Joba Chamberlain's first court appearance to face a DUI charge was scheduled to take place tomorrow morning in Lincoln, Neb. But the Yankees righthander won't be there.
Chamberlain already has filed a not guilty plea through the mail, according to his lawyer, Omaha-based W. Randall Paragas. That, along with a written request for a waiver of attendance, made tomorrow's first court appearance moot. That also means Chamberlain is able to attend a fundraiser for the Police Athletic League of New York City tonight in which he will be honored as its athlete of the year. The PAL came to terms a while back with whatever awkwardness there is about rewarding him at this time.
"We talked about it and we decided, look, he made a mistake and he's learning from it," PAL executive director Felix Urrutia Jr. said yesterday.
He added that the PAL decided to honor Chamberlain, 23, long before Nebraska state police pulled him over in the early- morning hours of Oct. 18. Police said he had been driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.134, more than 1 1/2 times the legal limit of 0.08.
The PAL hierarchy met after the news of Chamberlain's misstep broke, debated the pros and cons, took special note of the apology he gave in a written statement the next day, and ultimately decided to stick with him as the headliner of the annual fundraiser, Urrutia said.
"What's a better message to teach our kids?" he said. "You make a mistake and it's not the end of the world. It's how you respond to it that defines who you are, not that you made a mistake. That's the overall lesson here."
Urrutia also suggested that the added publicity of Chamberlain's misstep has indirectly helped the PAL's cause to raise money. "The very first thing that people say when we talk about Joba Chamberlain is 'what about his drunk driving thing ...?" he said. "The drama around this makes it a little more interesting."
The drama, however, is lessened now that it's clear that Chamberlain won't be in a courtroom anytime soon.
Describing the mailed not-guilty plea as standard procedure in this type of case, Chamberlain's lawyer said: "What this does is it maintains his innocence at this point. It doesn't mean we won't plead to something later on. It just means until we get all the legalities sorted out, we're kind of putting the case in a status quo." Paragas expressed a desire to get the case settled before spring training.
Chamberlain, clocked at 71 mph in a 55-mph zone, was stopped at about 1 a.m. Oct. 18 for speeding, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. A trooper then smelled alcohol in the vehicle and spotted an open alcohol container on the front seat.
