Former UGA student gets probation for battery of Clemson student

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A former UGA student who was accused of holding a Clemson student captive and beating him in the basement of an Athens fraternity house has been sentenced to two years' probation, the Athens Banner-Herald reports.

Gene Whitner Milner III, 24, originally was charged with false imprisonment, a felony, and misdemeanor battery. He pleaded no contest Wednesday to battery and disorderly conduct, getting one year of probation for each. He also must pay $420 in victim restitution, according to the newspaper.

The incident happened in the wee hours of Nov. 15, 2009, following the Georgia-Auburn football game. According to the police report, an officer saw Clemson student Stephen Spaseff running, crying and yelling for help on Lumpkin Street around 3:30 a.m. He had multiple cuts and a swollen right eye.

Milner and Spaseff had clashed at a bar near the frat house after Milner was hit in the face with a beer bottle thrown by one of three men standing nearby, the report said.

Two of the men ran but Spaseff stayed behind, said Milner's attorney, Manny Arora.

Spaseff agreed to go with Milner to the Chi Phi house, about 200 yards away, so Milner could call police, Arora said.

Spaseff told police Milner held him against his will and beat him in the basement of the frat house.

But Arora doubted Milner was responsible for Spaseff's injuries, saying police examined Milner's hands and found no evidence of a fight. In addition, Arora said, Spaseff fell when leaving the fraternity house and admitted to getting in a fight earlier with someone else.

An officer wrote in the police report that he had trouble sorting out exactly what happened because of Spaseff's "level of intoxication."

Milner had several previous run-ins with police, the  Banner-Herald reported, and was put on probation in 2004  for public intoxication, underage possession of alcohol, giving false information and possessing a fake ID.

Under the plea agreement reached Wednesday, Milner could serve his second year of probation without supervision if he doesn't violate his probation in the first year, the newspaper reported.