Solich's DUI

[NU fan in Denver]

Journal Star

 

A rumor for the past few months, Frank Solich’s contention he was drugged on the night of his arrest for drunken driving has become an official legal matter.

 

Solich’s attorney said Friday he has filed a request asking the Athens, Ohio, Municipal Court to examine a drug test and consider overturning the Ohio University football coach’s Nov. 28 conviction. A police report from Solich’s Nov. 26 arrest indicates he was slumped over the wheel of his vehicle, which was still in drive facing the wrong way on a one-way street.

 

The coach’s attorney, Sam Shamansky, said Solich’s original plea of no contest was given “without complete understanding of the facts of the case.”

 

A test performed in January on a hair sample from the former Nebraska head coach showed positive for GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), also known as the date rape drug. Shamansky said Solich was unaware of ingesting GHB, which is commonly mixed with alcohol and in low doses is known to cause drowsiness and dizziness.

 

Did someone slip GHB into one of Solich’s drinks the night of Nov. 26 at Casa Cantina in Athens?

 

Reached Friday, the coach referred all questions to Shamansky.

 

“I presume it could happen anywhere where malicious people spike drinks,” the attorney said. “It’s sad, but people do it. And for what gain?”

 

Ohio law says a defendant who seeks to withdraw a guilty or no contest plea after a sentence has been served must show the withdrawal is necessary “to correct a manifest injustice,” according to Athens city prosecutor Lisa Eliason. The court now will decide to either overrule Shamansky’s motion or allow a hearing before a judge to consider the merits of the case.

 

The Athens prosecutors office will contest Shamansky’s motion.

 

In 16 years of prosecuting DUI cases, Eliason said she’s never encountered a motion to withdraw a plea.

 

“It’s very rare,” she said.

 

Said Shamansky: “My hope is that the government (ultimately) sees fit to dismiss the case.”

 

Rumors that Solich had been drugged began circulating in Athens within weeks of his conviction. According to The Athens News, the rumors gained momentum when an e-mail attributed to Jon Dalton, Solich’s son-in-law, appeared on Internet bulletin boards and blogs. The author of the e-mail said he had been “cleared to share some information” about the incident.

 

The e-mail claimed an analysis of Solich’s hair taken after his arrest revealed “extremely elevated” levels of GHB. The e-mail also suggested that Ohio president Roderick McDavis did not support Solich and athletic director Kirby Hocutt going public with the information.

 

Solich earlier this week informed Ohio athletic department officials of the decision to file the motion.

 

School officials, including McDavis and Hocutt, declined comment Friday. The school instead released a prepared statement saying, in part, “We support Coach Solich’s right to bring this matter before the court for determination. It would not be appropriate for us to comment any further on the matter or on the facts or the arguments raised in the case while it is in litigation.”

 

A bartender at Casa Catina said nobody working there is commenting on the case.

 

Fired by Nebraska following the 2003 season, Solich was hired last year to turn around an Ohio program that had had just two winning seasons since 1982. The Bobcats went 4-7 in 2005.

[huskerdavo]

So public opinion on his case must be bad if he is fighting it!

 

And what is wrong with people trying to date-rape a coach...guys are weird in those parts of Ohio

[skersfan]

I recieved the email about this and surfed some of the Ohio boards. A lot of the comments there that most felt it was possible. It is a pretty wild party town according to some of the recent alum and has happened to some of their friends.

 

I take it with a grain of salt, but if it happened I think he deserves the right to clear his name.

[tattooedhusker]

but he still planned on drinking and driving...

[hack]

So public opinion on his case must be bad if he is fighting it!

 

And what is wrong with people trying to date-rape a coach...guys are weird in those parts of Ohio

maybe he was unintentionally drugged?

 

he walked into a bar, steals a drink from some pretty young co-ed whose order has been spiked with ruffies by some weasle looking to score some action.

 

makes sense. that might have happened.

 

i could have been the CIA too.

 

or the free masons under orders from the illuminati.

 

or one of them Kent State fanatics, cause you *know* how crazy those boys are, don't we? am i right or am i right?

 

or maybe frank should just take a step back and consider that *maybe* he should leave well enough alone and get back to coaching football.

 

but that would be just *CRAZY* talk, i tell you.

[Huskrz65]

[Foppa]

So public opinion on his case must be bad if he is fighting it!

 

And what is wrong with people trying to date-rape a coach...guys are weird in those parts of Ohio

maybe he was unintentionally drugged?

 

he walked into a bar, steals a drink from some pretty young co-ed whose order has been spiked with ruffies by some weasle looking to score some action.

 

makes sense. that might have happened.

 

i could have been the CIA too.

 

or the free masons under orders from the illuminati.

 

or one of them Kent State fanatics, cause you *know* how crazy those boys are, don't we? am i right or am i right?

 

or maybe frank should just take a step back and consider that *maybe* he should leave well enough alone and get back to coaching football.

 

but that would be just *CRAZY* talk, i tell you.

Thank you

 

I'm sure some hot 21-year-old coed saw Frank and just said to herself, Damn, he is SAH-MOKING!!! I better slip him something if I wanna get him back to my pad! All my friends will be SO jealous!

[tattooedhusker]

wasn't there a rumor going around that he was humping crouch's mom? if so, maybe it was her that drugged him.

[DJR313]

I recieved the email about this and surfed some of the Ohio boards. A lot of the comments there that most felt it was possible. It is a pretty wild party town according to some of the recent alum and has happened to some of their friends.

 

I take it with a grain of salt, but if it happened I think he deserves the right to clear his name.

That's odd, surfing some message boards where this story popped up, I found precisely the opposite response. Just everyone saying how bs that e-mail was that his son in law supposedly composed, and how inaccurate it was. Who knows, I think it's pathetic this far removed to challenge it. And now we cue Benard's re-entrance...

[Foppa]

I recieved the email about this and surfed some of the Ohio boards.  A lot of the comments there that most felt it was possible.  It is a pretty wild party town according to some of the recent alum and has happened to some of their friends.

 

I take it with a grain of salt, but if it happened I think he deserves the right to clear his name.

That's odd, surfing some message boards where this story popped up, I found precisely the opposite response. Just everyone saying how bs that e-mail was that his son in law supposedly composed, and how inaccurate it was. Who knows, I think it's pathetic this far removed to challenge it. And now we cue Benard's re-entrance...

oh crap...it's been such a va-ka!

[HuskersGJ]

What was his blood alcohol level?

 

I assume he had one high enough for an arrest and charges of drinking and driving.

just b/c someone is slumped over the wheel facing the wrong way on a one-way doesn't necessarily mean they're drunk. they could just be really lost and narceleptic (SP?!)

 

or would this date rape drug register on the BAL?

[DJR313]

What was his blood alcohol level?

 

I assume he had one high enough for an arrest and charges of drinking and driving.

just b/c someone is slumped over the wheel facing the wrong way on a one-way doesn't necessarily mean they're drunk. they could just be really lost and narceleptic (SP?!)

 

or would this date rape drug register on the BAL?

He refused a breath test, I believe. There were also plenty of witnesses that said he arrived at said bar visibly drunk and continued drinking. He may have had GHB in his system, but he was obviously drunk as well. There was another thread about this a month or so back.

 

http://www.huskerboard.com/forums/index.ph...?showtopic=8059

[DaveH]

There is a thread in More Sports about this, I wrote my take there. Lemme find it.

 

edit: crap, DJR already found it. Follow this link.

 

OK, I'll bite.

 

Hair analysis. You can use analysis of hair to determine drug use. However, from what I read this has to happen within a time frame, for obvious reasons. When were the tests taken after the incident? Documentation?

 

If Got Frank was drugged with GHB AND had been drinking heavily as many people at the bar have said, there is a very real posibility that he could have died.

 

From what I have just read (just go google "GHB alcohol" and read yourself), people who use alcohol and GHB will become very very sleepy, disoriented, silly, etc, etc. Often retiring to a very very deep sleep with dangerously shallow breaths.

 

Now, the officer found him passed out at the wheel but was able to wake him up. I would think it would be painfully obvious that he was on something other than just booze.

 

edit: I mean c'mon. GHB is date rape drug. The fact that the officer was able to wake him up is suprising. Again, if he was drugged

 

Got Frank refused any breathalyzer or blood alcohol tests and pleaded no contest AFAIK. If he was framed, the framed the right guy in as much as he went down like a sack of potatoes.

 

If he was really drugged and has hard evidence, he should use it. The site DJR posted says that the writer doubts it will be investigated further. That falls a bit to hard on the convenient side

 

I think Got Frank was indeed drunk and deserved the DUI. As far as drugging, well, there need to be way more answers before it can become anything but a conspiracy theory.

 

cliffs: Basically, there are a lot of questions surrounding this idea that his drink was spiked.

[skersfan]

I got the email about 6 months ago I think. I went to the bobcat forum and at that time some felt it possible.

 

Like I said I took it with a grain of salt.

 

I have no idea of his intoxication level or anything else about it. But if it is true he should have the right to try and fight it. I am not making any comment to as what is the truth one way or another. Just if it happened as stated he and anyone else should have the right to fight it if they truly feel that was the situation.

 

I never felt it was important enought to discuss it until it was brough up here.

 

Sorry I did not mean to Q Bernard.

 

Bernard ans Schestev on another board have been missing for quite awhile. Any ideas?

[huskerhaze]

Three Solich's walk into a bar... the 4th one ducks.