Former coach and football star is jailed again
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The former college football star and Porters Chapel Academy coach facing manslaughter charges in Fort Worth, Texas, is expected to be sent to neighboring Parker County, Texas, on a probation violation charge stemming from a methamphetamine conviction in 2006, authorities said.
Mark Pierce, 26, 205 West Drive, was arrested by Warren County Sheriff’s Office deputies Friday on the warrant.
“As sheriff’s department vehicles approached his house, (Pierce) ran out the back door and was arrested after a brief foot chase through the woods,” Pace said.
Pierce was being held at the Warren County Jail without bond pending his return to Texas.
Parker County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain said the warrant was issued after Pierce failed to report to his probation officer during February and March, and had not submitted to blood alcohol tests mandated by his probation stemming from a 2006 conviction for possessing one to four grams of meth.
Swain said Pierce also violated his probation by traveling outside Warren County in December 2008 to Fort Worth, where authorities allege he was driving drunk when his vehicle collided with a van and killed its driver on Dec. 29. Pierce was arrested on foot following the wreck, and was charged with intoxication manslaughter. If convicted on that charge, he faces two to 20 years in prison and fines up to $10,000. Because he allegedly fled the scene and did not render aid, he faces an additional one to five years in prison. For violating his probation in the meth conviction, Pierce is facing two to 10 years in prison, said Swain.
Swain said he did not know why Pierce — who had been out of jail on bond — had not already been extradited on the manslaughter charge, but added he could face those charges before the probation violation.
Pace said it will be up to Parker County to extradite Pierce to neighboring Tarrant County, in which Fort Worth is located, once he is transferred from Warren County.
Pierce had moved to Vicksburg a few years ago after unsuccessfully entering the NFL draft. The former standout high school running back at Weatherford, Texas, had played for the University of Arkansas and scored two touchdowns for the Razorbacks in a 58-57, seven-overtime win over Ole Miss in 2001. A run-in with police in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2003 led him to quit the team and try for a spot in the NFL.
Pierce reportedly came to Vicksburg because his wife, Mandy, has family in area. He was profiled in The Vicksburg Post in 2006, and said at the time he was trying to rehab and take another shot at professional football. He was a volunteer football and basketball coach at PCA during the 2006-07 school year, and had formerly worked at the International Paper Vicksburg plant.
*
Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com