Former Pitt football player found guilty of simple assault

A former Pitt football player was found guilty of simple assault Monday, one year after his… A former Pitt football player was found guilty of simple assault Monday, one year after his arrest.

Judge Donna Jo McDaniel sentenced Jeffrey Knox, 19, to two years of probation in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas after a Sept. 23, 2010, arrest.

He was found not guilty of three other charges: a second account of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct.

Knox’s lawyer Phillip DiLucente said the result was favorable because “it could have been a lot worse than what was charged.”

The Pitt News reported at the time of Knox’s arrest that police were called to Chatham University’s Fickles Hall with complaints of a man choking a woman. According to the complaint filed in Pittsburgh Municipal Court, Knox assaulted the woman after she told him she was pregnant.

Mike Manko, spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said McDaniel ordered that Knox have no contact with the woman involved in the assault case.

Former football head coach Dave Wannstedt dismissed Knox from the football team following his arrest.

DiLucente said that Knox currently plays football at California University of Pennsylvania, where the roster lists him as a defensive back. A representative from the Office of the University Registrar confirmed that Knox is no longer registered as a student at Pitt.

“I am hopeful that this will not in any way affect his NFL prospects,” DiLucente said.

EJ Borghetti, a spokesman for Pitt’s Athletic Department, declined to comment on the sentencing.