Former Plant star James Wilder Jr. to stay in jail through Saturday

Former Plant star and current Florida State player James Wilder Jr., who was arrested June 22 for violating his probation, will remain in a Leon County jail through Saturday.  

Wilder, 20, had a court appearance Thursday morning, according to the Tallahassee Democrat, in which he admitted to the probation violation. The Democrat said Wilder was sentenced to 11 days in jail, after being credited for eight served. He also was ordered to attend two more anger management classes.

"The prosecutor wanted him to finish his two anger management classes and serve out the rest of his probation," Wilder's lawyer, Tim Jansen, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Obviously we're disappointed. We thought we could have won at a hearing but that would have been in a couple of weeks and James would have been sitting in jail w/ no bond. So we admitted to the violation."

Wilder was on probation as a result of his April 4 no-contest plea to a first-degree misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence, which stemmed from a Feb. 22 incident when police tried to arrest his girlfriend, Bianca Camarda.

Jansen questioned the validity of his client’s most recent arrest, saying he found it “highly suspicious” that Wilder, a football player, was administered a random breathalyzer test when she showed up for a June 12 jail work camp.

According to a copy of Wilder’s jail camp worksheet obtained by the Times, he failed to show up for his first five days, which ranged from May 26-June 10. “Wilder missed his work days because of his job,” it says in the comment section (under occupation in the arrest affidavit, Wilder is listed as “student/FSU”). “He was advised that his absences are excessive and that if he misses another day he could/would be violated.”

On his next scheduled work day, June 12, Wilder did show up and was administered a random alcohol test. When he blew 0.01 on a portable breathalyzer, he was dismissed from the camp.

Sgt. Norman Mack of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office signed an affidavit of violation the day it occurred, stating that, “Any positive reading of alcohol in your system will result in your immediate violation from the jail work camp.”

Leon County circuit judge James Hankinson signed a warrant for Wilder’s arrest six days later on June 18 for violation of probation. In addition to the missed work camp days, the warrant also states that Wilder failed to sign up for the anger management program within 30 days of his plea (Jansen said that Wilder had completed four of his five anger management classes) and owes $165 in supervision fees.

Jansen drove Wilder to jail after his summer session final exam on June 22. Had Wilder failed to take his exam, he would have been academically ineligible in the fall, Jansen said last week.