by Joe Piasecki
Pasadena Sun
The battery trial of former John Muir High School football coach Ken Howard over a classroom scuffle with a student drew to an early close on Wednesday, with Howard pleading to a lesser charge.
After pleading no contest to disturbing the peace, Howard said he was happy to end the trial but did not regret his actions during a Sept. 28 search for weapons on the campus that ended in a clash with a 16-year-old boy who had refused to be searched.
Howard faced up to a year in jail if convicted of battery on school grounds. His trial began Friday in an Alhambra courtroom and was expected to last more than two weeks.
