William Milo, a 23-year-old former defensive nose tackle for Colorado Mesa University will serve 15 months in the Mesa County Jail for assaulting a then 20-year-old man and trying to cover up the act. The victim was not a CMU student.

Milo, who used to work in CMU President Tim Foster’s office, was voted preseason defensive player of the year by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference before the 2016 season.

At the time of the crime, Milo was not playing football with CMU due to academic ineligibility.

Milo broke the man’s jaw at an off-campus party after a night of drinking in October of 2016 and told his friends to lie to the police about his whereabouts in text messages.

Later in the text conversation, Milo threatened to “have someone else break his jaw again,” and put the victim back in the hospital if the case moved forward.

On Friday, Jan. 5, Milo pleaded guilty to felony counts of menacing, conspiracy to commit tampering and a misdemeanor assault charge. 

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Milo’s attorney, Senior Deputy State Public Defender Jessica Alexander, claimed that the attack was caused by someone in the victim’s group using a racial slur.

The victim told Judge Lance Timbreza on Jan. 5 that no one used such slur, according to the Sentinel.

Similar to the original arrest affidavit, the victim claimed he was struck by Milo after Milo approached his girlfriend. The Sentinel reported the hospital bills reached nearly $10,000 for his treatment following the attack.

Timbreza ruled that Milo would serve 12 months in the Mesa County Jail for the misdemeanor assault charge and three months for the felony charges.

Following this, Milo will serve five years of probation, complete 180 hours of community service and pay the victim’s medical and dental bills.