Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, August 27, 1999
Dolphins receiver acquitted in drug case
The Associated Press
MIAMI — Miami Dolphins receiver Tony Martin was acquitted yesterday of money laundering and conspiracy charges stemming from his longtime friendship with a drug dealer.
Jurors deliberated for almost 17 hours before finding the Pro Bowl receiver not guilty of four federal counts of laundering drug money on behalf of Rickey Brownlee and one count of conspiracy to hide drug proceeds.
"It was all or nothing, and my whole career was flashing before me as I sat there." Martin said outside the courthouse following the verdict. "This is a lot of weight off my shoulders, and I'm just looking forward to playing Saturday and having a good game."
If convicted, Martin could have faced three to five years in prison.
Brownlee was found guilty on all of the money laundering charges and convicted of possessing heroin or cocaine with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess and distribute.
The verdict leaves Martin free to play this season with the Dolbhins.
The team signed him to a four-year, $14.2 million contract in April after he was cut by the Atlanta Falcons. But Martin collected only $150,000 of a $3.3 million signing bonus, with the remainder pending the trial's outcome.
Coach Jimmy Johnson and several players sat through opening arguments to show their support for Martin, and quarterback Dan Marino took the stand as a character witness.
Prosecutors alleged that Martin leased three cars in his name on behalf of Brownlee, who paid him back with cash. Martin also was accused of taking $100,000.
in cash to reimburse a check written to Brownlee's first lawyer.
The government presented financial statements showing Martin, a nine-year
NFL veteran, each time deposited as much as $30,000 in cash into his account within days of leasing one of the cars. Documents also showed he never handled a large amount of cash until Brownlee was freed in 1993.
Jurors also heard Martin's voice on taped excerpts from jailhouse phone calls, discussing their efforts to retain a lawyer after Brownlee was arrested in January 1998.
"I ain't got no money in my account." Martin told Brownlee during one call.
"Man, you got to have that money somewhere," Brownlee replied.
Defense lawyers painted a scenario in which Martin, who has known Brownlee since childhood and calls him his uncle, simply was trying to help a friend who provided love and support when the receiver was growing up in Miami's inner city.
Brownlee's attorneys argued that their client made his money from the restaurant business, not drugs, and that any cash given to Martin was legally acquired.
"From day one, Tony Martin disclosed that Rickey Brownlee might be sharing this car," Srebnick said in his closing argument. "Is there anything wrong with that? The IRS can't tell him he can't lease a vehicle for an uncle who he loves."
Disputing IRS report allegations that Brownlee had acquired some $1.3 million in unexplained wealth, Brownlee's lawyers produced two ledgers showing two restaurants Brownlee operated had generated some $1.6 million in revenue in 21/2 years.
Nebraska quarterback may do double-duty on field
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska quarterback Bobby Newcombe said he took plenty of hits as an option quarterback. So what's the big deal about returning punts?
Newcombe said Wednesday that he was perfectly willing to field punts — a position that leaves the return man wide open for a nasty collision — for the No. 6 Cornhuskers this fall.
"That's a lot of fun," Newcombe said after Wednesday's practice, when he cleanly fielded all three punts that came his way.
Newcombe, battling Eric Crouch for the starting quarterback job.
said he wasn't worried about the knee injury that kept him out of seven of the Cornhuskers' 13 games last year. He is also apparently not worried about coverage players who get 40 yards to build up steam and level the return man just after he catches a punt.
Newcombe wouldn't be the first quarterback to do double-duty as a punt returner. Kansas' John Hadl did it in the 1960s, but it is an unlikely combination.
"There's always a risk involved," he said. "But there's a bigger risk playing quarterback than punt returner. Standing back in the pocket or throwing the ball on an
Newcombe did return punts two years ago when the Cornhuskers, who had Scott Frost starting at quarterback, were desperate to get the speedy freshman into the game. His 244 yards on 12 punt returns (20.3 yards per return) led the team as it went on to an undefeated season and a share of the national championship.
option play, you get hit every play.
But standing back on a punt
return, you're either giving a shot
or running with the ball."
Last season, Newcombe replaced Frost as the Cornhuskers' starting quarterback but tore a ligament in his knee and played in just six
games, sitting out the Cornhuskers' loss to Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. He said he was 100 percent and just wanted to be playing again.
Nebrasa coach Frank Solich said that he wouldn't rule out letting Newcombe return punts again but that he was stopping short of naming the 6-foot junior as his top returner.
"There's a lot of things to consider before we go forward with that kind of decision," Solich told reporters after practice
the frontrunner when Nebraska started practicing, but added Wednesday that no decision had been made. He expects to announce the starter early next week.
One is whether Newcombe or Crouch will be the Cornhuskers' starting quarterback when they open the season next Saturday at Iowa. Solich said Newcombe was
"I'd consider it," Solich said. "If he did return maybe two or some punts, I don't think you're putting him at that much risk."
Newcombe said defensive backs coach George Darlington had always joked — half seriously — about getting Newcombe returning punts again. Newcombe said he liked the idea and cleared it with Solich. But he wanted to make clear that he didn't want to be a defensive back.
New UNLV football coach confident about future season
The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — This time of year, John Robinson's thoughts usually turn to packed stadiums, great rivalries and the Rose Bowl.
But this year he's worrying about more mundane matters, such as whether there will be grass on the field when his UNLV football team plays its home opener.
"You know, they roll that grass out now in big 10-foot rolls, so I think it will be there and ready to play on," Robinson said. "If not, we'll be ready to play anyway."
It's not always easy starting again. But Robinson had an idea what he was in for when he signed to take over a team that hasn't won in its last 16 games.
Robinson has confidence the sod — part of
a stadium remodeling job — will be installed by the team's Sept. 18 home opener against Iowa State. He is almost as confident that he can turn UNLV's struggling football program around in the next few years.
He's been around football too long, though,
to promise it will be
to promise it will be right away
"We may not have a successful season," Robinson said. "But eventually, we will."
last coaching job of Robinson's career may also be his most ambitious — remaking a Rebel football team that has languished for years in the
shadow of the school's basketball program.
He's getting major college money to do it — $350,000 a year for three years — but getting ready to open on the road Sept. 2 against North Texas isn't exactly like grooming USC to play Notre Dame.
"Sure, you'd love to play before 100,000 people in big games all the time, but that isn't the biggest deal," the 64-year-old Robinson said this week between final two-a-day practices. "I don't care about the surroundings as much as I care about being in the action." Getting back into the action was Robinson's big hope after being fired by USC after the 1977 season.
"In the western part of the United States, there's not a soul who doesn't know about John Robinson and the success he had," UNLV athletic director Charles Cavagnaro said. "It was, as far as I was concerned, a no-brainer."
Robinson faces no such problem at UNLV, where he was courted by school officials who thought a big-name coach might be just what the school needed to turn around a program that drew only a few thousand fans to home games last season.
Four Rose Bowl wins and a career record of 104-35-4 with USC and the Los Angeles Rams wasn't enough after the Trojans went
Robinson, who won the national championship at USC in 1978 and coached the Rams to two NFC championship games, said the more he looked at the UNLV job, the more he liked it.
San Antonio star Elliott goes home
SAN ANTONIO — Spurs forward Sean Elliott is out of the hospital and back home after a kidney transplant.
The Associated Press
The 31-year-old player now embarks on several weeks of recuperation before he'll know whether it is feasible to return to the NBA.
Elliott, a 10-year veteran who helped lead San Antonio to its
"Go Sean! Go!" onlookers cheered. Elliott signed autographs for hospital workers as he was discharged. On Tuesday, he provided a catered lunch for nurses involved in his operation.
first NBA championship in June, smiled and waved to a few fans as he left Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital on Wednesday.
He said that he was happy to be going home.
Noel Elliott, discharged Aug. 20, pushed his brother out of the hospital in a wheelchair on Wednesday.
Sean Elliott needed the transplant because of a condition known as focal segmental glomerular sclerosis. The illness prevents the kidneys from properly filtering waste from the blood.
Elliott had the transplant on Aug. 16, receiving a kidney donated by his 32-year-old brother, Noel, a sales associate in Arizona.
Without the transplant, Elliott was weeks away from having to undergo kidnev dialysis.
Another brief surgery was performed Saturday to make sure Elliott's new kidney was properly connected and working.
Elliott said he wanted to play again for the Spurs, although such a feat after a kidney transplant was believed to be unprecedented in major sports.
Francis Wright, his transplant surgeon, has not ruled out a comeback. Doctors said it could be two to three months before they knew whether a return was realistic.
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