MVP Holmes in court on pot bust

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers receiver and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes was scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing Thursday on a misdemeanor marijuana charge stemming from an October traffic stop.

Pittsburgh police said they found three marijuana-filled cigars in Holmes' car when he was pulled over Oct. 23. Holmes was stopped because his car was similar to one they were looking for in a drug sting, police said.

Officers smelled burning marijuana when they stopped Holmes, who was cooperative and alerted officers to the drugs, police said.

The 24-year-old player is charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana. The charge carries up to a year in jail, but probation or a fine is common in most cases.

Holmes' attorney, Robert Del Greco Jr., said no deal has been reached in the case.

"There's no reduction to disorderly conduct or anything like that," Del Greco Jr. said.

Coach Mike Tomlin deactivated Holmes for a game following the traffic stop. He was not arrested and received a court summons, which is common with misdemeanor charges in Pennsylvania.

Holmes, who made the game-winning catch against Arizona in the Super Bowl, said he "learned a lot" from missing a game following the traffic stop. Before the Super Bowl, Holmes told the media that he had dealt drugs for a year in his hometown of Belle Glade, Fla.

A first-round draft pick out of Ohio State in 2006, Holmes has had two other run-ins with the law since the Steelers drafted him. In June 2006, he was charged with domestic violence in Columbus, Ohio. Those charges were dropped when the mother of one of his three children declined to help prosecute the case and prosecutors were assured that Holmes received anger management and domestic violence counseling through the NFL.

In May 2006, Holmes was arrested for disorderly conduct by police in Miami, who later dropped the charges.