Peeler Gets Probation, Still Is Eligible for Draft : Basketball: Missouri star pleads guilty to weapons charge, avoids trial for allegedly attacking woman.

Missouri’s Anthony Peeler, expected to be a first-round choice during next week’s NBA draft, received five years’ probation after pleading guilty Tuesday to a felony weapons charge and two related misdemeanors.

The guilty plea will keep Peeler from being tried for allegedly attacking a woman last month in her Columbia, Mo., apartment and pointing a gun at her head.

“He won’t spend any time in jail,” assistant prosecutor Tim Wynes said after a 30-minute hearing in Cole County Circuit Court.

The NBA said Tuesday that Peeler, the Big Eight Conference player of the year, still is eligible for the June 24 draft.

Wynes said prosecutors agreed to the plea bargain “because the victim asked us to. . . . She was tired of being in the spotlight.”

Peeler, 22, made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the felony charge of possession of a concealed semiautomatic pistol. Two other felony charges--unlawful restraint and unlawful use of a weapon--were reduced to misdemeanors. He received a suspended 30-day sentence for each of the misdemeanor charges, plus two years of supervised probation on each charge.

The probations are to run at the same time, meaning Peeler faces five years of supervised probation, the maximum allowed under Missouri law.

Wynes said that Peeler will be allowed to travel if he has a job. Other terms of the probation require Peeler to not have any contact with his accuser and undergo domestic abuse counseling.

“This is not only just, it’s right in line with what he ought to get,” Wynes said, noting Peeler has no previous criminal record.

Peeler and his attorney, Patrick J. Eng, declined to comment.

There was no testimony during the hearing and the woman was identified only by the initials A.L.

The athlete responded “yes, sir” when asked by Circuit Judge James F. McHenry whether he understood the charges.

Peeler sat quietly at the defense table, wearing an olive-colored suit and white shirt. He had been free on $16,000 bond since his arrest May 30.

Earlier, Peeler had entered innocent pleas to the charges. The felony charge carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Each misdemeanor charge carried penalties of up to a year in jail and fines of $1,000.

Peeler was arrested after an early-morning incident at the woman’s apartment. She told police that Peeler entered her apartment, bit her four times and threatened her with a pistol.