Ex-Tiger won’t face trial

• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jun 13, 2008 - Page: 2B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A misdemeanor charge against former LSU linebacker Derrick Odom was dismissed Thursday in City Court after a prosecution witness failed to show up for the second time.

Odom was set to stand trial on a charge of criminal damage to property in an October fight outside the Varsity Theatre, 3353 Highland Road.

After court, Odom, who said he is now a member of the University of Memphis football team, had little to say about the charge being dismissed.

“I just want to move on with my life,” Odom said.

City Judge Laura P. Davis dismissed the case after witness Alexander Loomis, a man who claimed his car was damaged during the scuffle, failed to show up for court.

Following the dismissal, Odom’s attorney, Anthony Bertucci, said it is a shame Odom had criminal charges hanging over his head based on “flimsy evidence.”

The evidence in question included a video of the fight, which Bertucci said was “grainy, at best.”

The defense attorney said police maintained they could identify Odom based on his mannerisms.

“This kid has always protested his innocence,” Bertucci said of Odom. “There were no eyewitnesses but he still took a pretty big hit.”

The hit Bertucci is referring to is Odom’s dismissal from the football team along with fellow linebacker Jeremy Benton after the Oct. 26 incident.

Former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux was at The Varsity on the night of the incident but was later cleared by police of any wrongdoing; no charges were filed against him.

According to a police report, Perrilloux claimed security staff at the bar harassed him and manhandled his pregnant girlfriend.

He also claimed the group he was with was “mistreated because of their skin color.”