Former Green Bay Packers RB Ahman Green gets probation, child abuse charge dismissed

Green Bay Press-Gazette

GREEN BAY – Former Green Bay Packers running back Ahman Green avoided jail time under a plea agreement that included dismissal of a felony child abuse charge.

Green, 41, entered an Alford plea of no contest on one count of criminal damage to property and one count of disorderly conduct on Thursday. Prosecutors dismissed the charge of child abuse and amended it to a non-abuse charge of damage to property, Randall Petrouske, Green's attorney said.

On Thursday, Brown County Circuit Court Judge John Zakowski sentenced Green to 18 months probation and ordered him to pay a $500 fine. Zakowski also ordered Green to pay court costs and follow through with self-initiated counseling.

"None of these charges relate to abuse," Petrouske said. "This is not a child abuse or domestic abuse case. All of that is gone. He has a regular, ordinary disorderly conduct and a regular, ordinary criminal damage to property charges."

In a statement released to the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, Green said he is happy the initial felony child abuse charge was dismissed. He said he entered an Alford plea to the two misdemeanor charges, which means he maintains his innocence but accepts that a jury might see the case differently, to spare his daughter from the emotional trauma of testifying at a trial.

"I am happy that the truth has finally won out and my name has been cleared of the terrible crime of child abuse," the statement reads. "I have never and would never abuse anyone, including my daughter whom I love, dearly. While I have no doubt in my mind that I would have been successful in front of a jury of my peers in defending myself against all charges, even the two minor charges to which I have entered a no-contest plea, I decided as a father that I did not want to put my daughter, and the rest of my family, through the emotional trauma of a trial. No loving father would do otherwise."

Green was arrested at his home about 11:30 p.m. June 26 after a report that he had pushed his daughter and struck her in the head, according to a criminal complaint. His daughter, 15 at the time, told investigators the incident had gone on all day and started with an argument over doing the dishes.

Green's wife, who is not the girl's mother, told a deputy the girl "is always trying to pull stuff like this" and that she had been talking earlier how she was going to call police to get Green in trouble, the complaint says.

Green admitted to an officer he may have thrown the girl to the ground, tearing her shirt, and that he slapped her head and may have hit her glasses, causing an injury to her eye, the complaint says.

Green thanked family, friends and Packers fans for their support over the last 10 months since he was arrested.

"I have been a leader my whole life. I teach people to become leaders," Green said. "So despite the fact I have been cleared of these false allegations, in this situation, as a leader I know that I am a human being; and I am not perfect. But I am willing to continue to strive for perfection in life. Just like all of my experiences in life, this is a situation I can and will learn and grow from, as a father and as a man."

Green played for the Packers from 2000-2006 and remains the team's all-time leading rusher with 8,322 yards.