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Wizards' Javaris Crittenton charged with gun counts

Wizards reserve guard Javaris Crittenton was charged Monday with unlawful possession of a firearm, which is a felony and attempting to carry a pistol without a license, a misdemeanor.

Sources say Crittenton is working on a plea agreement to drop the felony and plead to the misdemeanor.

-- Keith L. Alexander

Statement from Crittenton's lawyer

The following statement was released this afternoon by Javaris Crittenton's lawyer, Peter H. White:

There has been a great deal of misinformation published about this event and about Javaris Crittenton. Mr. Crittenton brought a lawfully owned, unloaded handgun into Washington, DC only because he legitimately feared for his life. 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. Mr. Crittenton, who was 21 years old at the time of this incident, has never before been arrested or charged with any crime, and with today's misdemeanor plea to possession of an unregistered firearm, accepts responsibility for his conduct. He looks forward to explaining his actions to the NBA and returning to the basketball court as soon as possible.

Senior Judge Bruce Beaudin on Monday agreed with the prosecutor's suggestion and sentenced Crittenton to one year of unsupervised probation and $1,250 in fines.

dlts20 wrote: He feared for his life but brought an unloaded weapon?

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Gil would have probably gotten off with a misdemeanor, too, had the Wizards not insisted he bring the guns back and turn them in to police--instead of advising him to lawyer up and they'd reported the incident.

doclinkin wrote:The 'fear for his life' thing works against Gil's avoiding jail. Can't see why this was added to the statement, helps Critt not at all and kneecaps Arenas if anything. Maybe that's the point, I suppose. But it seems to me to work counter to the league's attempt to snuff this thing quickly to drop it out of the news cycle. Can't see how that helps Critt at all in Stern's office.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Gil would have probably gotten off with a misdemeanor, too, had the Wizards not insisted he bring the guns back and turn them in to police--instead of advising him to lawyer up and they'd reported the incident.

dlts20 wrote:He already plead http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02032.html

Its funny how Gil gets the felony but Critt only gets the misemenor. Stern will also give Gil way more time than Critt. Its also funny how Critt said he felt threatened. You definitely have to break that up now

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:

doclinkin wrote:The 'fear for his life' thing works against Gil's avoiding jail. Can't see why this was added to the statement, helps Critt not at all and kneecaps Arenas if anything. Maybe that's the point, I suppose. But it seems to me to work counter to the league's attempt to snuff this thing quickly to drop it out of the news cycle. Can't see how that helps Critt at all in Stern's office.

From day one I thought Gil's story about having the guns there to keep them away from his children was BS.

I thought there was a serious altercation and that nobody was playing. Gil was IMO half-serious about shooting Javaris in the face. Brothers don't joke like that. OTOH Gil's a fool for even going there. That's enough to get you killed.

I still wouldn't be surprised if Crittenton's not seriously fearing for his life now.

Him or Gil could get gunned down over this. This is way more serious than what they're going on about IMO.

Ruzious wrote:

dlts20 wrote:He already plead http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02032.html

Its funny how Gil gets the felony but Critt only gets the misemenor. Stern will also give Gil way more time than Critt. Its also funny how Critt said he felt threatened. You definitely have to break that up now

It just might have something to do with Gilbert saying he was going to shoot him and knowing Gil had a bunch of guns at their workplace - something real complicated like that.

LyricalRico wrote:

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Gil would have probably gotten off with a misdemeanor, too, had the Wizards not insisted he bring the guns back and turn them in to police--instead of advising him to lawyer up and they'd reported the incident.

First, I read that the police found the guns at Gilbert's house, but I guess that's somehow the Wizards fault too.

Second, Critt was able to plead down to a misdemeanor because he had only one felony count and no priors. Gil OTOH had a prior conviction and was charged with 4 felony counts. I'm not a lawyer but I have to imagine that being able to plead that down to one is about as good as you can get. I doubt there was anything the Wiz could have done to influence that one way or the other.