Ex-Lion Titus Young pleads no contest to battery charge

COMPTON, Calif. – Troubled former Lions receiver Titus Young's long and winding trip through the southern California legal system finally reached a decisive moment Wednesday in the Compton Courthouse.

After nearly two years of court hearings and frustrating setbacks and after nearly an hour of tense discussions in a courtroom hallway with his attorney, his parents and other family members, Young was ready to walk back into the courtroom and put his fate in the hands of an L.A. County Superior Court judge.

Young, 25, who starred at Boise State and played two seasons with the Lions, entered a plea of no contest to a felony battery charge stemming from an incident last year in which he attacked his former attorney, breaking his nose.

Young, who is free on bond, was ordered by Judge Michael J. Shultz to appear at a May 5 sentencing hearing.

Shultz can sentence Young up to three years in state prison, or he can give him no prison time at all, instead setting up a stringent three-year probation. The judge could set up a structure allowing the felony strike to be dismissed from Young's record if he performs all the conditions of his probation.

Young's father, Richard, has said Titus suffers from a mental condition as a result of a concussion he suffered while with the Lions. Young has received treatment off and on during the past two years while also being in and out of custody. He has been behind bars a total of 181 days since he went on a crime spree in Orange County in May 2013 resulting in 11 charges of burglary and assault, four of them felonies.

He no longer faces jail time in Orange County, where he pled guilty to four misdemeanors and received a sentence of three years of probation.

Young was being evaluated at a medical facility last July when his then-attorney, Brian Hurwitz, visited him and was attacked by Young.

He was jailed, then released on a $105,000 bond and has been receiving treatment in recent months.

"He's done real well in the program he's involved in right now – real well," L.A. county deputy district attorney Joseph Markus said at Wednesday's hearing.

Markus said in court that he expects Shultz to be lenient in his sentencing but he also expressed concern about the potential for "future dangerousness" from Young.

Shultz gave no inclination whether he will send Young to prison but made it clear that he expects Young to begin making financial restitution to Hurwitz.

"That is important to me," Shultz told Young. "You will pay for the damage you caused."

After the hearing, Markus said: "This is not a football issue for Titus. It's a mental health issue."

Outside the courtroom, Young smiled and said, "I feel good."

He declined to answer questions until, he said, after the next court date.

He left with his family around him.

"This whole thing is almost over," his father said.