Ex-Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore returned to court Thursday (Jan. 22) to attend a hearing in relation to charges he’s facing from his arrest last December. A defense attorney for Moore declared her client was innocent and the charges levied against him of home invasion and stalking were based on an effort from a Michigan staff member to secure a financial windfall from the school’s “deep pockets.”
“This Court is not confronted with a close call or a technical defect,” defense attorney Ellen Michaels wrote in a court filing. “It is confronted with a prosecution that never should have begun.”
Moore, 39, was fired in December in a scandal that rocked college football.
On Dec. 10, hours after being fired from Michigan, Moore reportedly appeared at the staffer’s home unannounced after sending her cryptic text messages. He was later arrested and charged with felony home invasion and stalking.
His lawyers argue the warrant to arrest him last December was “deeply flawed” and built from police wrongly informing a magistrate that Moore had been stalking the staffer for months.
“A magistrate must be given a fair and accurate picture. When the picture is distorted, the warrant cannot stand,” Michaels wrote in her filing. She also alleges the staffer’s lawyer gave information to police to “villainize Mr. Moore and maximize the chances of obtaining a large settlement from the deep pockets of the University of Michigan.”
Outside of the courtroom, Moore was present along with his wife, Kelli, with who he has three children with. There, Michaels declared her client’s innocence.
“Sherrone Moore is innocent of these charges. Today, on behalf of Mr. Moore, we filed a motion to quash the arrest warrant and dismiss the complaint,” she said.
A probable cause conference for the case was delayed to March 19 as Michaels is seeking phone records from the University of Michigan in relation to a Title IX investigation. Prosecutors have until Feb. 2 to respond to her request for the records. A separate hearing regarding the arrest record has been scheduled for February 17.
