T'Wolves' Peeler Owes Ex $2.4M

An Atlanta woman who claimed she was bitten, choked and threatened with a pistol by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Peeler has been awarded $2.4 million in damages.

A St. Louis Circuit Court jury made the award Monday to Angela Link, a former girlfriend of Peeler's at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he was a standout basketball player.

Link, 26, said after the award that her case was never about money.

"I just wanted the jury to say he was guilty; that was my main concern," she said. "I never cared about what the judgment could be."

Peeler sat impassively as the decision was announced. Later, he said in an interview that he is glad the dispute is resolved.

"It's going to make me a stronger person," he said. "It's finally done, and it's behind me 100 percent."

The case concerned Peeler's actions early in the morning of May 30, 1992, in Columbia, where he and Link attended the University of Missouri.

According to Link's civil suit, Peeler arrived at her off-campus apartment and attacked her in her bedroom. Peeler pinned her to her bed, bit her, then held a pistol to her head. Link said he was enraged because she went out the night before without his permission.

Later that day, police stopped Peeler and found a gun in his car.

On June 19, 1992, Peeler pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, a felony, and of false imprisonment and third-degree assault, which are misdemeanors. A judge put him on five years' probation.

At trial, Peeler denied having a gun during the incident, but said he pleaded guilty to the charges to preserve his chances at the NBA Draft. The Los Angeles Lakers took Peeler as the 15th player drafted that year.

He said he was not enraged at Link that night, but was worried about her and some of her friends because they had been drinking at bars few hours earlier. He added that, while Link was among women with whom he had sex, he never considered her a girlfriend.

Link's lawyer, Mary Coffey, said Peeler's testimony "was our best evidence in terms of his callousness."

After the trial ended, link said Peeler's assertions outraged her.

"I knew they were all lies," she said. "I was just absolutely disgusted and felt sick to my stomach."

"I want to make sure that other women and girls understand that there is justice, but you have to speak out," Link said.

Peeler's lawyer, Bradley Marshall of Seattle, said he would ask U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw to take away the jury's award of $2.1 million in punitive damages.

The trial lacked testimony from doctors and therapists who treated Link after the incident, Marshall said. The jury's award of $300,000 in actual damages also is unsupported by evidence, he added.

In her closing argument Monday, Coffey told jurors that Peeler's 10-year basketball contract calls for him to receive $18.2 million by the time it expires in 2003.

Peeler estimated Monday that the criminal case and Link's civil charges have cost him $6 million to $15 million. He said the accusations dropped him to a lower position in the 1992 NBA Draft and cost him product endorsements.

The Lakers traded Peeler to the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1996. He joined the Timberwolves last season.

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