McKINNEY, Texas -- A Texas judge ordered Deion Sanders' estranged wife on Monday to stay at least 500 yards away from the former NFL star's suburban Dallas home in a ruling stemming from a scuffle between the pair last month.
State District Judge Ray Wheless also gave the Hall of Famer temporary custody of the former couple's children pending a full custody hearing, and ordered that the children undergo psychological counseling.
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Wheless ruled that the injuries to Pilar Sanders, which she alleged her husband inflicted during an April 23 scuffle at their $5.7 million home in Prospect, were a result of Deion Sanders defending himself from her assault. Wheless said that since Deion Sanders experienced no pain, it was only simple assault, which is punishable by a fine.
Following that altercation, Deion Sanders tweeted that she'd attacked him and he posted a photo of his children filling out police reports. He later removed the photo.
The ruling came at the end of three days of hearings in the Sanders' divorce case. Messages left for attorneys for both Deion and Pilar Sanders were not returned Monday night.
But a message posted on Deion Sanders' Twitter account late Monday read: "GOD IS SO GOOD! DON'T EVER DOUBT HIM NO MATTER HOW YOUR SITUATION LOOKS. TRUST HIM PLEASE. HE IS SO FAITHFUL."
The hearings started last week at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas. Deion Sanders filed for divorce in December, but the pair still shared the home until Pilar Sanders' arrest after the scuffle.
Both were charged with misdemeanor simple assault after the spat, and both were seeking protective orders against each other. Only Deion Sanders received the court protection.
Police Officer John Gardner, who responded to the disturbance call at the Sanders home with another officer, testified last week that Deion Sanders said he was in a kitchen area attached to his bedroom in his end of the house when Pilar Sanders began kicking the kitchen door. He told the officer that his wife began slapping him, so he grabbed her by the waist and carried her from the bedroom.
He reported that when he got outside the bedroom, his wife and her friend began to hit him.
Asked how Pilar Sanders may have injured her lip, as it appeared in her mug shot, Gardner said her injury looked like she might have bitten it. Gardner and the other police officer who responded both said they didn't see any signs of an attack on Pilar Sanders, who told police she entered her husband's bedroom because she hadn't seen one of their sons for three days.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
