Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to two misdemeanor charges in Oakland Circuit Court on a Sept. 24 drunken driving and weapons offense in Bloomfield Township. Wallace, 37, of Bloomfield Hills appeared before Judge Shalina Kumar and entered guilty pleas to charges of driving while intoxicated and possession of a firearm while operating a vehicle when intoxicated. Both charges are misdemeanors that carry a maximum jail sentence of up to 93 days.
Under the agreement, assistant prosecutor Rob Novy told Kumar his office had agreed to dismiss a charge of carrying a concealed weapon, a felony that can carry up to five years in prison.
"He has no
Wallace was arrested at 3 a.m. Sept. 24 after a police officer spotted him driving his 2007
Wallace appeared intoxicated and admitted to the officer he had a few beers a couple hours earlier. After spotting live ammunition in the car, the officer suggested that another officer check the vehicle; an unloaded handgun and a
Wallace took breathalyzer tests that showed he exceeded the .08 blood-alcohol level at which a driver is considered intoxicated in Michigan. In court Tuesday, Wallace told Kumar he had submitted to two breathalyzer tests with police that indicated he had a blood-alcohol count of .14.
Police said Wallace, who was cooperative throughout the incident, explained he had forgotten about the firearm, which he had packed in the car the day before, when he made a return drive to Michigan from Virginia. Wallace said the weapon was registered to his wife but he had packed it for his protection on the trip.
Wallace left the courtroom out a back door after Tuesday's hearing. His attorney, Steven Fishman, told reporters while his client is not happy with having to appear in court on the offense, both believed the prosecutor's office had treated him fairly and not as a basketball player.
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