Charlotte Hornets restricted free agent Miles Bridges could possibly find himself back in the NBA after he pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence charges on Thursday, according to ESPN.
As a result, he was only sentenced to three years probation and will spend no time in jail as a part of a deal he made with prosecuting attorneys.
In response to the legal outcome, the Charlotte Hornets released a statement on Thursday saying, “We are aware of today’s developments regarding Miles Bridges’ legal situation. We will continue to gather information before determining any potential next steps. Until then, we will have no additional comments.”
More from ESPN:
The no-contest plea means Bridges, who was present in court, is accepting the punishment and the conviction without formally admitting guilt in the case. Bridges was accused of assaulting his then-girlfriend in front of their two children in May. In July, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon’s office filed three felony charges against Bridges, who initially pleaded not guilty to all three.
On Thursday, Bridges’ attorney and the DA’s office reached an agreement that he plead no contest to one felony count of injuring a child’s parent and that the other two counts be dismissed. The felony charges also included “an allegation of causing great bodily injury on the domestic violence victim,” and that allegation was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
The two dismissed counts were charges of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death. The DA’s July release said the children were present for the alleged assault but did not otherwise specify what the child abuse counts stemmed from.
During his probation, Bridges has to complete 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling, 52 weeks of parenting classes, serve 100 hours of community service and undergo weekly narcotics testing, according to ESPN.
Shortly after Bridges was arrested for felony domestic violence against his girlfriend, she shared disturbing photos on social media of the injuries she sustained from the alleged incident. At the time, she claimed that she sustained a fractured nose, wrist and torn eardrum, among other things.
Along with the pictures of her injuries, Johnson also shared photos of what appeared to be medical forms from the emergency room. She also shared a video where she was on Facetime with their son and he recounted the alleged incident with his parents.
Jay Connor wrote for The Root that in a perfect world the Charlotte Hornets forward should never be able to touch an NBA court again. But, this isn’t a perfect world we live in. We live in a world where if a professional athlete is talented and gives teams a chance to win, they will look past the heinous troubles of their past and allow them to play.
But, we still don’t know if that’s going to be the case for Bridges.