A former 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 at Dietrich High School in Lincoln County.
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.
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.
