Saints' Granderson jailed 6 months after judge rejects plea deal

New Orleans Saints rookie defensive end Carl Granderson, who had been accused of inappropriately touching two women while at the University of Wyoming, was sentenced to six months in jail Thursday after a judge rejected the terms of his plea agreement, according to Davis Potter of the Casper Star-Tribune.

Granderson was facing charges of third-degree sexual assault and sexual battery. He pleaded no contest to sexual battery and unlawful contact, both misdemeanors, to avoid the felony trial that was slated to begin Monday.

However, Judge Tori Kricken rejected the one-year probation punishment laid out in the deal, ordering for Granderson to immediately begin serving his sentence on the count of unlawful contact. In addition, Kricken handed down a one-year prison sentence for the sexual battery charge, but it will be suspended with one year of supervised probation following his jail time.

After hearing emotional testimonies from two female students who said they were woken to find Granderson molesting them, Kricken said Granderson had shown little remorse for his actions. Both victims argued the plea deal was too lenient.

Granderson went undrafted before signing a free-agent deal with the Saints in April.

Head coach Sean Payton was asked in May about the decision to sign Granderson despite his legal issues.

"We felt real comfortable with everything we knew, and so far he’s done a good job here," Payton said, according to The Times-Picayune.