Wednesday, October 11, 2000
UK's Camara guilty of DUI; won't play
Suspended under zero-tolerance policy
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky basketball player Jules Camara was found guilty of drunken driving on Tuesday, ending his hopes of returning to the Wildcats this season.
The five-woman, one-man Fayette County jury heard nearly five hours of testimony and deliberated for an hour before returning the verdict and imposing a $200 fine.
Camara, a 6-foot-11 native of Senegal, was arrested in the early morning hours of Sept. 3 after a Lexington police officer spotted him driving erratically in the narrow circle drive of a south Lexington townhome community.
Officer John Ruzzene said he smelled alcohol in the car and on Camara's breath. He then administered a series of field sobriety tests, which he said Camara failed, and arrested him.
Camara refused a blood test at a local hospital and refused to answer any questions at the jail until he had spoken to an attorney.
Under Kentucky's no-tolerance alcohol policy, Camara was suspended from the team immediately following the arrest. With the conviction, he stands to lose his scholarship but could return to the team next year.
Camara, dressed in a gray suit and red tie, displayed no emotion as Fayette District Judge Maria Ransdell read the verdict. His attorney, Jim Lowry, told the judge he would file a motion to appeal.
Following the verdict, Camara was hustled out of the courtroom into a waiting sports utility vehicle. Neither Lowry nor prosecutor Denotra Gunther made any comments to a courtroom full of reporters.
UK spokesman Brooks Downing released a statement Tuesday night saying the school would have no comment.
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UK's Camara guilty of DUI; won't play
