Advertisement

Judge takes his appeal on behalf of veteran to USF trustees

 
Circuit Judge Gregory Holder wants USF’s board of trustees to reverse the university’s denial of his request to allow former Army Staff Sgt. Clay Allred to take online courses to complete the 17 credits he needs for a bachelor’s degree.
Circuit Judge Gregory Holder wants USF’s board of trustees to reverse the university’s denial of his request to allow former Army Staff Sgt. Clay Allred to take online courses to complete the 17 credits he needs for a bachelor’s degree.
Published Dec. 1, 2015

TAMPA — The Hillsborough County judge who wants the University of South Florida to re-admit a former U.S. Army Green Beret expelled after firing his gun at a convenience store is taking the case to the school's board of trustees.

Circuit Judge Gregory Holder wants the board to allow former Staff Sgt. Clay Allred to take online courses to complete the 17 credits he needs for a bachelor's degree. Holder sent an initial request to school president Judy Genshaft on Nov. 13 and received a response from the admissions director. It stated that the university doesn't offer an exclusively online program but would help Allred transfer his credits to another school.

On Monday, Holder sent an email to three trustees — Scott Hopes, Stephen Mitchell and Byron Shinn — saying the university "has a duty to accommodate Mr. Allred's recognized and now compensated wartime disabilities." He asked for time to speak on Allred's behalf at the board's regular meeting Thursday.

"This decision by the USF president is absolutely inconsistent with the stated goals and objectives of this Board and the university and calls into question Dr. Genshaft's ability to lead this university," Holder wrote. "It is my sincere hope that the Board of Trustees will reverse this injustice and allow this man the opportunity (within a safe and structured environment supervised by the court) to complete his USF education online."

USF spokesman Adam Freeman said the university is aware of Holder's request, but a decision hadn't been made about whether to allow him to speak. Public comment is typically received during trustee work group sessions, not at full board meetings, and must be related to topics that are on the agenda, Freeman said. State law gives the board chairman the final say.

Holder's overture to the trustees makes an already uncommon case even more unusual. Judges rarely intervene on behalf of defendants to this degree and university boards of trustees typically don't get involved in individual admissions cases. But Holder, himself a veteran who served 29 years in the U.S. Air Force, is convinced Allred deserves a second chance despite his troubling actions the night of Aug. 21, 2014.

Shortly before midnight, Allred walked into a Mobil station on Fowler Avenue just west of the USF campus and asked to use the restroom. When the clerk, Qadratullan "Shawn" Hassan, told him it was closed, Allred urinated on the floor. Hassan, a Muslim, asked Allred why he did that and Allred replied, "I don't like you people," according to police.

Hassan, 29, followed Allred outside to get his tag number and Allred pulled an AR-15 rifle from his Jeep and held it at his side in a threatening manner, police said. After a few more exchanged words, Allred handed Hassan a $100 bill, got in his Jeep and fired another weapon, a Glock handgun, into the air three times as he drove away.

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter

We’ll deliver the latest news and information you need to know every morning.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Police investigated the incident as a hate crime, but prosecutors concluded Allred, 30, didn't make a threat specific enough to support the charge. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm and criminal mischief. He was expelled from USF with 103 of the 120 credits needed for a degree in information security.

His case was referred to Hills­borough's Veterans Treatment Court after experts concluded that Allred's post-traumatic stress disorder from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with traumatic brain injury from a car crash, contributed to his alcoholism and his crime. Prosecutors agreed to two years of house arrest, and Allred was ordered to get treatment for his PTSD and alcohol dependence. He is now a felon and can't own a gun.

Allred has said he doesn't remember much about that night and can't explain the comment about not liking "you people," but insists that's not how he feels. He wrote an apology letter to Hassan.

In his letter to Genshaft, Holder said he has "never seen anyone so motivated to succeed and rehabilitate" as Allred. He has completed a PTSD management class and cognitive-processing therapy, and Holder offered to forbid Allred from stepping on campus as part of his probation.

In a Nov. 17 response letter, Henry said USF does not offer "online exclusive undergraduate programs and related admission processes" but would expedite the process to transfer Allred's credits to another school.

In his email to the trustees, Holder said that answer "is either deliberately false or entirely misleading." In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times on Monday, Holder said professors have reached out to him to say USF could easily accommodate the request.

"We're not looking for an online program," Holder said. "We're looking for 17 credits."

Mitchell declined to comment. Neither Hopes nor Shinn returned messages.

Citing student-privacy laws, USF officials have declined to comment specifically on Allred's case but have said the school is committed to "a safe environment" and that students enrolled in online courses must sometimes come to campus for services. Students with prior misconduct records can apply as part of a special review process and appeal the decision. Allred has not yet applied.

Holder said someone else could come to campus on Allred's behalf if necessary.

But Hassan said USF would be taking a "huge risk" by admitting Allred even for online courses.

"I don't want to stop his education, but I'm concerned about other students' lives," he said. "Something might trigger him to come to the school and do it again."

Contact Tony Marrero at tmarrero@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8779. Follow @tmarrerotimes.