Clarett Wants A Pardon?

NBC 4: Former Ohio State football star Maurice Clarett is asking for a pardon from Gov. Ted Strickland. Clarett was sentenced in September 2006 to serve at least 3 1/2 years for a holdup outside a Columbus bar and a separate highway chase that ended with police finding loaded guns in his SUV.

Clarett has asked the Ohio Parole Board and Strickland for executive clemency in the form of a pardon, reprieve or commutation of his sentence. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien says Clarett hasn’t made a strong case that he should be released so early in his prison term. “If I was a defense council in such a case, I would talk to the prosecutor before I filed the written application. The written application was signed and notarized by Mr. Clarett April 10 and so, if I wanted to know the prosecutor’s opinion, I would seek that before I filed,“ O’Brien said.

His attorney says Clarett has an opportunity to play NFL, arena or Canadian professional football if he’s released within the next few months. According to Percy Squire, Clarett’s attorney, the request isn’t a ‘sealed deal.’ Squire said that while Clarett has filled out the paperwork, he hasn’t decided whether to actively pursue a pardon.

Clarett’s attorney said he is going to take a few days before he decided whether to continue with the clemency request. He will be eligible for parole next March.

As a tailback, Clarett led the Buckeyes to an undefeated season and a National Championship win in 2002, but he never played another game for OSU. Clarett was suspended for the 2003 athletic year after he was charged with filing a false police report claiming that more than $10,000 in clothing, CDs, cash and stereo equipment were stolen from a car he borrowed from a local dealership.

Clarett unsuccessfully challenged the NFL’s rule that a player must be out of high school for three years to be eligible for the entry draft. He was drafted in 2005, but the Denver Broncos but released in August.

On Jan. 1, 2006, Clarett was charged with aggravated robbery after police said he flashed a gun at people outside a bar and robbed them of a cell phone. Then, on Aug. 9, 2006, Clarett was arrested in Columbus after he made an illegal u-turn and led police on a chase. After the chase ended, police discovered a loaded AK-47, two handguns and an open bottle of vodka.