Civil suit trial under way
Peeler sued for damages in '92 alleged physical attack
Posted: Tuesday August 25, 1998 01:27 PM
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Peeler pleaded guilty to assault in the 1992 criminal trial from which this civil action is based AP |
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A former college girlfriend is suing Minnesota
Timberwolves guard Anthony Peeler
for damages suffered in what she says was a physical attack in 1992.
The civil suit opened in U.S. District Court on Monday.
The woman, Angela Link, claims that Peeler, a former University of Missouri
basketball star, choked, bit her and held a pistol to her head. She is
seeking unspecified damages. Link's lawyer, Mary Coffey, told
the eight-person jury that early on the morning of May 30, 1992, Peeler
appeared at Link's apartment in Columbia, Missouri. He entered her bedroom,
locked the door and attacked her. After biting and choking Link, he held a
gun to her head, Coffey said. The next day, Coffey said,
Columbia police stopped Peeler and found a gun in his car. Peeler pleaded
guilty in June 1992 of carrying a concealed weapon, a felony, and of false
imprisonment and third-degree assault, which were misdemeanors. A judge put
Peeler on five years' probation. Peeler's lawyer, Bradley
Marshall of Seattle, told jurors Monday that Peeler never choked Link or
pointed a gun at her, adding that the marks on her body were "love
bites." Link, Marshall said, is a vengeful ex-girlfriend, one of
several women Peeler was dating at the same time. Peeler pleaded
guilty in the criminal case, Marshall said, because officials from some NBA
teams said that if the case remained unresolved, he would not be selected
in the June 1992 draft. Peeler played at Missouri from 1989
through 1992, when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Coffey said Link, originally from St. Charles, has suffered
post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments since the incident six
years ago, when she was a Missouri student. Her suit against Peeler is "the
only legal way Angie has of fighting back," Coffey said. Coffey
said she would ask jurors to award Link substantial damages, "enough to
send a message that you can't get away with violence, no matter how big you
are." In 1994, Link filed the suit in St. Louis Circuit Court
but, the day before trial, Marshall talked about the case on a radio talk
show. Because a jury was not yet picked, Link had the case
dismissed. Peeler, who was a high school All-American at Kansas
City's Paseo High, was a standout for Missouri. He ranks third on the
Tigers' career scoring list, with 1,970 points. He was the Big
Eight Conference Player of the Year and an NCAA All-American in 1992.
The Lakers traded him to the Vancouver Grizzlies
in 1996. He was traded to the Timberwolves in February.
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