When an individual is charged with a crime related to drug or alcohol addiction, Oklahoma defense attorneys know that often, the best consequence of the charge is treatment rather than incarceration. For former Oklahoma State University basketball coach Sean Sutton, an arrest for illegal possession of prescription pain medication may have opened the door for recovery.

Sean Sutton pleaded guilty to four counts related to illegally obtaining and possessing prescription drugs for non medical use. As part of the plea agreement arranged between Sutton’s Oklahoma drug defense lawyer and the Payne County District Attorney, Sutton will receive no jail time. Instead, the former coach is sentenced to three years probation on a deferred sentence, 100 hours of community service, and $2,500 in fines.

Sean Sutton has already completed a 115 day drug treatment and rehabilitation program at the famed Cirque Lodge in Sundance, Utah. Cirque Lodge has provided treatment for a number of celebrities, including Melanie Griffith, Lindsay Lohan, Kirsten Dunst, Chris Klein, Eva Mendes, and Mary-Kate Olsen. According to Cirque Lodge director Gary Fisher, Sutton was dedicated to his own treatment and recovery. Fisher stated, “I have seen no one, and I repeat no one, work harder in treatment than Sean Sutton.”

At his plea, Sutton told the judge, “I’ve made terrible mistakes and I’m very apologetic to everyone.” Sutton was prescribed pain medication for headaches and back pain, but he says, “At some point in the last year and a half, I crossed the line and became dependent on them.” Sutton illegally obtained the highly addictive pain medication oxycodone and attempted to use someone else’s name pick up a shipment of pills that included the anti-anxiety medication clonazepam and two forms of Adderall, a stimulant frequently used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The four charges to which Sutton pleaded guilty are obtaining a controlled dangerous substance by fraud, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance without a prescription, attempted possession of controlled dangerous substances, and use of a communications device to facilitate a felony.
Sutton is no stranger to criminal charges related to addiction.

His father Eddie Sutton, his predecessor as OSU basketball coach, was charged with aggravated DUI, speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road after an automobile accident in 2006. The elder Sutton, who spent time at the Betty Ford Clinic for his alcohol addiction, pleaded no contest and received a one year deferred sentence.