Homicide charge against former Indiana RB Camion Patrick dismissed
The criminal homicide charge against former Indiana football player Camion Patrick was dismissed earlier this week.
Patrick, along with his brother, Isaiah Wright, and two other men, were charged in connection with a July murder in their home state of Tennessee. The charge against Patrick, who played two seasons at Indiana before being granted an injury hardship waiver (ending his football career, but allowing him to stay in school on scholarship) in July, was dismissed Tuesday evening after a preliminary hearing because probable cause was not found.
However, the charges against the other three, including Wright, who was featured on Netflix series “Last Chance U” alongside Patrick, will proceed.
From The (Blount County, Tenn.) Daily Times:
At the conclusion of the hearing, Patrick’s attorney, D. Chris Poulopoulos, said prosecutors didn’t come close to establishing probable cause Patrick had anything to do with the slaying, or any knowledge thereof.
“It’s astounding to me, your honor, the lack of evidence the state has against my client,” Poulopoulos said. “They’ve not put on anything that would even come close to probably cause against my client.”
Blount County Assistant District Attorney General Clinton Frazier said the case against Patrick was more circumstantial than the others, but Patrick’s inconsistent statements showed he knew more than he told law enforcement.
In the end, Brewer agreed with Poulopoulos, stating prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof. He dismissed the criminal homicide case against Patrick. Brewer said there was enough probable cause, however, to send the pending criminal homicide charges against Wright, Green and Hopewell to a grand jury.
Patrick verbally committed to Tennessee out of high school but academic issues resulted in him enrolling at East Mississippi Community College in 2013. He redshirted his first season at EMCC before helping the program win the junior college national championship in 2014. After the 2014 season, Patrick accepted a scholarship to Indiana, where he played two injury-plagued seasons as a running back and wide receiver.
Per the Daily Times, Patrick was “summarily suspended” from IU after his arrest. Patrick’s attorney told the Indianapolis Star that Patrick would like to return to Indiana to finish his degree.
Shepherd said Patrick is currently declining interviews, and that his primary focus is on putting the entire episode in the past. If possible, Shepherd said Patrick would like to return to Indiana to finish his degree. Shepherd said Patrick has just one semester of classes left to complete.
“He really, truly seems to be just an upstanding young man,” Shepherd said. “I’m hopeful that he really can finish his education.”
IU wouldn’t comment on Patrick’s suspension specifically because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), but said “all cases dealing with a student suspension are dealt with individually.”
Wright, Patrick’s younger brother, also began his college career at EMCC and was featured on “Last Chance U,” which documented the school’s football program. In Season 2, Wright and Patrick spoke about their challenging upbringing as Wright tried to secure a scholarship. Wright had interest from several FBS programs, but ended up signing with West Georgia, a Division II program.
Wright reportedly left the West Georgia team before the 2017 season.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
