It's been one week since Chad Johnson earned himself a trip to jail for excitedly patting his attorney on the backside (he thought he was getting off without jail time, you see). But the judge has decided that Johnson learned his lesson, and after an apology, he's a free man.
"I just wanted to apologize for disrespecting the court last time," said Johnson, wearing a tan jail jumpsuit with his hands shackled at the waist. "I apologize. I did have time to reflect on the mistakes I made in this courtroom."
It's rough when the only person to come visit you in the poke is Terrell Owens. Johnson did the time for thrice failing to meet with his probation officer, a condition of his no-contest plea to battery in a domestic violence incident last year. Johnson says he will comply with the terms of his probation, which include counseling and community service, because he still hopes to make it back into the NFL.
Johnson sounds like he needs that NFL money—TMZ had gotten ahold of documents he filed in an attempt to lower his child support payments. At least according to Johnson's accounting, he's not doing so hot:
In docs filed in April, Johnson claims to only make about $3,000/month ... but that immediately disappears thanks to the $16,525 he already pays in child support.
Then when you get to his own expenses, Johnson forks over $9,063.24 in mortgage payments, $2,500 for food, $2,650 on car expenses, $3,500 on clothing, $250 for grooming, $5,000 on entertainment, $1,000 for pet expenses along with various other expenses that total $31,154.76.
Add it all up ... and Johnson is in the red $45,982.76/month.
Since Johnson getting cut was the best part of last year's otherwise-forgettable Hard Knocks, maybe the Bengals can find it in their hearts to give him another chance—at least for three weeks.
