Gator wide receiver Chris Rainey will not face prosecution on a stalking charge if he stays out of trouble with the law for six months, performs 10 hours of community service and undergoes an anger-management evaluation and possible counseling, under an agreement reached today with State Attorney Bill Cervone.
But head football coach Urban Meyer said earlier today that Rainey would not play in Saturday's game against the University of Alabama.
"Chris Rainey is still not a part of this team," Meyer said. "He's definitely out this week."
Rainey was arrested Sept. 14 for sending a text message that said "Time to Die (expletive)" to a women he had dated. He was suspended from the team following the arrest.
While Rainey had faced a third-degree felony charge of aggravated stalking, Cervone said in a written statement that he dropped the charge to a misdemeanor to better reflect the facts of the case. The victim said "she was more annoyed than threatened" and did not want prosecution, Cervone said.
"I am not going to consider any request that the case be dropped in its entirety, however, because I am concerned when young people act in this way and believe that we should intervene at least to the point of forcing a cooling off period and some professional counseling on anger management and related coping skills," he said.
The victim in the case also released a statement, which said she had known Rainey for three years and he had not displayed violent or threatening behavior in that time.
"His actions that night were out of character for reasons unknown to us, which is why we stood up in court on his behalf," the victim said.
