It turned out, [Judge] Savage suggested, that authorities coddled the big guy. While on a recruiting trip to Pima County to play football in Arizona, Wright was arrested for residential burglary. Then, after he had signed with Missouri, he stole a friend's credit card and ripped him off for cash.
In both cases, Savage said from the bench, "there were literally no significant consequences" imposed on Wright, simply because the 6-3, 300-pounder out of Sacramento City College knew how to get after the quarterback.
"I don't understand all the details, of course, but it appears that your athletic achievement or prowess significantly mitigated the consequences of your youthful criminality," Savage told Wright from the bench. In Arizona, "the system gave you a break," the judge said, "and I'm confident that your status as an Arizona football prospect assisted in that regard."
Not only did the felony theft in Missouri result in no jail time for Wright, but it "had no impact on your playing time," either, Savage said.
"I have the distinct impression that your ability to sack quarterbacks worked much like a get-out-of-jail-free card," Savage told Wright. "That may have given you the wrong impression about whether or not you are required to follow the rules of this society."
Jurors convicted Wright on Oct. 22 of the three residential robberies. In one of them, jurors found he made a 61-year-old man crawl around his house on his hands and knees while the defendant held a gun to the victim's head, demanding cash and other valuables. In another, he locked two men into the trunk of a car parked in their garage while he looked for money and marijuana they didn't have.
In the most serious incident, he broke in on a woman and ordered her at gunpoint to strip naked. After forcing her to give him oral sex, he ordered her to drive him to an ATM machine and withdraw $300 cash. Then he had her drive back to her house where he stole jewelry, made her take off her top and took a picture ordering her to "look happy," Wright's probation report said.