Wednesday, July 26, 2000
Charges vs. UC's Grove dismissed
Sophomore cleared to play
By Mike DeCourcy
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The University of Cincinnati cleared basketball player B.J. Grove to return to the team Tuesday, after the judge in his domestic violence trial dismissed the charges against him.
Grove was suspended by the university June 27, after his arrest on domestic violence charges that resulted from a June 8 confrontation with his then-pregnant girlfriend, Christine Kenley. Prosecutors accused Grove of slapping Kenley, pulling her hair, throwing her into a bathtub and throwing bottles at her.
But Kenley took the Fifth Amendment at the start of the trial. She refused to say anything except give her address. Without her testimony, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Mark Schweikert acquitted Grove.
“I think he's obviously very relieved,” Grove's attorney, Ted Froncek said. “This was unfortunate, because it became so public.”
UC coach Bob Huggins declined comment, and a university spokesman said athletic director Bob Goin would not comment.
UC policy makes any athlete accused of a violent crime immediately suspended from all university athletic activities. Following Grove's trial, the school announced he had met the necessary criteria to be reinstated.
Grove, 6-foot-11, will be a sophomore center in the 2000-01 season and could compete for a starting position.
Although he averaged just 1.9 points and 1.7 rebounds in 16 games as a freshman, he was playing behind All-American Kenyon Martin and seniors Ryan Fletcher and Jermaine Tate. He is considered the team's most promising low-post scorer; he scored a season-high six points in UC's comeback road victory against DePaul in early March and grabbed five rebounds in an 18-minute appearance against Southern Mississippi.“It's been tough for him. I think he was scared to death he was going to lose his scholarship,” Froncek said. “He's got one chance in his life, and that's to get his degree.”
Enquirer reporter Jane Prendergast contributed to this story.
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