Ex-Sooners Player Gets 3-Month Term

Former Oklahoma cornerback Jerry Parks began serving a nearly three-month jail sentence today after pleading no contest to a charge he shot and wounded teammate Zarak Peters.

Parks surrendered to the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office after being sentenced by District Judge Preston Trimble, who also gave him a five-year deferred sentence, with two years of supervised probation.

“I would like to apologize to my family, to Zarak Peters and to the university for this tragic incident,” Parks said in a brief statement to reporters after sentencing. He declined to answer questions.

Parks also was ordered to pay the medical expenses of Peters, who was shot in the chest during an argument in the athletic dormitory Jan. 13.

Defense attorney Joel Barr said it was not a lenient sentence. “I don’t think the court went easy on him at all.”

Trimble ordered Parks held in Cleveland County Detention Center until Aug. 4, a date Barr said was chosen to give Parks time to enroll in another school. He said Parks is considering three or four schools, but he declined to name them.

“He wants to go back to college to play football,” the lawyer said.

Trimble told Parks that he was lucky he wasn’t charged with homicide.