Thursday, October 02, 2008

Miles Will Appeal

Nate Miles, the talented, 20-year-old UConn freshman basketball player with the checkered past, was expelled from the university on Thursday. However, the story may be far from over.

Sean Patterson, Miles' former legal guardian, vows to appeal the decision made by a UConn administrative board.

"I'm going to fight this thing, tooth and nail," Patterson said. "We fought too hard to get him here. And I won't stop at an appeal. The last I heard, this is the United States. If they want to do this, I'll take every option for them to show me what he's guilty of."

According to the UConn student handbook, Miles has five days to appeal the decision.

Miles was arrested last week for violating a restraining order taken out against him by a 19-year-old female UConn student, who said in an affidavit that Miles had pressured her for sex and had become physical with her a few times.

Miles was served with a restraining order at about 8 p.m. on Sept. 22. About 15 minutes later, he called the woman, in violation of the order. He was arrested and later released on $2,500 surety bond.

Both Miles and the woman, a junior, met before a UConn administrative board on Thursday morning. It's not clear whether or not they were ever in the same room together.

Miles faced the board along with his attorney, Rob Britt. Patterson lives in Texas and was not at the hearing.

"From what I understand, the girl said she didn't want anybody in trouble, she just wanted him to say 'I'm sorry,'" Patterson said. "She admitted everything was consensual."

Patterson believes that the board may have been swayed by a couple of recent high-profile sexual assault situations on campus.

"I still don't know what he's guilty of, other than making a phone call," Patterson continued. "There's nothing that's been found, no charges have been filed. They had an argument. It's a he said, she said thing. In the end, Nate didn't lie. They basically told the same story."

"They're singing off the same song sheet."

Patterson said Miles is on his way back to his Toledo home with his mother, who came to Storrs to support him but wasn't allowed in the room with him.

"He still doesn't understand it," Patterson reported. "We don't understand. In my mind, it's as if they had their minds made up when he walked in because of all the recent things, and Nate just proved to be example. I could live with 'he was found guilty of this, he did this.'"

Patterson noted that he has two daughters, and is by no means blindly supporting Miles.

"If he did it, I'd say 'pack your bags, Nate, you screwed up.' But he didn't do it. All she wanted was an apology."

Patterson continued: "I wouldn't want this upon anybody's son or daughter, either way. Both of the kids got involved with a big political situation, much bigger than they thought it was going to be. The results are, one man's life is affected forever.

"He's crushed right now. Someone's got to stand up for him. It was a couple of great months, he made some great bonds, he had the opportunity to play for, in my opinion, one of the greatest coaches in college basketball. And it got taken away because he made a dumb decision."

Read much more in tomorrow's New Haven Register

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