Monday, January 25, 2010

Second Wizard Player Charged After Locker Room Gun Incident


By PETER VESCEY

A second Washington Wizards player has been charged today with weapons violations following a plea deal.

The deal comes just 10 days after his teammate Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty.

Javaris Crittenton was charged with two misdemeanors -- possession of an unregistered firearm and attempted carrying a pistol without a license.

No court appearance has been scheduled.

"Mr. Crittenton brought a lawfully owned, unloaded handgun into Washington, DC, only because he legitimately feared for his life," said his lawyer Peter White. "The government's proffer of facts to be filed today acknowledges that his handgun was not loaded and that he never threatened anyone with it. The gun was legally purchased, but bringing it into the District, even for self-defense, violated the city’s strict gun control laws."

Arenas, who is suspended indefinitely from the NBA without pay, pleaded guilty Jan. 15 to a felony gun charge connected to a locker-room argument that is believed to have involved Crittenton.

At his court hearing, prosecutor Chris Kavanaugh revealed new details of the case, including that during a Dec. 19 team flight, Arenas and Crittenton argued about a card game, and Arenas said he would "burn" Crittenton's Cadillac Escalade or "shoot him in the face."

Crittenton retorted that "he would shoot the f- - - out of Arenas" and "shoot Arenas in his" surgically repaired knee.

Two days later, Arenas arrived at the Wizards locker room in the Verizon Center carrying at least one gun inside his backpack, records say.

Arenas then "placed four firearms" on Crittenton's chair, as well as a handwritten note reading "PICK 1," prosecutors said. Those handguns were a .50-caliber Desert Eagle, a .500 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, a .45-caliber semi-automatic and a 9mm Browning pistol.

When Crittenton came in, he said, "What's this?" and Arenas replied, "You said you were going to shoot me, so pick one," according to Kavanaugh.

Crittenton picked up one gun, hurled it across the locker room, and pulled out a gun of his own, court papers say.

Arenas then packed his guns into a suitcase and asked another Wizards player to take the case to his car in the team garage, papers say. When the other player couldn't identify Arenas' car, he left the case in the garage.

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