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Chris Simms Skips Court Date, But Avoids Warrant
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 23, 2010
Modified Aug 23, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 23, 2010
Modified Aug 23, 2010
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For most people, if you skip a court date for all but the most irregular and unusual of circumstances, you face being issued a bench warrant, or arrest warrant. But then there's fantasy world, where luminaries such as Hiram Monserrate and Tennessee Titans quarterback Chris Simms frolic to and fro, court appearances be damned.
Simms, who was arrested in July for driving while stoned in Manhattan, missed his court date today. His lawyer argued that Mondays are toughest for Simms, son of NY Giants legend Phil Simms, because most NFL games are on Sundays. The DA's office asked that an arrest warrant be issued for Simms, without success. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michael Yavinsky seemed all too sympathetic to Simms brutal schedule: "I'm not issuing a bench warrant but I want him here on a future date...if Monday are bad because Sundays he works, let's not pick a Monday."
According to court documents, Simms told cops at the time of the stop, "I was smoking marijuana in the car earlier." Now he is fighting to have the judge toss his police statements from the arrest. According to a Daily News source, there's no question about what he had been doing: "He was so stoned he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and admitted he smoked a joint in the car. The smell of pot just came off his clothes and out of his car."
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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