Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold, with the assistance of attorney Harvey Steinberg, managed to persuade a judge to release Arnold on bail while awaiting trial on felony charges for armed robbery and kidnapping. Arnold got an assist from one of his former coaches.
Via Mike Rodak of 247Sports.com, former Alabama coach Nick Saban sent a letter to the presiding judge vouching for Arnold’s character.
“I write this letter because of the exceptional character I witnessed in Terrion Arnold over the more than six years I have known him,” Saban wrote.
“Over the years, I have welcomed Terrion into my home and around my family. He has consistently treated my family and my staff with respect, humility and kindness. In all the time I have known him, he never once gave me cause to question his conduct, his integrity, or his respect for others. I don’t ever recall him being involved in any behavior that would be described as aggressive or irresponsible.”
Saban, who coached Arnold from 2021 through 2023, nevertheless gave himself an out, in the event that Arnold ultimately did something that would conflict with Saban’s impression of him.
“Based on my experiences with Terrion, I remain committed to supporting him,” Saban wrote. “While I’m not overly familiar with or educated on the charges he is facing, and understand the seriousness of his situation before the court, I would respectfully ask the Court to take into account my experience with Terrion, his character, history and the positive impact he had on our program.”
Saban’s letter is technically irrelevant to the question of whether sufficient evidence existed to justify keeping Arnold in custody until trial. However, judges have discretion in many issues. And the exercise of discretion can be influenced by many things.
Whatever it was — and it could have been a variety of factors — the judge agreed to release Arnold on $1 million bond.
That doesn’t mean Arnold walked out of jail. As Greg Auman of Fox Sports noted on Monday, Arnold remained in custody as of 9:45 p.m. ET on Monday night.
While Arnold wasn’t released from jail, he was released by the Lions on Monday.
