A Santa Clara Superior Court judge sentenced 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith to 12 days in jail following his arrests for DUI and weapons offenses, but he can serve the time on a work crew while being placed on probation, reports Tracey Kaplan of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). Smith will also face $2K fine, be banned from owning guns or ammunition during his three-year probation period, and be forced to serve an additional 235 hours of community service, according to Kaplan’s colleague at the Bay Area News Group, Cam Inman.
Per Kaplan, the work crew sessions will take place on Mondays, and with Mondays being the usual 49ers off day, Smith won’t miss any practice time, tweets Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea,com. As Mike Garafolo of Fox Sport 1 adds (on Twitter), Smith’s Monday work sessions “magically” conclude the week before San Francisco’s first Monday Night Football game with the Rams.
On the whole, it appears as though Smith won’t face any serious punishment for his transgressions, and any legal ramifications shouldn’t affect his ability to play for the 49ers. However, the 24-year-old isn’t out of the woods just yet, as an NFL suspension could be in the works. Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated tweets a “complete guess” as to Smith’s possible NFL penalty — a four-game ban that is negotiated down to two or three contests, which sounds fair to me.
Additionally, although Smith’s 2015 fifth-year option was exercised, but that contract is guaranteed for injury only until the first day of the 2015 league year. Smith got off lightly following this situation, but if similar incidents continue to occur, it’s fair to wonder if the Niners might decide to part ways with the talented, but mercurial, pass-rusher. General manager Trent Baalke did release a statement, saying that the team “will continue to support Aldon’s efforts to grow personally from this experience.”
With this ruling I cant see a suspension of more than 4 games now. Good news niner fans