Thirteen of the 15 men who were arrested on charges of fighting, assault and disorderly conduct during the incident that occurred Friday, Aug. 22, in the ballroom of the UC pleaded guilty Wednesday during Weakley County General Sessions Court. Two others were granted pretrial diversions, requiring no plea.

Judge Tommy Moore began court on Wednesday by asking all men involved with the fights on the UTM campus to sit in the front of the courtroom.

After going through the regular court docket, Moore explained that some of the men would be offered either a pretrial diversion or a judicial diversion, provided that they had no prior criminal record. In order to proceed with a pretrial diversion, the defendant must have had a lawyer present during court. Levi Duncan and Michael Fogle, both UTM students, were granted pretrial diversions.

Moore said that with a pretrial diversion there would be no fees assessed and that there would be no finding of guilt. Frankie Doss, who was originally charged with assault and disorderly conduct initially, was charged only with assault. The charge of disorderly conduct was dismissed. Doss was accused of hitting Officer David Sliger three times in the back with a chair during the incident.

After calling UTM Office of Public Safety Director Rick Hatler to the bench, Moore said that it was the recommendation of the state and the officers that Doss be charged only with assault. When asked for comment on why he agreed to lessen the charge, Hatler informed The Pacer that he and officers only make the arrests. "It is up to the district attorney and the judge to make the decisions on punishment," Hatler said. Doss was ordered to serve nine days in jail, pay a fine of $25 and give 20 hours of community service at Big Cypress Tree State Park. He was also placed on supervised probation for 11 months and 29 days.

Eleven men were granted judicial diversion. Those individuals were Kelvin Williams, Steward Perry, Rico Olden, Kortnie Dockery, Darrell Davis, Travis Chambers, Therman Bodie, Robert Clay, Sherman Bodie and Arthaniel Bailey III. Moore said that with judicial diversion there is a finding of guilt. Each of the men given judicial diversion was charged a $25 fine and placed on supervised probation for 11 months and 29 days. The men who are not current UTM students were issued a restraint from campus and are required to do 20 hours of community service each at Big Cypress Tree State Park. Current students were also given 20 hours of community service each, to be completed at UTM.

Christopher Outlaw and Lemmie Griggs were not eligible for judicial or pretrial diversions because of previous records. Outlaw and Griggs were each ordered to serve two days in jail, fined $25 and placed on supervised probation for 11 months and 29 days. These men were given 20 hours of community service to be completed at UTM.

Of the 15 arrested, 11 are currently enrolled at UTM and three are former UTM students. UTM's Office of Student Affairs recently told The Pacer that their internal investigation is one that takes a lot of time. This week, Student Affairs told The Pacer that their investigation is not yet complete.

According to the police report, at 11:45 p.m. Aug. 22, UTM Public Safety Officer David Sliger, the responding officer, was walking through the UC when he noticed that a fight had taken place in the ballroom. When the responding officer attempted to break up the original fight, more fights erupted. Delta Sigma Theta sorority was hosting a party in the ballroom at that time. Public Safety's investigation to identify the participants in the fights showed that the primary combatants were members of the Phi Beta Sigma and the Omega Psi Phi fraternities and that members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority had been assaulted during the fights.

According to the police report, multiple fights broke out in the ballroom leading to the deployment of pepper spray on more than one occasion. Fifteen individuals were eventually arrested and originally faced charges ranging from disorderly conduct, assault and assault to an officer.