Ex-Buckeye Smith pleads guilty in DUI case

Former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith pleaded guilty Wednesday to physical control of a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Eileen Paley imposed a $ 375 fine and court costs. Smith, 33, already had attended a three- day driver- education program, which is typically part of the sentence in such cases, defense attorney Bradley Koffel said.

Smith, who lives in Dublin, had been charged with driving while intoxicated, but the charge was reduced as part of the plea agreement. The Columbus city attorney’s office also dismissed charges of driving under suspension, driving without a valid license and having marijuana metabolite in his system.

Smith was pulled over at Smith a random DUI checkpoint on Riverside Drive, just north of Bethel Road, the night of Oct. 20.

Perry Township police and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputies said Smith failed a fieldsobriety test, but Koffel said that video of the incident showed no signs of impairment. A urine test conducted on the night of the traffic stop found what Koffel called “a harmless, non-impairing marijuana metabolite” in Smith’s system.

The plea to physical control, a non-moving violation, “is common in Municipal Court in DUI cases where there are evidentiary problems,” Koffel said.

Smith, who did not make a statement in court, played quarterback for Ohio State from 2003 to ’06 and won the Heisman Trophy in his senior year before a four-year NFL career.