BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana judge has ordered former Miami Dolphins running back Cecil Collins held without bond until a probation hearing July 1.
District Judge Mike Caldwell will decide whether Collins violated probation on Louisiana charges by committing a burglary in Florida in December 1999, The Advocate reported.
Collins was released from a Florida prison May 1 after serving more than 13 years of a 15-year sentence for sneaking into a neighbor's apartment.
In April 1999, he had pleaded guilty to forcing his way into two women's apartments in July 1998. Collins, who was accused of fondling the women, could get up to five years in prison if Caldwell revokes probation on those two felony charges of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and two misdemeanor counts of simple battery.
After Collins pleaded guilty, Caldwell gave him a suspended five-year sentence and put him on probation for four years.
Defense attorney Rodney Baum asked Caldwell to postpone Collins' probation revocation hearing until July 1 so he could research legal issues and possible mitigation evidence. The judge agreed, but rejected Baum's request for bond, citing Collins' prior run-ins with the law.
Collins has made every court date since his release, Baum said.
Collins, 36, played for LSU and McNeese State.
He was academically ineligible for his freshman season at LSU in 1996 and was suspended for the first game of his sophomore season in 1997 but got national acclaim for a three-game stretch that year in which he rushed for 596 yards and three touchdowns.
A broken fibula ended that season Oct. 4. Collins returned for spring practice but again was injured in the spring game.
After his arrest in Baton Rouge, Collins was cut by LSU and then by McNeese, where he failed a surprise drug test in the fall of 1998, testing positive for marijuana. Because that violated the terms for his bond, he served 28 days in jail before being released to a half-way house.
Despite his legal issues at LSU and McNeese, the Miami Dolphins selected Collins in the fifth round of the 1999 National Football League Draft. He rushed for 414 yards and two touchdowns in eight games before breaking his left leg in November. The Dolphins waived him in February 2000.
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