Narbonne football star makes deal in sex case
Alleged victims in Oregon wanted the recent high school graduate to keep his scholarship, prosecutor says. Culbert avoids felony trial but draws 25 days in jail and five years of probation.
By Bob Holtzman
Daily Breeze
A star football player and recent graduate of Narbonne High School pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal trespassing and harassment Wednesday in an Oregon courtroom to avoid standing trial on felony sex abuse.
Major Culbert, 18, will serve 25 days in jail and five years of probation. The jail time must take place within the next 12 months.
Culbert pleaded not guilty in May to felony charges of first-degree sexual abuse and burglary. If convicted on those charges, he would have faced six years and three months in prison because of Oregon's mandatory minimum sentencing laws for sexual abuse cases.
Culbert, the 2005 Daily Breeze Player of the Year, was a highly recruited football player out of his Harbor City high school and signed with the University of Nebraska.
"Sometimes, on charges of this magnitude, you don't throw the dice (and go to court)," said Culbert's defense attorney, Elizabeth Baker, who added that the prosecution would not budge from its offer.
"I hate the way it went," Culbert said. "It's not right. I didn't do anything. It has been real frustrating. I have had to think about it 24/7, just all the time. It was so stressful, I'm surprised I graduated, to tell you the truth."
Prosecutors alleged that during a football recruiting trip to the University of Oregon in Eugene, Culbert and Compton resident Marvin Johnson, 18, touched two female freshmen students in "a forcible, sexual manner," the morning of Jan. 14.
Culbert was accused of pinning an unnamed female against the wall and rubbing her crotch while she asked him to stop. Johnson, who signed with Oregon out of Dominguez High, pleaded to the same misdemeanor charges on June 12. Oregon has already said that Johnson will retain his scholarship.
Nebraska suspended Culbert's scholarship after he was arrested in May. Nebraska press officer Keith Mann said the school has no timetable set and that once coach Bill Callahan has received all of the pertinent information, he would review it before making a decision.
"The victims wanted this to happen," Lane County prosecutor Bob Gorham said of the plea bargain. "They wanted these guys to have a chance to retain their scholarships and, hopefully one day, graduate from college, which also means play football."
Baker said she would be willing to have Culbert take a polygraph test and talk on his behalf to officials at Nebraska so he could retain his scholarship.
"I was supposed to (go) to Nebraska (on Wednesday), not go to Oregon," Culbert said. "I took the plea ... and, hopefully, I'll be at Nebraska in a couple of days."
Culbert did not receive the plea offer until Wednesday, the same day he met with Baker, his Oregon attorney. Gorham said the prosecution and victims wanted to see Culbert and Johnson receive a second chance and felt the terms were "equitable."
Baker disagreed.
"I wish I had more time to work on this matter," said Baker, whose previous knowledge of the case was based on newspaper reports. "This is one of those cases where the benefits of the bargain are more important than going to trial to prove a point."