Arenas To Face Felony Gun Charge After Locker Room Incident
Posted: Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
An NBA player who brought weapons into his team’s locker room in December has been charged with a felony.
In the now-infamous incident, Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas brought a gun into the locker room, later claiming that it was meant as a joke. Arenas had allegedly been involved in a dispute with fellow teammate Javaris Crittenton, and that both men had brandished weapons on December 21.
Although Arenas issued a public apology for bringing the gun into the Verizon Center sports arena, saying, “I promise to do better in the future,” he has been the target of criticism for later joking about the matter, and the media’s response, on his Twitter account and elsewhere.
Arenas also attempted to explain his behavior by saying that he wanted to store the guns, which were unloaded, at the Verizon Center in order to keep them away from his children.
“I brought them without any ammunition into the District of Columbia, mistakenly believing that the recent change in the D.C. Gun laws allowed a person to store unloaded guns in the District,” said the three-time NBA All-Star.
Court documents filed Thursday state that Arenas is charged with one count of carrying a pistol without a license. It is uncertain when Arenas will be arraigned on the charge, but one of the documents that was filed is known as an “information,” and usually accompanies a plea agreement. According to one source, the agreement that has been reached by prosecutors and Arenas’s legal team will not include any jail time.
Arenas is currently suspended from the NBA, pending an internal investigation into the matter. The league’s investigation had been temporarily halted at the request of federal prosecutors, but will now continue so that Commissioner David Stern could reach a decision.
“We are aware of the charge filed against Gilbert Arenas today and will continue to follow the ongoing legal process very carefully,” a spokesperson for the Washington Wizards said in a statement.
Some sports commentators have called for the Wizards to void the contract held by Arenas. A felony conviction would probably strengthen their case, but no steps will be taken to do so until after both investigations and punishment processes have been fulfilled.
Bookmark This Article:
| del.icio.us: 
|
Digg: |
Technorati:
|
Newsvine: 
|
Reddit: 
|
Furl: 
|
|
| Stumble Upon: 
|
Yahoo!: |
Google:
|