High school football player pleads guilty in assault case

A high school football player has pleaded guilty to felony injury to a child after prosecutors said he took part in a brutal locker room assault on a black football player in a small Idaho town.

John R.K. Howard of Keller, Texas, was originally charged with sexually assaulting his classmate after prosecutors said he kicked a coat hanger into the victim’s rectum during the October 2015 incident at Dietrich High School.

But during a hearing on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Casey Hemmers said he didn’t believe it was appropriate for the teen to suffer the consequences of a sex offender, and so amended the charge to felony injury to a child.

The Times-News reports the teen submitted a modified guilty plea, in which he acknowledged he would be found guilty in a trial but maintained his innocence.

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Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com