Arizona State linebacker Davon Durant, who was arrested in March and charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct, pleaded guilty Thursday to a single count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Maricopa County Superior Court officials say that other charges against Durant will be dismissed when he is sentenced. The other charges include aggravated assault.
Durant is suspended indefinitely from the football team and is expected to remain so until after the legal proceedings are complete, after which his status with the team is unclear. He was removed from the roster immediately after the March 7 arrest, when police were phoned by a witness who reported observing a male hit a female while they were seated in a black SUV.
When police arrived, Durant's girlfriend told officers he hit her once in the face and grabbed her around the neck, which affected her ability to breathe, according to the arrest report from the Tempe Police Department. At the scene, police identified a "small contusion and red mark beneath her left eye and several abrasions and bruising around her neck consistent with finger marks from being grabbed around the neck." She refused medical treatment.
The woman, also an ASU student, later recanted her story, both to police and to ESPN. However, in an email, Tempe public information officer Michael Pooley said there were multiple witnesses who saw the incident.
Durant has yet to suit up for the Sun Devils. He signed with the team out of Butler (Kansas) Community College on Dec. 23, and was ESPN.com's top-ranked junior college outside linebacker in the country.
