A former Dakota Wesleyan University basketball player was sentenced Thursday morning to pay $4,749.86 in restitution for jumping on the hood of a car in September.
Tyson Smiley, 21, pleaded guilty to charges of intentional property damage and disorderly conduct and was granted a suspended imposition of sentence and ordered to obtain an evaluation for relationship issues.
Smiley was originally also arrested for simple assault for allegedly pushing his girlfriend to the ground, but he was not prosecuted on that charge.
“I made a huge mistake, and it’s something I wish I could take back,” Smiley said prior to his sentencing.
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The granting of a suspended imposition by the court means that Smiley will not serve jail time. Each person is only permitted one suspended imposition in their lifetime.
Although Judge Donna Bucher said she isn’t yet sure how the suspended imposition will be applied to both charges, she will finalize the suspended imposition when Smiley pays his court costs and restitution. Bucher said she doesn’t want the conviction to impact the rest of his life if he’s sincerely sorry, but that if he isn’t, he will “be miserable.”
Mitchell police officers responded to a report of someone jumping on a car hood on Sept. 9, according to court documents, but no one was there when they arrived. Three days later, police were informed that Smiley may have been the person who had jumped on the car, and he was arrested.
Smiley had gotten into an argument with his girlfriend, whose father owned the car, prior to the property damage occurring, and alcohol was a component in the incident.
“This is certainly something that we believe is out of character,” said Smiley’s attorney, Doug Dailey. “Mr. Smiley has never been in trouble before.”
Dailey said he believes the humiliation Smiley experienced between his arrest and his court date were enough punishment to warrant the suspended imposition.
In October, Smiley, who was a junior at the time of the incident, was removed from DWU for the remainder of the school year. Dailey said that if he’s able to go back to school next year, it will be on a probationary status. Smiley also lost the job he had prior to his arrest, pending court proceedings.
Smiley must also complete 360 days of good behavior for the intentional property damage conviction and 180 days of good behavior for the disorderly conduct conviction, to run concurrently, as a condition of his suspended imposition.
