a lot of bad choices.
     
  11. Knoxville-Horn

    Knoxville-Horn 1,000+ Posts

    Sorry. When you're told what you can or cannot do due to a trial, you follow those rules. Maybe he was screwed. He still knew what he could and could not get away with. Hell, he said the following:


     
  12. Whiterock Horn

    Whiterock Horn 1,000+ Posts


     
  13. goredho

    goredho 100+ Posts

    Definitely feel sorry for the guy, and I hope he gets out and walks the straight and narrow and finds some happiness in life.

    This is one of those stories that for me is somewhat "There but for the grace of God go I". Between the ages of 14-18, I tried to have sex with as many high school girls as I could, which turned out to be exactly two, and luckily both were 17. I also drank a lot (I grew up on the Mexican border before it became a battleground) and smoked weed a few times. And that describes just about everyone I grew up with in a small Texas town of about 35,000.

    Teenagers are "foolish". There is a limited sense of cause and effect. Rewards outweigh risks. Not to mention hormones. In this case, some bad things happened as a result of not-uncommon behavior in teenagers.
     
  14. rosevilleblock

    rosevilleblock 250+ Posts

    the system is f' up!
     
  15. GabeRocksSocks

    GabeRocksSocks 1,000+ Posts


     
  16. l00p

    l00p 10,000+ Posts

    He was flat out told what he could and could no do, period. Whether smoking pot is or is not a big deal to an individual, the court said he cannot do it and would be tested for it. They said he cannot drink alcohol either. He also could not have nudity involving a child OR adult, period.

    That means you cannot smoke dope, drink a beer or have naked pictures on your freaking telephone, period. Their ball, their rules. They could have put him in prison but gave him opportunities to play by some tough rules to follow.

    I would hate to be on probation with the result of breaking the rules results in prison. It must weigh heavily on you every day and night. You cannot be in a bar fight, you have to really watch your step and maybe even be a bit paranoid.

    You cannot be flippant in front of cops responding to a domestic abuse call to somebody already with outstanding tickets or offenses. You cannot throw a phone which can be an act of disobedience. Imagine being the cops in that situation and seeing how things had escalated into more from circumstances like that.

    If that was you, any of you, wouldn't you just say you are sorry a lot and hand the girl the phone? Why take it to begin with?

    Would you smoke dope? Drink beer? How about the photos? If it meant prison or being free, what do you do?

    He had choices, he chose poorly. He does not have to be in prison right now. He never did.
     
  17. GabeRocksSocks

    GabeRocksSocks 1,000+ Posts

    That's an awfully verbose way of saying "He's in jail because he broke the rules." I don't think any of us needed clarification as to why he's in jail today.

    The rules on such probation are not black and white. The PO has to usually recommend jail time, other options include increasing probation period. It's a disgression call, similar to how the one guy said that he'd have let him walk away scott free if he'd pleaded not guilty (which actually IS more black and white - he DID commit statutory rape, but apprently the law can be bent if you really feel bad for the guy). Why they were willing to throw him a bone for stat rape, but threw him in jail for what is, in comparison, much less severe crimes is pathetic.
     
  18. Black Ninja

    Black Ninja 500+ Posts

    God, I hate holier than thou types...can we just leave it at he made some unfortunate choices? Why act sanctimonious over somebody you don't even know....oh yeah that's right it's an internet forum.
     
  19. RxLonghorn

    RxLonghorn 250+ Posts

    I'm also from Texarkana, and I graduated from TAMS (ergo, I'm a tamster). Do I know you, tamster?
     
  20. horn4jc

    horn4jc 1,000+ Posts


     
  21. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts

    That poor guy, just another victim of horny 12 year olds and crooked lawyers. All he wanted to do was play xbox with his bros. Sad, very sad.
     
  22. Trusted Insider

    Trusted Insider 1,000+ Posts

    You all keep implying that he knew she was 12. He thought she was 16 and there is not a shred of evidence to suggest otherwise.
    When I was 16 my girlfriend who was in my grade and I had sex. She was 4 months older than me and 17 for some of that time. Sounds like some of you think she should be labeled a "sex offender" and barred from being around children.
     
  23. wadster

    wadster 5,000+ Posts

    My oldest daughter hasn't grown any since 12. My youngest is 12 now and still hasn't developed. You just never know.

    As to Collins, I do feel sorry for him. Yea, he owns his mistakes, but damn, if the girl doesn't lie, he probably never has to deal with any of this and very well might be in the NFL making millions. That would be one hard pill to swallow for anyone. It's pretty easy to see why he got such a self destructive attitude for a while.

    Maybe I'm too forgiving, but I guess I can see it easily happening to a lot of us. I made so many bad choices as a kid and somehow made it through and straightened up in college. UT gave me something to work towards. Sad part is that Collins had that at OSU and lost it. I just hope he can turn it around. Money is nice, but doesn't define happiness. I've had little and much over my life. Never made much difference on the happiness quotient. Family, friends, my 4 kids are all that really matter. I hope he is able to get to that point.
     
  24. l00p

    l00p 10,000+ Posts

    I think the circumstances he went through to get on probation suck. I do believe he thought he did nothing wrong. it's what he did or did not do after. Some here feel he got railroaded. I am on the side that he had a tough road to travel but could have. He didn't. I don't feel sorry for him. It has nothing to do with what got him in trouble in the first place as those facts are dicey.
     
  25. Xcalibur

    Xcalibur 250+ Posts

    Well, our criminal justice system is a complete joke and this young man got ****** over by it. That said, once he was dealt his probation sentence he should have complied. That's when the article starts getting really bad, and it's the reason he's in prison right now.

    What I find most offensive about the whole thing is he shouldn't even have been in that position in the first place (ie, on probation, sex offender)-- but due to a broken criminal justice system, he was.
     
  26. Whiterock Horn

    Whiterock Horn 1,000+ Posts


     
  27. l00p

    l00p 10,000+ Posts

    exactly but as you stated (along with others including myself) he could have avoided prison time after that.

    A friend of mine has a son in a somewhat similar situation. He had a girlfriend who was 17. Her mom had no problem with her dating him. He was 20 at the time, 21 recently. They dated several months. The parents are in a big drawn out divorce and the Dad decided he was not fine with it all of a sudden and reported the situation and went full tilt with it. My friends son immediately gave it distance so as to prove that he was not going against the Dad's wishes. He did so to get back at the daughter for not wanting to spend a weekend with him.

    Well, he is now charged with statutory rape, must register as a sex offender and is on parole/probation with a decent sentence behind it due to some stuff he did right out of H.S. (got busted with pot, breaking curfew)

    So now he has to get a job (he is kind of lazy, well, he is lazy), stop smoking pot (you can smell it on him often) and basically stay out of trouble. He cannot live with his Dad because there is a School nearby.

    Basically his Dad knows his son does not have it in him to fly right under the terms of probation and will likely be in prison/jail sooner than later. All he has to do is register, get a job, not smoke pot or drink alcohol and attend meetings. Oh, and not live near a school. That's it and he can't do it.

    I don't feel sorry for him either and I have known him for 11 years now.
     
  28. goredho

    goredho 100+ Posts

    Dunno, I think there is a difference between being out of highschool and having sex with someone in highschool that you know is under 18, and having sex with someone you that tells you she is 16 but turns out to be 12.

    So I feel less sympathy for your friend's kid as well, but primarily because the circumstances that led him to being faced with those choices are (imo) very different.

    Collins shouldn't have ever had to make those choices, and its particularly hard for the teenage/young adult brain to make them. The brain does not "mature" until 25 or so, and prior to that, it is wired to be a risk taker and to value rewards more than risk. It has to be, because logically from a survival standpoint, no child should ever want to leave the protection of their parents and the safety of home. This is all detailed nicely in this National Geographic article.

    *shrugs* I guess we just have a different way at viewing the actions of teenagers/young adults. Nothing wrong with that.
     
  29. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts


     
  30. goredho

    goredho 100+ Posts

    Okay, if the article is accurate in its portrayal of what happened, then I feel sympathy for the guy. If its not and he knew she was 12, there was no consent, etc... etc... then he should rightly be behind bars for more than a parole violation.

    Neither you or I have any information beyond what we've read on the internet or in a paper, whatever. The only people that really have the information to make such a judgment is the jury. And unless they are completely misquoted in this article, they seem to have a different opinion than you as to the original set of events.
     

Share This Page