03/06/26 08:34:00
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03/06 20:33 CST Fired Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore reaches plea deal
to resolve home invasion case
Fired Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore reaches plea deal to resolve home
invasion case
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) --- Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore pleaded
no contest to two misdemeanors Friday in a deal to resolve a felony criminal
case that arose immediately after he was fired for having an inappropriate
relationship with his executive assistant.
The deal was struck on the same day a judge planned to hear a challenge to
Moore's arrest in December on three charges, including felony home invasion.
Those charges were dropped in exchange for Moore pleading no contest to
trespassing and malicious use of a telecom device in a relationship.
"Things have changed," Judge J. Cedric Simpson said.
Moore had confronted the woman with whom he had been having an affair and
blamed her for his dismissal, even threatening to kill himself with butter
knives in her apartment, authorities said.
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EDITOR'S NOTE --- This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone
you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is
available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at
988lifeline.org
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Assistant prosecutor Kati Rezmierski told the judge that the case changed
"based on additional evidence and investigation as well as consultation" with
the woman through her lawyer.
"What we do believe the evidence supports is criminal misbehavior in the
context of an intimate partner relationship," Rezmierski said.
Outside the courtroom, Moore's attorney said the three initial charges, which
included stalking, were not supported by facts or law.
"The dismissal of those charges validates the concerns we raised about the
investigation from the very beginning. Mr. Moore is pleased to put this behind
him and move forward," Ellen Michaels said as Moore and wife Kelli stood nearby.
Moore declined to comment on the outcome as they left together.
"Appreciate it," he said.
Rezmierski also declined to comment. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14. One
of the charges carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail, though Michaels
predicted there would no additional time in custody beyond Moore's two nights
in jail following his arrest.
"This is not the kind of case that somebody is punished by jail," she said.
Michaels said she advised Moore to plead no contest to help him move on with
his family and avoid a trial.
"He has had the opportunity to be with his daughters, to be with his wife, to
be home for the holidays, to take his kids to swim lessons," she said. "As
somebody who's come up the coaching tree and became a head coach at a young
age, that is something that he has missed out on.
"I can tell you that losing his job and being at home, he has embraced it as an
opportunity to reconnect to his family, to spend time with his kids and to
become the man he wants to be," Michaels said.
Moore, 40, was fired on Dec. 10 after two seasons as the successor to Jim
Harbaugh, who won a national championship before leaving to lead the NFL's Los
Angeles Chargers.
In dismissing Moore, the university cited an inappropriate relationship with a
staff member. Rezmierski has said the woman ended the affair a few days before
Moore's firing and spoke to the school.
University of Michigan spokesman Paul Corliss said the school had no comment on
Moore's no-contest plea.
At a hearing in February, Moore's attorney said investigators left out key
details when they obtained an arrest warrant for him. Michaels noted, for
example, that a magistrate wasn't told that Moore and the woman had a
professional relationship.
Michaels said repeated text messages and phone calls had a legitimate purpose
as the football team prepared for a bowl game and were not evidence of
harassment. Police said Moore's assistant did not answer a dozen calls or
respond to some messages from him before his dismissal.
In a statement Friday night, attorneys for Moore's assistant called on the
university to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into Moore's actions and any
related "institutional failures."
"Today's plea by Sheronne Moore confirms the seriousness of that criminal
misconduct. But this case is about far more than one terrifying incident,"
attorneys Andrew M. Stroth and Steven A. Hart said. "It raises urgent and
troubling questions about how a powerful figure within a major university
athletic program was able to engage in years of inappropriate conduct toward a
subordinate without meaningful intervention or oversight."
Moore signed a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $5.5 million
last year. According to the terms of his deal, the university did not have to
buy out the remaining years of his contract because he was fired for cause.
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Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
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