Judge Rules, Wade Will Not Have To Testify.

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Judge rules LSU coach Will Wade will not have to testify in trial

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By Amie Just, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

LSU basketball coach Will Wade will not have to testify at the upcoming FBI trial, according to a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos.

According to Pete Brush of Law360, Ramos “reserved the right to change his mind,” but said that the question of whether Arizona’s Sean Miller paid his players is “irrelevant” to bribery charges against former hoops consultants Christian Dawkins and Merl Code. The same logic applies to Wade.

The trial is set to begin April 22.

Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge to bar Wade — along with Miller — from testifying back on April 6.

According to ESPN, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman filed the motion, asking Judge Ramos to not allow the defendants from “offering evidence that they had relationships with other coaches who they did not bribe” and “from putting the NCAA and the NCAA’s rules on amateurism on trial.”

Federal prosecutors also argued that the defendants’ plan to receive testimony from Miller and Wade that Dawkins didn’t bribe them, even though they might have the most influence over their players, is irrelevant.

“These statements, along with the defense counsel’s proffer that they intend to elicit testimony from the subpoenaed coaches about their involvement in NCAA rule-breaking by paying student-athletes suggests that the defense may resort in this trial to arguments that pose a risk of attempting to garner the sympathy of the jury, and, therefore, would be categorically inappropriate,” the government’s motion said, according to the report.

“The defendants are on trial for serious federal crimes, and the defendants should not be able to use this trial as a referendum on the merits of the NCAA’s rules or the state of college basketball, in an impermissible effort to garner sympathy with the jury.”

“Defendant Dawkins has proffered that he intends to call both coaches to testify about how much influence, as a head coach, they have over their student-athletes and how Dawkins did not bribe them. To the extent that the defendants, as Dawkins’s counsel suggested, seeks to introduce evidence that they dealt with men’s basketball coaches who they did not bribe, such evidence would constitute impermissible ‘good acts’ evidence and should be precluded.”

Steven Haney, an attorney for aspiring agent Christian Dawkins, one of two remaining defendants in the pending federal criminal case, reportedly subpoenaed Wade and Miller in late February.

Dawkins and former Adidas consultant Merl Code have been charged with bribing three former assistant coaches — Arizona’s Book Richardson, Oklahoma State’s Lamont Evans and USC’s Tony Bland — to influence their players to sign with Dawkins’ agency once they turned pro.