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Wizards Guard Javaris Crittenton has been charged with two gun violations: one felony unlawful possession of a firearm and one misdemeanor attempting to carry a pistol without a license. A hearing on the matter in D.C. Superior Court is scheduled for like five minutes from now. Print out your very own PDF of the Crittenton court filing!
As you may recall, Arenas and Crittenton will be forever linked as really awesome guys to have in a locker room.
Crittenton apparently has pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge. Legal Times’ blog has a full breakdown of the plea and Crittenton’s lawyer’s statement.
5 p.m. update: After Crittenton entered his plea, Senior Judge Bruce Beaudin sentenced him to one-year unsupervised probation, and required him to perform community service with the NBA’s Haiti project as well as some local children’s organizations.
The big news: Crittenton’s claims that he believed Arenas intended to harm him.
After the jump: Prosecutors’ narrative of events and counter WaPo’s now-famous account of the incident in one significant way—-Crittenton’s gun was not loaded during the locker room incident!
The U.S. Attorney’s Office press release provides a narrative regarding pre-Christmas fight between Crittenton and Arenas. On December 21, Crittenton arrived at the Verizon Center at 9 a.m. to receive medical treatment and to attend the Wizards’ practice. The prosecutor’s office writes:
“According to Crittenton, before he left his home in Virginia for practice that day, Crittenton had placed a lawfully owned, unloaded handgun into his backpack because he believed Arenas would carry out his threat to shoot him that day.”
When Crittenton found Arenas’ handguns in his locker and a sign that read “pick 1,” he asked Arenas: “What is this?” and asked Arenas to get the guns off his chair. He then picked up one of the guns and threw it along the floor. The prosecutor’s office goes on to state:
“According to Crittenton, he feared for his own safety, so he told Arenas he had his own gun. Crittenton took his handgun out of his backpack and, without pointing it anyone, showed it to Arenas, holding it below his waist pointed downward.”
Prosecutors point out that there is no evidence that Crittenton’s gun was loaded or that he ever loaded the gun. “There also is no evidence that Crittenton ever chambered a round, pulled back the hammer, raised or pointed the firearm, or otherwise brandished the firearm in a threatening manner at any time during this incident,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office writes.
This directly contradicts WaPo’s Mike Wise‘s amazing story on the incident in which sources told him that Crittenton had chambered a round.
Later, Crittenton arranged to surrender his firearm used in the incident. His gun of choice: An unloaded silver-and-black nine millimeter semi-automatic Taurus with magazine. Crittenton had no criminal record.
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