Photo - Outagamie Co. Jail

Appleton, WI - - Packers middle linebacker Nick Barnett has likely avoided any disciplinary action from the NFL following an arrest last year outside of an Appleton nightclub.

It was Saturday night, Father’s Day weekend, June 17th, 2007. Barnett was out for drinks at downtown dance club called “WET”.  He got into a dispute with some women, including one that he had been in a previous relationship with.

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According to a police report filed by one of the women, Barnett shoved one of the women to the floor, knocked drinks out of their hands, and threw another woman’s cell phone, breaking it.

After talking to several people who witnessed the incident, it sounded to me as if the women had first provoked the incident by pestering Barnett. “Why haven’t you called me?” kind of thing.

Eventually it may have provoked Barnett to go into a “bull in a china store” mode. He had been a frequent customer at the club. A co-owner (a woman) said whenever Barnett stopped by he would say hello to her and the staff, behaved, brought friends, and was a welcomed patron.

When he exited that night, presumably to just get the hell out of there, two Appleton police officers on foot patrol just happened to turn the corner and confronted Barnett. Another fight going on, unrelated to Barnett’s incident, had prompted police to respond to a 911 call. When one of the officers recognized Barnett, he radioed “it’s Nick Barnett”. The officers held Barnett for questioning before another dozen or so more officers and squad cars responded. They slapped the handcuffs on Barnett, charging him with battery.

The next day, Barnett was at Brett Favre’s Celebrity Softball tournament (which turned out to be his last) in nearby Little Chute, Wisconsin. Barnett made a brief appearance as requested by Favre, then exited. But the rumor he’d been arrested the night before quickly spread around at the softball game.

Several days later the Outagamie County district attorney announced since her husband had overheard Barnett discussing the incident over a cellphone, she had to remove herself from the case. She deferred the case to Ray Pelrine, the Door County district attoreny, who re-opened the investigation into the incident. In late September, Pelrine filed two counts of disorderly conduct against Barnett, dropping the battery charge.

Today, Barnett appeared in court, and plead no contest to the first count. He’ll pay a $500 fine, plus court costs.

As for the second count, it will be reduced from a misdemeanor to an ordinance violation July 1st, provided Barnett stays out of trouble until then.

1250 WSSP-AM has also learned that following the arrest, the NFL recommended Barnett to attend “Alternatives to Violence”, a series of counseling sessions that deal with a person’s anger management, and use of physical force in a dispute. Barnett attended and completed those sessions from July to October of last year. That no doubt pleased the court today.

Barnett’s attorney, Avi Lank, Green Bay, said after the proceedings that although technically Barnett is not completely out of the woods in terms of facing any disciplinary action from the league, he should be in the clear if he stays out of any trouble from now until July 1st, 2008, when the second charge will likely be expunged.

Barnett declined comment as he left the courthouse today.

- Mike Clemens

1250 WSSP-AM, Milwaukee's Sports Leader!