Arlington Martin football player pleads guilty to assault

An Arlington high school football player admitted Friday in a Johnson County court that he sucker-punched a fellow student in a hallway of the Burleson high school he attended last fall.

Hunter Donnelly, 17, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. A trial had been set to begin Monday.

Donnelly, a senior starting linebacker at Arlington Martin High School and a Division I recruit committed to Colorado State, agreed to a sentence of five years’ deferred-adjudication probation and 180 days in the county jail, Johnson County District Attorney Dale Hanna told the Star-Telegram.

Donnelly will serve his sentence on nights and weekends, Hanna said. He will be released from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday to attend school. His first night in jail was Friday.

Donnelly transferred to Martin last semester from Burleson Centennial High School.

In December at Centennial, Hanna said, Donnelly punched another student several times. The other teen was wearing headphones and never saw Donnelly coming.

“This was caught on videotape,” Hanna said. The other student “was looking at something with his head down, and the defendant struck him and then hit him several more times.”

The student had to have jaw surgery.

A Johnson County grand jury indicted Donnelly on Feb. 5.

He has played in Martin’s first three games this season, and he participated in the Warriors’ spring football practices.

Arlington school district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston said Friday that the district was unaware of the indictment when Donnelly transferred to the school in March. District officials were unable to confirm the details of Donnelly’s plea Friday, she said. When the district confirms the sentence, he will be subject to a district disciplinary process, Johnston said.

Martin coach Bob Wager, who described Donnelly as a “model student-athlete” during his time at Martin, said he conferred with Centennial coach Kyle Geller when Donnelly joined the program. Geller declined to comment Friday, but he acknowledged that he did talk to Wager in March and informed him of a disciplinary incident involving Donnelly.

Wager said he was unaware of the details of the incident.

Colorado State officials could not be reached for comment Friday. NCAA rules prohibit universities from commenting on recruits until they sign National Letters of Intent. National Signing Day is in February.

Deferred adjudication means that if Donnelly follows every rule of his probation for five years, he will not have a conviction on his record.

State District Judge John Neill also ordered Donnelly to pay $6,600 in restitution to the injured student for medical costs and to have no future contact with him.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Arlington Martin football player pleads guilty to assault."