Latest Case Against Peeler Dropped : Jurisprudence: Missouri guard says he will fly to Los Angeles today to meet the Lakers’ Jerry West.

City prosecutors dropped an assault charge against Missouri basketball star Anthony Peeler on Tuesday, clearing the way for the Big Eight Conference player of the year to be taken in today’s NBA draft.

“We just got a call, the prosecutor has dismissed the charge,” said Pat Eng, Peeler’s attorney. “Needless to say, we are very relieved.”

Peeler, who was put on five years’ probation in Columbia last week in connection with another assault charge, had been accused of punching a young woman in the face and wrestling her to the ground.

Lanae Brown, 19, filed the charge Sunday night and Peeler, whose family lives in Kansas City, turned himself in a few hours later.

City prosecutor George Sharp said the case is considered closed to the public. He would not discuss why the case was dismissed.

Peeler said Laker General Manager Jerry West requested a meeting in Los Angeles this morning. The NBA draft is 4:30 PDT today.

“Jerry West wanted to get the situation over with. That was our main concern,” Peeler said. “They didn’t want to draft somebody who was going to have court dates coming up.”

Peeler was among two dozen players who went to L.A. in the past two weeks to conduct interviews and workouts for the Lakers, team spokesman John Black said. “He’s the guy we’re interested in, as well as a half-dozen other guys,” Black said.

A 6-foot-4 guard, Peeler was thought to be a mid-first-round draft choice before his legal entanglements.

“We are hopeful things will clear up now,” Eng said. “But I am still very fearful this has hurt him. However, the charges being dropped had to happen for this to put him in the best possible light for the draft. I hope it can put him close to back to where he was before Sunday night.”

Peeler was put on five-year probation in Cole County last week when he pleaded guilty to a felony weapons charge and two related misdemeanors involving a 20-year-old Columbia woman. Peeler was accused of biting the woman four times, threatening her with a gun and holding her against her will.

As for Peeler’s draft status, Orlando Magic general manager Pat Williams said: “The kid could have helped the NBA, but you don’t need this kind of publicity. You can’t have a huge cloud come with that.”