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Hambrick Plea Deal Off

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By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: October 23, 2008

  Darren Hambrick

DADE CITY - Former NFL linebacker Darren Hambrick decided against accepting a deal from prosecutors Wednesday. Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa set a Nov. 24 trial date for Hambrick's witness tampering and misdemeanor battery charges.

Hambrick, 33, of 38827 Coit Road, Lacoochee, was arrested in April after he scuffled with girlfriend Ileana Quiles.

In August, Hambrick's appointed attorney, Dustin Anderson, said a deal had been reached with the state in which Hambrick would plead guilty or no contest to lesser charges in exchange for a sentence of 18 months' probation.

Police reports said Hambrick pulled Quiles' hair, punched her in the head and struck her in the leg with a glass table lamp.

Quiles told her son to call 911, but Hambrick intimidated him so he would not. When Quiles, her son and a nephew tried to call the authorities again, Hambrick took away the phones, authorities said.

Hambrick, a Pasco High School football star, played five seasons for the Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns. His NFL career ended in 2002. He and his brother, Troy, led Pasco High to its only state championship in 1992. Troy Hambrick, 31, was sentenced to five years in prison in May after pleading guilty to selling 78 grams of crack cocaine to an undercover informant.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156.

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