Pac-10 Probes Free Counsel for USC Players

The Pacific 10 Conference is looking into how three USC football players obtained legal counsel in a recent misdemeanor sexual-assault case.

Officials have held informal discussions with USC officials asking them to explain how Michael Jones and Willie McGinest qualified for free legal representation in the Los Angeles Municipal Court trial that ended in a verdict of not guilty. They also are expected to raise questions regarding counsel for Jason Oliver.

The inquiry, characterized as minor, involves a possible violation of the NCAA’s extra-benefit rule, which states that athletes cannot receive favors by an institution employee or representative that are not available to all of the school’s students. A USC official who asked not to be identified said the Pac-10 has not decided whether to initiate a formal investigation.

Margaret Gatz, USC’s faculty representative to the NCAA, said she was unaware of an inquiry, but added she was not surprised that questions were being raised because of the trial’s publicity.

Jones and McGinest were represented free by James E. Blatt and Alex R. Kessel, Encino attorneys who have separate practices but share an office building.

Oliver was represented by Michael C. Carney, an attorney also handling another USC case. That involves Vinnie Terassi, last season’s football team manager and then-Alpha Tau Omega fraternity pledge. Terassi, who has graduated, is charged with beating up another USC student.

Carney would not discuss his arrangement with Oliver, citing client-attorney privilege. Carney added that Terassi called and asked him to be his attorney.

“Vinnie heard I was representing Jason and was good,” said Carney, who works out of his Glendale home. “That is how it came about. I have received no payment from SC or any affiliated organization with the university. Nor do I expect to. (I am) totally independent of the people at SC.”

David Price, associate commissioner of the Pac-10, refused to comment about the players’ case, citing conference policy not to confirm or deny investigations or inquiries.

But questions were raised when Blatt and Kessel said publicly that they had not charged Jones and McGinest for their services.

Blatt, whose son, Jason, played football at Montclair Prep with Jones, said he is a family friend. He said he asked Kessel to represent McGinest.

Blatt said he also wanted to handle the case because he believes the athletes were treated unfairly in a Los Angeles Police Department investigation of allegations that the players dragged a USC graduate student into a dorm room and molested her.

“I felt that these young men were being railroaded by the city attorney’s office,” Blatt said after the verdict. “I felt that the origin of the case was racist in nature and . . . I didn’t want to see three young men’s lives destroyed.”

Receiving free legal service is not an outright NCAA violation. Investigators must show that a law firm made an exception in its pro bono policy to represent the players because they were athletes, said Shane Lyons, an NCAA legislative assistant.

Many firms have specific guidelines for helping the needy. If an athlete qualifies under those conditions, the arrangement would be allowed under NCAA rules.

Lyons also said that school officials can recommend attorneys who have helped other students as long as they do nothing more than suggest that the students call the firm.

“On the surface of it, the student-athlete is supposed to be treated in the same manner as a normal student,” the Pac-10’s Price said. “If a normal (student-athlete) is not qualified to receive pro bono representation and gets it, we would probably consider that to be an extra benefit.”