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Hearing under way for Sanders, wife
By Dan Eakin, deakin@starlocalnews.com
Deion Sanders, former Dallas Cowboy, and his wife, Pilar Sanders, were both in court in McKinney last week seeking protective orders against the other.
The hearing took place before Judge Ray Wheless of the 366th District Court. Deion and Pilar were involved in a fight April 23 at their Prosper home.
Pilar was charged with assault and spent the night in the Collin County Detention Center. The next day, Deion was cited in the incident. Also that day, a justice of the peace issued an emergency protective order against Pilar, ordering her to stay at least 100 yards from their residence for 60 days.
In opening remarks Thursday morning, Deion's attorney Rick Robertson said Mrs. Sanders had been physically abusive with the couple's three children and said they were often late for school and often did not do their homework.
Robertson described his client as a family man who spent time with his children and working with an organization called the Prime Time Association, which Deion and Pilar founded to help kids gain confidence and improve their athletic abilities.
Pilar's attorney, Larry Friedman, told another side of the story. He said Deion cheated on his wife "from day one," was never involved with his daughter and only with sports with the couple's two sons.
Friedman held up a copy of a book by Deion titled, "Power, Money and Sex" with the subtitle, "How Success Almost Ruined My Life." He said that Deion has a split personality and that the book needs to be updated, leaving out the word "almost."
Friedman also told the judge that Deion violated the gag order by being on Good Morning America, "the most watched of the morning shows," to tell his side of the story, and also discussed the situation on radio and Twitter.
"He needs to know that the court is in charge and that he is not in charge," Friedman said.
He pointed to Pilar, a rather small woman, and then to Deion and referred to "the preposterous story that that girl beat him up." He described Pilar as "a mom who needs to be in the house."
Robertson, on the other hand, said she should be kept out of the home because his client has several valuable items in the home, including memoirs of his sports career, and she might either "remove or destroy them."
Jeff Shore, a court-appointed attorney to represent the Sanders children, told the judge that the Sanders have "three great children who are going through nightmares."
"If the three children are interviewed, the court will get a much better picture of what is going on," he said.
Wheless agreed to talk with each of the three Sanders children.
As the hearing got under way just after 10 a.m., nine attorneys representing the Sanders family in different ways stood in front of the judge for about 20 minutes.
The audience in the crowded courtroom could only hear mumbling while the judge and attorneys apparently discussed technical issues of the case.
While the attorneys talked with the judge, Deion and Pilar sat alone at the long table near the front of the courtroom, only a few feet from each other. They never made eye contact.
Following the discussion between the judge and attorneys, about 15 witnesses came forward to stand and be sworn in. The judge then asked them to wait in the hall until they were called in to testify and not to discuss the case with anyone.
The hearing was still going on as of press time Thursday.
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