Criminal cases dismissed against ex-Fresno State QB Greenlee, ’Dogs player Hughes

A criminal case was dismissed Wednesday against former Fresno State quarterback Zack Greenlee and Bulldogs football player Brandon Hughes after they complied with their conditional pleas to party-related charges, their lawyer said.

Greenlee and Hughes did not attend the hearing in Fresno County Superior Court after waiving their right to be there. Fresno attorney Jeff Hammerschmidt said Judge James Oppliger allowed Greenlee and Hughes to withdraw no-contest pleas that they made in October.

Hammerschmidt then entered not guilty pleas on behalf of the pair. Prosecutors then moved to dismiss the case, Hammerschmidt said.

The dismissal was allowed, Hammerschmidt said, because the pair stayed out of trouble for six months and completed a six-hour life skills class in November.

Hammerschmidt, a former Fresno prosecutor, said the dismissal is common for “this type of case with this set of facts.”

Prosecutors “did not go hard or easy on them,” Hammerschmidt said.

In October, Greenlee pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of possession of alcohol while a minor after he was caught drinking a beer at a loud house party near the campus Sept. 20. Hughes, 21, was initially charged with obstructing a police officer, but was allowed to plead to a lesser crime of disturbing the peace, also a misdemeanor.

Greenlee, once considered the heir apparent to Derek Carr as Fresno State quarterback, this month transferred to UTEP. Hughes is a senior linebacker on the Fresno State team.

A third Fresno State athlete charged in the case, Fanny Johansson, a 23-year-old captain for the women’s soccer team, pleaded no contest on Nov. 20 to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Judge Jon Nick Kapetan ordered her to spend one day in jail with credit for time served.

The charges stem from an incident when police broke up the house party on North Bond Avenue.

Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said officers saw Greenlee drinking from a beer bottle. He later refused to hand over a beverage in a red cup. He also did not take a Breathalyzer test, police said.

Hughes, who was not drinking, was with Greenlee and refused to leave when ordered to do so by officers, Dyer said. Hughes was keeping officers from doing their job and had to be physically restrained, Dyer added.

Johansson also refused to leave the party and was “very verbally abusive” to officers, the police chief said. Her blood alcohol content was 0.136; the legal driving limit is 0.08.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 10:37 AM with the headline "Criminal cases dismissed against ex-Fresno State QB Greenlee, ’Dogs player Hughes."