If a once-touted wide receiver is to restart his flailing college football playing career, he’ll have a to wait a while to do so.
In mid-July, Joseph Lewis was arrested on one count of felony domestic battery with injury. Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported, the former USC wide receiver pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence.
Lewis was sentenced by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to one year in jail. Additionally, Lewis will have to serve five years probation as well as attend 52 domestic violence prevention classes.
Lewis’ July arrest came less than two weeks after he had finished serving a 21-day jail sentence for a previous domestic violence arrest.
In late February of this year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue a felony charge against Lewis after he was arrested on one count of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant. At the time, though, it was reported that the case had been referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, which would decide whether misdemeanor charges would arise from the arrest.
Not long after, the city attorney’s office filed five misdemeanor counts against Lewis. The charges stemmed from two separate incidents in February, and included three counts of domestic battery with an injury, false imprisonment and domestic battery without an injury.
In the wake of the arrest, Lewis was suspended from the football team and his name removed from the roster. While a USC spokesman stated after Lewis’ release from his first stint in jail that his status with the team hadn’t changed and remained off the roster, the player had previously said that he was hopeful he’d be permitted to rejoin the team before the start of the 2018 season.
A five-star member of the Trojans’ 2017 recruiting class, Lewis was rated as the No. 4 receiver in the country; the No. 6 player at any position in the state of California; and the No. 31 player overall on 247Sports.com‘s composite board. The only player rated higher in USC’s class that year was running back Stephen Carr.
As a true freshman last season, Lewis caught four passes for 39 yards. He had been expected to play a bigger role in the Trojans’ passing game this season