Jayru Campbell Gets 7 Months For Probation Violation, Tells Judge He Was Abused

DETROIT (WWJ) - Former Detroit Cass Tech football star, 17-year-old Jayru Campbell has been sentenced to seven months in jail for a probation violation.

When he got into an altercation with a 17-year-old girl in September, the high school senior was already on probation for another incident in which admitted he body-slammed a school security officer.  In fact, he'd just been released from jail a few hours before he allegedly assault the teen, a former girlfriend, in an argument over her cell phone.

WWJ's Marie Osborne reported that when Campbell faced Judge Timothy Kenny to receive his sentence Tuesday, he asked if he could address the TV cameras in the room.

"And the judge said to him, no...this isn't a press conference. You need to address me; this is a court proceeding," Osborne reported. "So he simply looked at the judge and said he had been the victim of physical and verbal abuse in his life, that he'd had a lot of things to deal with in his life; and he just said to the judge, 'I hope you stay with me.'"

Kenny said it would have been "too easy" to simply sentence Campbell to a year in prison — which was what prosecutors wanted. Instead, along with the seven months, Kenny called for extensive counseling and will be checking on Campbell's progress while in jail.

Campbell, who pleaded guilty to the probation violation, will get credit for 98 days he's already spent behind bars.

Campbell had been charged with intent to do bodily harm and unarmed robbery in connection with the Sept. 12 incident involving his ex-girlfriend in a stairwell at Cass Tech. Felony charges were dropped, but he still faces a misdemeanor domestic violence charge and will be back in court Friday in that case.

As a quarterback, Campbell led Cass Tech to back to back state titles in 2011 and 2012. He had committed to play at Michigan State University in 2015, but later changed his mind.