A legal victory in court could lead to one defender’s return to the Central Michigan football team.
Facing trial on four misdemeanor counts, Malik Fountain (pictured, No. 31) was found not guilty on all four counts by an Isabella County (Mich.) jury that took less than an hour to come to their decision. “In a move never seen before by defense attorney Joseph Barberi, jurors in the Malik Fountain trial filed out of the Isabella County Courthouse Thursday morning and hugged Fountain, his mother, father, sister and brother,” the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun wrote.
Fountain was arrested in April of this year and charged with two counts of assault, one count of aggravated assault and one count of jostling in connection to a December incident.
In the incident, Fountain was accused of hitting two women, one of whom claimed she needed surgery on her nose after being struck. One witness claimed another man threw a drink on Fountain and another individual and a fight broke out between the groups.
Fountain denied hitting any women during the imbroglio, and could’ve taken a plea deal on only the jostling charge but wanted to clear his name entirely by taking it to trial.
Based on the university’s student handbook, Fountain, indefinitely suspended since his arrest, would be eligible to return to the team immediately. However, that’s a decision that will be made after the player and his head coach, John Bonamego, discuss what to do moving forward.
After redshirting as a true freshman, Fountain played in all 13 games last season. His 67 tackles were third on the Chips, while his 4.5 tackles for loss were tied for second.