LAS CRUCES - Terrell Brown, who pleaded no contest to a felony assault charge out of California last month, will remain with the New Mexico State basketball team for his senior season.

Brown would have been removed from the team had it not been for a change in university policy made a month before his plea.

In April, the administration eliminated the code of conduct section in the student-athlete handbook. It had stated that any student athlete “shall be dismissed permanently from his or her team if he or she is convicted, pleads guilty, or pleads no contest to any felony charges.”

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Now, student-athletes must adhere to the same code of conduct as the rest of the student body, which doesn't necessarily restrict students with a felony charge from being enrolled.

NMSU Athletics Director Mario Moccia wrote to NMSU President John Floros on April 11 stating that two codes of conduct was cumbersome, making "discipline ambiguous in certain cases" and putting the athletics department "into a potentially dangerous area of specific minority groups being judged more harshly than others for the same infraction."

The memo was approved on April 29. Brown pleaded no contest on May 21. The 2019-20 NM State Code of Conduct will be in place July 1.

Brown's case

Brown was one of five people arrested in May 2017 — all accused of robbing a man and using his credit card to buy food at an In-N-Out fast-food restaurant — in Union City, California.

At the time, Brown was a student-athlete for San Jose State. He was dismissed after his freshman year for violating team rules in relation to the May 2017 incident. Brown went on to play for City College of San Francisco, a community college, in 2018 and then joined NM State as a walk-on last summer.

An Alameda County grand jury originally charged him and the others with second-degree robbery, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, conspiracy to commit a crime, identity theft — all felonies — and receiving stolen property, a misdemeanor.

Brown initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in June 2017. But in May, he changed his plea to no contest to the felony count of assault and the other charges were dismissed.

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Though sentencing hasn't taken place, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office told the Sun-News the agreed-upon deal is three years' probation. The DA's office said there may be a possibility the felony gets reduced to a misdemeanor after two years of "perfect conduct" on probation.

Allowed to play

Moccia said the team dug into the case before Brown even played a game at NMSU.

"When you look at the details surrounding the case, and we have dug into it as deep as possible, we felt comfortable and justified in offering a second chance," Moccia said. "He has been a model citizen and great in the classroom. So far his second chance has more than beared out from student athlete and community standpoint."

Brown became a stand-out player for NMSU in his junior season. He led the Aggies in scoring at 11.3 points per game in 2018-19, was named to the Western Athletic Conference first team, the NABC All-District first team and the WAC All-Tournament team.

But should Brown have been allowed to play? The Sun-News questioned the NM State athletics department in October 2018.

Per university policy at the time, any student athlete enrolled at NM State who is charged with a felony was to be suspended indefinitely, but could appeal the suspension.

But Brown wasn't a student-athlete at NM State when he was charged with a felony. Therefore, men's basketball coach Chris Jans and Moccia allowed Brown to participate.

"He was charged prior to being an athlete (at NM State) ... I can't make up a new rule if he's charged someplace else," Moccia said at the time. "That's not in the handbook."

One code of conduct

Moccia told the Sun-News in October 2018 that Brown's situation could allow the athletics department to address inconsistencies in the student-athlete handbook, which hadn't undergone a significant revision since a 2005 overhaul.

Speaking to the Sun-News this month, Moccia said the student-athlete handbook still exists but the code of conduct section has been folded into the university code of conduct.

“Not just this case, but ones before it, shed a light that says, let's not have the athletic department be making these decisions," Moccia said. "A student is a student whether it's a student athlete or a band member. Let's let them fall under the same code."

The university code of conduct does not specifically address disciplinary actions if a student is charged with, or convicted of, a felony.

It states that if a student is charged with a crime, the school's associate dean for student conduct will investigate. If a student disagrees with an administrator's ruling, he or she can ask for a hearing.

Renay Scott, the university's vice president for student success, could be the one to hear an appeal.

"The level of discipline is dependent upon the severity of the charge if proven," she wrote in an email to the Sun-News. "This decision would be made by the hearing officer."

Scott said student-athletes are also beholden to team rules, which are administered by the coach.

It's unclear if Brown will face discipline from either the basketball program or the university following his legal proceedings.

Coach Jans was not made available for this story.

Higher standard?

Previously, student-athletes at NM State followed a more stringent code of conduct. That brings up legal issues, Moccia repeatedly told the Sun-News.

“I definitely think there is a higher standard for intercollegiate athletics but in today’s day and age with the legal component, you are put in a position where you have to defend why you are treating this student differently from another one."

Moccia said one code of conduct for all students makes things simpler.

"The athletic program will no longer make final decisions from that standpoint. It will be the institution."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.