Patrick faces court date over drug test

Marijuana charge out, but probation violation alleged.

ATHENS — Georgia linebacker Natrez Patrick has a court date for a probation violation next month after an arrest in another county triggered a government drug test that came up positive, Athens-Clarke County solicitor general C.R. Chisholm said Friday.

The test was administered after Patrick, on probation after an October misdemeanor marijuana arrest in Athens, was arrested in Barrow County on Dec. 2 on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. That charge was dismissed Thursday, and Patrick’s lawyer said Patrick passed a UGA-administered drug test within hours of the Dec. 2 arrest.

The Barrow County arrest triggered a probation violation in Athens-Clarke County, and Chisholm said the subsequent drug test was standard in such situations. Chisholm said the positive drug test, which came a few days after the Barrow County arrest, was still considered “an allegation” that Patrick has a right to contest at the hearing Jan. 11.

“He has a right to deny the allegation and go forward with the hearing,” Chisholm said.

Billy Healan, who is Patrick’s lawyer, declined to discuss any probation-related drug test, saying that by Georgia law those should be confidential until the hearing.

“I am certainly not going to confirm that Natrez took a probation test or failed a probation test,” Healan said. “None of that should be public record, regardless.”

Healan said the drug test Patrick took from UGA came “within hours” of his leaving the Barrow County jail.

“Natrez took an official University of Georgia test within a few hours that he bonded out of jail, which he passed, which was negative,” Healan said. “So that indicates, one, that he was not using marijuana on the night he was arrested. That case is behind us anyway, as it’s already been dismissed.”

UGA officials did not respond to requests for comment Friday afternoon.

Patrick has two previous marijuana arrests, both misdemeanors in Athens: in October and two years ago. Patrick served a four-game suspension midway through this season following the second arrest, per UGA’s student-athlete handbook.

A third violation of UGA’s current handbook would mean automatic dismissal, unless the handbook is tweaked to allow some leeway.

Healan said his position was UGA should discipline a student-athlete based only on one of its own tests and that one provision of the athletic policy is “that any positive test result has to be confirmed on a more accurate, reliable machine.”

The most recent marijuana charge against Patrick was dropped Thursday, nearly two weeks after he and teammate Jayson Stanley were arrested in Barrow County. There was only a small amount of marijuana found in the car, and Stanley took responsibility for it. Stanley, a junior reserve receiver, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession, but DUI and speeding charges were dropped.

Patrick has started seven games this season, coming off the bench in the other two he was eligible. He ranks fifth on the team with 36 tackles.

ATHENS BANNER-HERALD Linebacker Natrez Patrick passed a UGA drug test within hours of his Dec. 2 arrest, said his lawyer, who declined to discuss a subsequent government test.