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PROVO — Court documents and a recently-leaked video shed some light on events that may have happened around the time a BYU player was suspended at the end of 2016.
Brigham Young University linebacker Francis Bernard was suspended from the team prior to last December’s Poinsettia Bowl, and the school announced he would redshirt the 2017 season for “personal” reasons a week before the season started.
Documents obtained by the Deseret News reveal that Bernard was convicted in the Provo Justice Court of noise disturbance, a class B misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor, in incidents that took place four months apart. For the former charge, he was fined $150 and placed on 12 months probation.
For the disorderly conduct incident that occurred on Dec. 4, he pleaded guilty in April, and the misdemeanor was reduced to an infraction. He was also ordered to pay $150. The two occurrances stemmed from noise complaints from neighbors, according to the Deseret News.
The Dec. 4. incident occurred after the Cougars' regular-season finale against Utah State but before the Poinsettia Bowl game against Wyoming. The two convictions have not been officially connected to any specific Honor Code action against Bernard.
On Wednesday night, more information emerged via self-billed whistleblowing organization MormonLeaks, a group aimed at reporting documents and videos of leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church owns BYU.
A video, uploaded to YouTube on the MormonLeaks channel, records a back-and-forth between a man referred to as "Francis" and Provo police, that allegedly occurred Dec. 4, 2016, the same date as Bernard's disorderly conduct offense.
"Our motivation in releasing this video was simply to shine a light on what we’ve all suspected for many years — that there is not equity in the way that the Honor Code is applied to people at BYU," MormonLeaks founder Ryan McKnight told KSL.com from his home in Las Vegas.
All students who attend the university voluntarily sign and agree to abide by the requirements of the school's Honor Code. One of these requirements calls for students to "obey the law and all campus policies."
“I don’t want to make this about the player; I don’t think what he did was that bad. All you’ve got is a college football player engaging in normal behavior with police officers as other places in the country. Maybe it warrants a public apology or one-game suspension," McKnight said. "But we’re not trying to ruin Mr. Bernard’s life."
BYU has not confirmed the authenticity of the video. When asked for comment, officials with the university indicated that they do not comment on individual Honor Code cases. A spokesman for the BYU football team referred all requests to the university communications office.
The screen is black for most of the video, with captions indicating when "Francis," "Officer 1," "Officer 2," and "Friend," are talking. At least two officers can be heard speaking with the person identified as "Francis" about noise coming from in or around his residence in Provo, and the possibility of police issuing a ticket. The video does not name the police officers.
Near the end of the video, figures come into light and the individual recording, a person labeled "manager," whose voice has been altered to shroud their identity, is discovered.
While he does not normally reveal his sources at Mormon Leaks, McKnight told KSL.com that the distributor of the video was not the alleged manager of the apartment complex who appears to be recording the incident.
"I would like to unequivocally say that I do not know that person," McKnight said. "It appears that somebody outed his identity on Twitter, and I wouldn’t even be able to confirm that.
“Our source is not the manager, and I wouldn’t even know if that employee knows that the video has been to given us.”
There is no known connection between what happened in the video and any possible Honor Code violations by Bernard.
McKnight said he hopes the video does not become a detriment to Bernard, whether he attempts to transfer or play football for the Cougars for the remainder of his career.
“We’re a country notorious for giving second chances, and I see this as being able to give (Bernard) a better opportunity," McKnight said. "He can transfer to a better school, finish his football career, and use this as a learning example and a teaching tool. I see so many ways to turn this into a positive.”
Bernard participated in spring football and most of fall camp before the announcement of his redshirt season, and has been seen and photographed multiple times around the BYU football team, its fans and even at last Saturday’s 20-6 win over Portland State at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Shortly after his redshirt announcement, Bernard’s brother, James H. Bernard Jr., told the Salt Lake Tribune that the Cougar linebacker wanted to transfer to rival Utah, airing frustrations related to the BYU Honor Code office.James Bernard was a former walk-on at Utah who finished his college career at Winston-Salem State in North Carolina.
Head coach Kalani Sitake told reporters during a press conference Aug. 21, that transferring was a possibility for Bernard, but that no decision had been formally made. That same day, defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki told BYU broadcaster Greg Wrubell that Bernard was "moving forward" with plans to transfer, but a football spokesman clarified that no decision had been made at the time.
Bernard was a standout running back at Herriman High before signing with the Cougars and serving a two-year mission for the LDS Church in Atlanta, Georgia. After joining BYU as a running back in 2015, he switched to linebacker in 2016, and finished third on the team last year with 80 tackles, including 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and three interceptions.
Since his redshirt announcement, safety Matt Hadley has taken his place on the BYU offensive depth chart, with linebacker Adam Pulsipher as backup and four-star freshman Chaz Ah You moved to linebacker for depth.
