Aldon Smith was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, but the hearing was recently vacated after he pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of driving while under the influence, hit-and-run with property damage and vandalism under $400 a week ago.
According to Scott Blair of CSNBayArea.com, Smith filed a clerk’s arraignment and pleaded not guilty on Sept. 29. He is not scheduled to appear in court again until Nov. 4.
The charges, which were filed on Sept. 11, stem from an August incident in which Smith was accused of driving drunk again and apparently crashing into something.
Smith signed with the Oakland Raiders last month and has already appeared in four games. It is very surprising that he hasn’t been suspended by the NFL, especially since the league could technically suspend him if it was determined that he was drinking alcohol.
You may recall that Smith, who has had multiple run-ins with the law over the past few years, also was arrested for DUI in 2013. He had marijuana and pills in his car at the time, too. He was adamant after his most recent arrest that he had been wrongly accused and that there was no alcohol involved in the incident.
Perhaps there is more to Smith’s most recent arrest than meets the eye, which could be why the NFL has not been quick to act. We’ll see what the courts decide.
